Trio Acquired Needed Skills from Columbia State's Film Crew Technology Program

Three Williamson County residents are putting their new found skills to work. Josh Bennett and Jonathon Lovvorn, former students, and Matt Thomas, a current student of the Film Crew Technology program at Columbia State Community College's Williamson County Campus, were involved in the filming of an independent musical film entitled SWAY.

"It was really fun but it was a lot of work and time was limited," said Lovvorn. "It was definitely a great learning experience. What we learned in class paid off quite well. We would not have been able to do it without what we learned at Columbia State."

The Film Crew Technology Program at Columbia State Community College is designed to provide training for students who wish to work in the film industry on motion picture crews.

Each of the three took on a specific film crew role while filming SWAY. Roles taken on by the trio during the filming included director of photography, digital imaging technician, and gaffer - which is responsible for the lighting.

The filming of SWAY took place over the course of a month at numerous locations. "We filmed a week in Salisbury, North Carolina and a week in the Nashville and Fairview areas," said Bennett. Centennial Park and The Parthenon were also among the list of locations.

Lovvorn, Bennett, and Thomas hope to do more with film and photography in the years to come. Their future plans ranged from working on other film projects to freelancing and the possibility of opening a production company. Lovvorn and Bennett completed the Film Crew Technology program in the spring of 2009. Thomas will finish the program this summer.

Others involved in the filming of SWAY included Jim Fraizer of Franklin, and Jamie Crist, a junior at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

For more information on the Film Crew Technology Program at Columbia State, visit www.myspace.com/columbiastatefilm.

Columbia State is a two-year college, serving a nine-county area in southern Middle Tennessee with locations in Columbia, Franklin, Lawrenceburg, Lewisburg and Clifton. The Williamson County Campus has served Williamson County residents for more than 30 years, and currently serves more than 1,200 students in the various program areas of Nursing, EMT/Paramedic, Business Technology, Commercial Entertainment, and more. For more information, please visit www.columbiastate.edu.

Click here to request more information on Columbia State's Film Crew Technology Program.