USC Arts Students Burn the Midnight Oil

All across campus, students at the University of Southern California’s six world-class arts schools (Architecture, Cinematic Arts, Dance, Drama, Art/Design and Music) refine their craft late into the night in after-hours labs, theaters and rehearsal rooms.

While other Trojans study or sleep, arts students keep the lights burning as they edit films, practice arias and guitar licks, create stage sets and design costumes.

A new 4-minute video from USC lets you watch and listen to dedicated Trojan animators, musicians and dramatic artists during their late-night work sessions.

The film features music snippets from USC Thornton School of Music students Ryan Baird (double bass), Paige Yamada (soprano), Allison Chu (piano), Kathleen Janert (trumpet) and the Andrew Hill Band (Andrew Hill, bass; Patrick Arthur Rector, lead guitar; James Prinzi, drums; Javen Smith, vocals; Michael Arrom, piano).

The video documents an evening Bing Theatre rehearsal of The Crucible from the USC School of Dramatic Arts, including interviews with set designer Kaitlyn Harrow, costume designer Marly Hall, stage manager Ricky Moreno, backstage crew member Trevian Hall and director Dan Bonnell.

And the video documents the late-night work in the cubicles of third-year MFA animation students at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, including a look at the basement stop-motion lab, where Tristan Dyer has been spending hour after hour filming an unusual nonfiction documentary about his great-grandfather’s experiences in World War I. Other animation MFA students interviewed included Andrew Malek, Lamar Ford Jr. and Ruthie Williams.