Dibie Shares Words of Wisdom at the 55th Annual University Film and Video Association Conference.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., July 31-International Cinematographer Guild (ICG)National President George Spiro Dibie, ASC, gave the keynote speechtoday at the opening of the 55th Annual University Film and VideoAssociation (UFVA)Conference.

Some 300 delegates, including deans and key faculty from hundreds offilm schools in the United States are attending the conference thatruns through August 4.

"If you are teaching your students that technology is a substitutefor art, or for hard work, you are fooling yourself and them," Dibiesaid. "If you want your students to succeed, teach them this is acollaborative art form where the best storytellers who work hard have achance to succeed. The others will fail."

Dibie has compiled hundreds of hours of episodic TV program creditssince he photographed Barney Miller in 1970. Dibie along withco-producer/creator Danny Arnold is generally credited with bringing afilm aesthetic to situation comedies. He subsequently earned sixEmmy® awards and four other nominations for episodic programs,along with nearly 70 movie-of-the week credits.

UFVA President Bob Bassett heads the film department at ChapmanUniversity in Orange, California. UFVA was founded in 1946 mainly bymilitary veterans who produced training and other films for themilitary services during World War II. At the first conferences, UFVAmembers screened and discussed their own films with colleagues. Withina few years, the main agenda shifted to sharing ideas about trainingthe next generation of filmmakers.

Bassett said Dibie was asked to keynote the 55th Conference toprovide UFVA members with a realistic view of what the future holds fortheir students, and also offer guidelines for enriching film schoolcurriculums.

Dibie cautioned the educators not to be fooled by vendors and"charlatans," who are claiming that anyone can make movies alone bypointing a digital camera at actors without lighting.

"There are fundamental things your students must learn whether theywant to be writers, directors or cinematographers," he said. "They needto learn that you light for aesthetic reasons and not to merelyproperly expose the tape or film. They will only learn that fromexperience. It is important for you to teach them there are nosuccessful auteurs, because no one makes a great film alone. Every oneof your students needs to learn that filmmaking is another form ofliterature, but it is a collaborative process where everyone plays arole."

Dibie also touched on a range of issues that could affect the futuregeneration of filmmakers, including "run-away production," which hesaid is draining jobs out of the country. Dibie explained that whiletop directors, actors and cinematographers are working on those filmsoverseas, many others are excluded, including recent graduates.

Dibie urged the educators to get involved in finding solutions, andhe also offered various suggestions for how they could leverage theeducational resources of ICG to enrich their curriculums.

The full text of his keynote at UFVA is posted on the InternationalCinematographeres Guild website at www.cameraguild.com.