Rick Ferncase

Associate Professor

Richard Kendrick Ferncase has taught at Chapman University since 1986. He studied studio art at the University of California at Santa Barbara and UC Irvine, where he received his BA in fine art. He earned an MFA in motion picture/television production at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1985.

Originally a painter, he became proficient in the art of infrared photography and exhibited his work nationally, winning numerous awards. His highly evocative, painterly images of deserted suburban landscapes have been compared to the work of Ralph Gibson and Paul Caponigro, but his inspiration owes more to the works of Rene Magritte and Georgio de Chirico. He developed an avid interest in filmmaking after viewing the film A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick. His first film, Triskelion, examined the inner and outer world of three artists who search for meaning in a desolate landscape and thus find the pathways to their own studios. The film won numerous awards, among them an Academy Award nomination for best experimental short, and was exhibited at numerous film festivals, including the now-defunct FILMEX. He has made numerous other films since, including Deborah Gets a Tattoo, Tattoo Talking, and Postcard.

Prof. Ferncase specializes in Film Production, Cinematography, Photography, Lighting, and Contemporary Film History. He has written three books to date on film and television:

Outsider Features: American Independent Films of the 1980s.
Greenwood Publishing Group (1996). An in-depth study of ten films of the "heroic period" of American independent filmmaking, from John Sayles' Return of the Secaucus Seven to Michael Moore's Roger & Me. Includes chapters on Susan Seidelman, Wayne Wang, Jim Jarmusch, Steven Soderbergh, Lizzie Borden, Errol Morris, Spike Lee, and the Coen brothers. A definitive study on the most influential and groundbreaking American films of the last decade.

Film and Video Lighting Terms and Concepts.
Focal Press, 1995) A complete encyclopedia covering a wide range from the most common to the most obscure terms, techniques, and jargon used in motion picture production today. Explains subjects ranging from the "right hand rule" of correct C-stand technique to the definition and uses of a "quacker".

Basic Lighting Worktext for Film and Video.
Focal Press, (1992). A primer in film and television lighting, with concepts, equipment, and techniques all explained in basic terms for the beginner. Includes numerous practice lighting setups for the student.