The Block Plan divides the academic year into eight three-and-a-half week segments or blocks. Students take one principal course at a time and professors teach one.
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Adventures in Film Studies: “On Location in Hollywood”
From left to right, the students are:
Ryan Hughes '07,
Michael Calderon '08,
Adam Liss '08,
Dakin Henderson '08,
Siena Reese '08,
Laiken Gabbert '07,
Amanda Chavez '08,
Caitlin Swan '09,
Giancarlo Bizzarro '08,
Sam Membrino '08,
Not pictured: Eryka Charley '08, Eric Phillips '08
In spring 2007, Colorado College offered its first-ever course in and about Hollywood — FS318 Topics in Filmmaking: On Location in Hollywood. The instructors are the authors of this story. They will offer the course again in 2008.
A wall of flame surrounds the apartment complex. Smoke chokes out the sun, and thanks to a brisk wind, the fire is quickly spreading. We cram 12 CC students and their most valuable possessions into three cars, and we evacuate just as the first fire truck screams up the hill.
Welcome to Hollywood.
Taking full advantage of the Block Plan, this spring a group of intrepid CC students journeyed to the world’s media capital to study the past and present of the entertainment industry. The students arrived here wary. They’ve heard the stories. They’ve spent their lives bombarded by media culture. Movies, TV, and the surrounding hype dominate our collective cultural experience. One has only to go to the grocery checkout to recognize the oversimplifications that emerge from this eerie blend of commerce and art. Think Bennifer, TomKat, Brangelina. Most of this media culture originates in Los Angeles, a daunting human stew of freeways, shootings, glitz and glamour.
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More information, resources, and related links
An Associated Press news feature about Colorado College's Block Plan recently appeared in newspapers and on news web sites throughout the world. Read the AP story at The Washington Post.
Students may use a block to develop independent projects of their own which sometimes may be pursued off-campus. Such projects are often funded by the college's Venture Grants.