When Professor Craig Detweiler stepped up to deliver his report to the Seaver Board of Visitors on Tuesday the first thing he did was hold up his iPhone and echo Google’s prophecy: that by 2025 a device that size will be able to store “all content ever created in history. All books. All music. All video.”
Then he asked: “So what does this mean for education? How do we respond to this avalanche— this tsunami of information? … How do we help students wade through all of this overload of centuries of data? How might Pepperdine respond?”
Well according to Detweiler that’s where his job comes in. He sits as director for the new Center for Entertainment Media and Culture (EMC) which promises to cultivate Pepperdine’s media community of students and alumni forge a relationship between the entertainment industry and the campus equip entrepreneurs for socially responsible successful media businesses and focus on academic research as it relates to the entertainment culture.
“My role is to close the gap between the local and Hollywood community Detweiler said. It’s an opportunity to be neighborly with the filmmakers and entertainment community that surrounds us here in Malibu. For example, in the last month we brought in Antwone Fisher, who wrote his own story that became Denzel Washington’s first directoral debut. And last week we had Emilio Estevez preview his brand new film, ‘The Way.’
“Really almost every screening that he’s had has been either a big movie or a big director writer or producer junior and filmmaker Zane Miller said. It’s pretty exciting to have the opportunity to ask questions of people in the industry and to have the benefit of Detweiler’s experience— and to see that Pepperdine is taking steps toward taking a large role in media production like film and television.”
Miller is working with fellow juniors Paul Casey and Zach Garrett on a feature -length movie musical; a project that has come under the wing of the EMC and caught Detweiler’s eye.
Detweiler said he was surprised by “how many students are already making films and just looking for additional encouragement.”
The EMC also fostered the group of students who organized ran and directed the ReelStories FilmFest in January.
“I was blown away by a thousand people showing up for our first ReelStories FilmFest Detweiler said. What an encouraging sign to see the screenwriter of ‘Braveheart’ or the director of ‘Apollo 13′ watching Pepperdine student films.”
“He’s instrumental in brining more attention to Pepperdine’s growing film program Jeff Loveness, also a junior and a filmmaker, said. He’s a go-getter. He brings energy to the program that it needs because he’s helping it grow everyday.”
Loveness saw first-hand the kind of networking opportunities Detweiler is forging when he went as Detweiler’s guest to the first gathering of Pepperdine alumni involved in the entertainment business.
“He’s very supportive of student programs Loveness said. He always takes time out of his day to talk or give advice.”
In addition to support for the media programs at Pepperdine Detweiler focuses on scholarship and reflection of entertainment and culture.
He alluded to a quotation from T.S. Eliot: “We had the experience but missed the meaning.”
“The EMC offers a chance for deeper scholarly reflection on a fast-paced world of entertainment?Detweiler said. We hope to attract research money that would be used across the university to study effects of TV and video games in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology or business cycles in the entertainment business at Graziadio or new media copyright issues in the law school.”
His latest book “Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God?explores the religious and theological implications of video games and what that might mean for parents.
Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century his 2008 book, discusses the relationships between movies, music, TV and the divine.
I’ve never seen faith and film as an either/or prospect Detweiler said. To me it’s always been a both/and area of inquiry. As a Christian university Pepperdine offers me a unique opportunity to integrate historic faith and electronic media.”
Detweiler didn’t note any significant barriers or obstacles to being a Christian in Hollywood.
“I think there are ethical struggles in all businesses. We’re always challenged to take the high road but that’s hopefully what a Pepperdine education prepares: students to integrate their faith in their practices.”
As his first academic year on Pepperdine’s faculty comes to a close Detweiler has high hopes for the future of the media programs.
“As we solidify film studies and media production emphasis we’re going to see higher quality and hopefully some national and international award-winning student-initiated projects.”