Ashley DeSalvo
Ever since I was little, I’ve been obsessed with all things science. Whether it was memorizing fun facts about the planets, knowing the lifecycle of a frog, or thinking critically about the water cycle, there was something about the world around me that constantly intrigued me. One aspect of Earth Science that I remember vividly was learning about volcanoes. One fall morning in 3rd grade, my classmates and I were tasked with researching a specific volcano and creating a poster about it. I walked around the classroom admiring everyone’s posters, completely in awe of what was drawn and scrawled in colored pencils. After that day, I never let go of my utter fascination with the Earth’s power.
In 9th grade, we learned about how tectonic plates moved to create mountains and earthquakes. In this unit, we went over hot spots, which are spots in the middle of a tectonic plate where magma penetrates the surface to create volcanoes. Hot spots are what created the Hawaiian Islands; as the tectonic plate moves on the surface, the hot spot underneath continually pushes lava up, creating a chain of islands. Kilauea is the only truly active volcano on the island because the mantle plume feeding the hot spot is only located underneath that volcano.
Despite my deep fascination with science, I ended up in the humanities. Something about film and television always intrigued me, and I had never enjoyed a class as much as I did Media Production. The media room was my safe haven, and, when I began my college search, I demanded a film major from the institutions on my list. When touring colleges, each boasted extremely similar programs, promised intricate internships, and had notable alumni. The one program that truly caught my ear was the Producing the Documentary course at Pace University.
It was a dreary February morning. Instead of spending the day before my birthday in school buzzing about the sleepover I was going to have, I was driving with my mom up through New Jersey and into Pleasantville, New York. After meeting with Dr. Shobana Musti and Carol Turco to discuss the Honors College, I was directed to the Welcome Center for a campus tour. One of the first stops was the bottommost floor of Willcox Hall: the MCVA Department. At first, I was skeptical. Every single college I had visited thus far tended to banish the film and photography students to the basement, and Pace was no different. However, my impression of the film department was about to change drastically.
The lab assistant at the time took the reins from the tour guide as we walked around the first floor of Willcox. Everything was fairly cut and dry, looking extremely similar to that of other school’s film departments. It was only when we got to W14 that my entire view changed.
At the time, W14 was the home of the Producing the Documentary course. Lining the walls were large movie posters featuring the different locations that Pace students visited in order to film and produce an entire documentary. From the Netherlands to Mexico, students had covered topics such as the cork industry, shrimp farms, and the life of an ambassador. My eyes went wide as the lab assistant spoke about the projects, stating that Pace University offers this as a spring break study abroad course, usually reserved for upperclassmen. It was at this moment that I was sold. On all of the campus tours I went on, I hadn’t seen a single program like this. This was real life, hands-on experience that sold me on Pace University.
Fast forward to the Fall of 2018. I had just started taking my first production course as a Digital Cinema and Filmmaking major, meaning it was the first time I was using a camera to produce a video at Pace. The buzz around the MCVA department was about the spring documentary. As registration season inched closer and closer, I started seeing more and more posters that read: Hawaii: Do you feel safe where you live? This announcement was exciting for a multitude of reasons, but the first thing I thought to myself was that I had to get myself on this trip. Just the chance to visit a volcano was enough for me to put this class on my radar.
As a first semester sophomore who was taking their very first production class, I did not have high expectations for my application to the program. I knew that the trip was usually attended by upperclassmen who had more experience than I did. When meeting with Professor Luskay about the class and the expectations, I was almost sure that I was not going to secure a spot. However, come the end of the semester, I was notified of my acceptance. Needless to say, I was elated. All winter break, I was explaining the class and what we were aiming to accomplish, but my wildest dreams could not have imagined how amazing the experience actually ended up being.
We left for Hawaii at six in the morning on a Sunday from Newark and landed in Kona at two in the afternoon after more than twelve hours of travel. We started capturing footage as soon as we landed and worked nonstop until we left the big island at one in the afternoon on the following Sunday. I was the production manager which meant that I was in charge of the schedule. I was not expecting to have this role going into the course, but it taught me so much about actually working on a film shoot. Without this course, I would have no real shooting experience going into my junior year. Without this course, I would not have come to Pace. The opportunity the MCVA department gave me, along with my perseverance to ensure my role in the documentary, has given me such a head start on my career in film and has dispelled any fears I had previously about my choice of major.
Hawaii: Living on the Edge in Paradise? premiered on May 7th at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville and on May 8th at the Schimmel Center at Pace University in New York City. Now, you can find it on YouTube here on the Pace Docs channel.