Veteran Filmmaker Urges Students to Ask Questions, See Relevance
Film is a lens through which people can see and share the world, colored with excitement, energy and purpose. This is the lesson UNC Charlotte film studies faculty member Rodney Stringfellow imparts to his students.
“Screenwriting and film touch people in major ways,” Stringfellow says. The veteran filmmaker urges his students to ask themselves piercing questions to find their vision. He says to them: Ask yourself what makes you excited? What makes your heart beat faster? Where do you feel like you’re being led? What are you equipped to do?
At UNC Charlotte, film studies is offered as an interdisciplinary minor through the Department of Languages and Culture Studies in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, with courses from a variety of departments. Stringfellow came to UNC Charlotte in 2010 after teaching at Sarah Lawrence College. He earned his bachelor’s degree in visual communications design at Purdue University and his master’s degree in communications design at Pratt Institute.
He also advises the UNC Charlotte student film club and from 2011 to 2013 taught a screenwriting course at The Light Factory Contemporary Museum of Photography & Film.
“I know that there are students who have been shooting film since they were preteens, and they know far more than I will ever know because they live it,” Stringfellow says. “So I routinely come into that class humbled, understanding that I’m showing students the basics from the technical end and mostly teaching them about storytelling and structure. My teaching is always evolving because of the students.”
Stringfellow incorporates real-life examples and experiences, to help students learn writing and other aspects of filmmaking from a hands-on perspective. He also wants them to experience the array of careers that can evolve from what they learn.
“There are people such as myself who have made a good living because of it,” he says. “Film is not just what is shot on celluloid and shown in the theater. Film is television, film is commercials, film is media, film is vine videos. It is a way of viewing the world. I think it is important that we understand what it is and understand the language that we are speaking because we want to communicate better.”
In fall 2013, Stringfellow’s original, feature-length screenplay “Curfew” was produced by The iNDEE, an area film production company. Students worked on the film, including as director of photography, learning from this hands-on opportunity.
In the winter of 2010, Stringfellow worked as head writer for an animated preschool series, “Olive & The Rhyme Rescue Crew,” while working for Peach Blossom Media in Singapore. He also wrote and produced the Ziggy Marley music video, “Black My Story,” which won Best Video of the Year from CEBA, Communication Excellence for Black Audiences in 1990.
As a screenwriter, Stringfellow has worked for major companies including PBS Kids, Disney, Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. During his time at Nick Jr., he worked on the animated series “The Backyardigans.” In 2012, he was nominated for two Daytime Emmys for his work in writing animation and writing for a children’s series.
He has chaired the WGAE Foundation’s Mentor Group, for which he oversaw the volunteer mentorship program for the Writer’s Guild of America, East Foundation, with an emphasis on helping others learn and grow in the professions. In 2014, the College awarded him its Excellence in Teaching Award for a Part-Time Lecturer.
Working with students and relating his work in film and screenwriting to the lectures he presents in his classes is a primary goal for Stringfellow’s teaching.
“I am the beneficiary of a lot of people who stopped what they were doing and took time to encourage me, and I take great delight in doing the same for others,” he says. “I want each student to recognize everyone is a storyteller, and their stories have value. We as a society are richer for hearing their voices.”
Words: Bailey French | Images: Lynn Roberson