Richard J. Schaefer cinematographer
Richard began, at 13 years of age, lighting local rock bands in clubs and schools. Two days after graduation, Rich joined some of his older classmates and went out on the road with half a dozen “A list” rock n roll bands. But Rich realized that the next 40 years on the road was not the life he wanted, so he entered Chapman University and went to film school where he flourished, graduating with honors and several of the school’s top awards. While still in film school, Rich worked for a local cable station in their production department. He engineered multicam studio and truck shoots, repaired equipment, and shot 100s of local commercials. Of these commercials, many were pretty bad, but this is where Rich learned his chops shooting.

Now Rich has hundreds and hundreds of commercials and music videos to his name as a Director of Photography. He has worked on over 1000 jobs. Some of his commercial clients are Yoplait, Movietickets.com and Target.

Abe Sylvia choreographer
Abe comes to UCLA from the Broadway stage where he most recently appeared in the original company of Mel Brooks’ smash hit, The Producers. Other credits include Cats, Tommy Tune’s Busker Alley, The Sopranos, and dying four horrible deaths in Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor. Born in Ohio but raised in Oklahoma, he graduated from the Boston Conservatory with a degree in theater, landing his first Broadway show while still a junior. In his tenure at UCLA he has written and directed three short films.

Benjamin Pedersen composer
Benjamin Pedersen has most recently written music for independent films, such as The Man in the Moon, and Stranded, which premiered in Los Angeles this spring. With a background in both sound design and music, working on The Sound of Movies was a culmination of passions for Ben. Originally from Seattle, Ben grew up writing music for theater and radio. He studied musical composition in Boston, at the Berklee College of Music, and orchestration in Los Angeles. Other than film, Ben has written several concert works for orchestra and electronics, as well as music for NPR and documentary television. He currently is working with The Lord of the Rings composer, Howard Shore, in New York City.