Ringling College cuts ribbon on state of the art post-production facility

SARASOTA (WWSB) - “Cut,” said Dr. Larry Thompson, President of Ringling College of Art and Design.

With that Thompson and numerous dignitaries opened the 11,000 square foot Studio Labs Post-Production Facility. It’s a facility that will help bring movie magic to life.

“This has been a very, very long process to get this post-production facility complete," said Thompson. "Originally we dreamt of it as being something that would be much, much smaller, but this is state of art, there’s nothing like it at any film school in the United States.”

The building features soundstages, world class post-production spaces which includes edit suites, a sound effects stage, a private screening and final color room. It’s a facility that is expected to bring in professional filmmakers and actors such as Beau Bridges and Kevin Smith, to put the finishing touches on their movies.

“After they’re done shooting the film with our students which they’ve been doing recently here in town, they can stay here to involve the students all the way through post production," said Bradley Battersby, Department Head of Filmmaking for Ringling College of Art and Design. "Through the creating of the sound effects, through color correction, through editing and ultimately finally through the mixing.”

Ringling College is working closely with Semkhor Productions on this facility. Also on hand was very well known movie writer Zak Penn who hosted a Q & A. This Studio Labs Post-Production facility is the third and final building as part of the Studio Labs Complex which also includes two 8400 square foot soundstages. It’s something Dr. Thompson sees as a win-win for filmmakers and his students.

“It gives them real world experience of working on an actual production in the post component, so that’s very important," said Thompson. "And it also helps them get connections in the industry.”

Sarasota County was also instrumental in making this happen. They provided a 1.75 million dollar grant.

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