LIMS FACULTY

Doug Raine

Lead Instructor

Production Management, Production Accounting, General Studies

Doug grew up in Wyandotte, Michigan attending Henry Ford Community College and Northern Arizona University for telecommunications, working for CBS & ABC sports during school.
 
Doug got his break in the film industry on John Carpenter’s STARMAN and has remained in the industry for over 27 years and a member of the Director’s Guild of American for 18.  He has worked on “no-budget”, “low-budget”, to the biggest budgeted features of their times.  He has done commercials, TV Mini-series, TV movies, TV series, and music videos.
 
Credits include: STARMAN,  AMERICAN FLYERS,  YEAR OF THE DRAGON, POLTERGEIST II,  D.A.R.Y.L,  OVER THE TOP, BONANZA: THE NEXT GENERATION,  3 “ERNEST” Movies, RAMBO III, AMERIKA (mini-series), SOMMERSBY, GERONIMO, THE PROGRAM, WHITE RIVER KID, BROKEN ARROW, INTERSATE 60,THE HOLY MAN,   REIGN OF FIRE, AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, FROM A PLACE OF DARKNESS… to name a few.

Michele Gisser

Video Editor

Michele began her career as a still photographer, studying at Rochester Institute of Technology and then working as a portrait photographer and photojournalist.   She was always creating photo series, using pictures to tell a story.  Taking a film workshop she discovered editing which drew on her photographic background and love of story telling.  She then worked in Boston as an editor on educational and documentary films.  Moving to Los Angeles she has worked on a TV series, feature films and has continued editing documentaries.   Some of awards and honors for the films she's edited are Whitney Museum, American Experience Exhibit, International Documentary Association Best Feature,  South by Southwest Film Festival Audience Award,  Wine Country Film Festival, best of festival.

Dominick Kypragoras

Gaffer/Grip

Dominick was born in Cyprus, but moved to the United States in when he was 11 yrs old to Rutland Vermont. At a young age he realized that he had an artistic talent that was unique and should be pursued. Dominick packed up again and moved to California with the dream of becoming a Director of Photography. He studied at the Brooks Institute of Photography, and is eight years into marrying his 10 year goal of becoming a Director of Photography.
 
Dominick takes his job very seriously, and is extremely dedicated to his work. His passion for cinematography and visual artistry of a film are what makes Dominick Kypragoras so successful. The films that Dominick has worked on through out his years in the film industry include; Wishing Well, Uncorked, The Alyson Stoner Project, Our First Christmas, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew (reality show). “Yo Gabba Gabba!” (one episode). Work of Art, The Least Among You, The Kidnapping, just to name a few. Dominick couldn't imagine doing anything else with his life besides cinematography.

Laird Pulver

Art Director

Laird is committed to teaching the inner workings of the art department, preparing each student to work in the entertainment industry in a professional manner. A native of the Midwest Laird has art directed and production designed movies for Syfy, Spike, Lifetime Television, and the Hallmark Channel. Prior to making movies, Laird worked in the tradeshow exhibit industry as a designer and fabricator. He earned his undergraduate degree as an interdisciplinary major focusing upon architecture, industrial design and sculpture. Additionally he has a graduate degree is in sculpture.

Joel Porter

Sound Editoral

Joel Porter has worked both in the Detroit and Los Angeles production markets. Since 1980 he's been involved with all

kinds of recording projects from Live Sound, Music, Recording and Commercial production to ADR and Post Sound for Film. His professional audio experience has spanned from Detroit to LA for such companies as Harmonie Park Creative Group, RMS Productions, The Media Staff, Hollywood Recording, and Zacuto Audio in Los Angeles. Over his professional career, Joel has also worked for industry giants Clear Channel Communications, ABC/Disney and Infinity Broadcasting. He also brings his personality, writing and voice talents to a wide variety of projects ranging from broadcast commercials, to training films, to web design. His skill set contains strong attention to detail and the ability to analyze and process a large amount of information, and to meet daily deadlines. 

As an instructor, Joel brings students a wealth of knowledge and practical training in production audio recording and post audio mixing. Sharing the "Secrets of Sound" with Film Students is a Joel Porter specialty. Joel is a 1980 graduate of Michigan State University with a B.A. in Telecommunications. Joel is a resident of Allen Park, MI.

Gary Coppola

Post Sound

Gary J. Coppola is a supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer from Los Angeles CA with over 20 years of experience in all aspects of post production sound. He has mixed and/or supervised such films as "Bend it like Beckham", "Friends with Money and "Boondock Saints". Gary is also President and CEO of Burbank CA based Sound Satisfaction. Inc. which has contributed foley tracks to such films as "Ladder 49", "Motorcycle Diaries" and "U-571" which won an academy award for sound editorial. Gary started his career as a music producer and engineer after graduating with a degree in electrical engineering and music transitioned to the film business some years later. Gary Coppola, who has been a performing musician since his teens, found sound work to be a logical extension of his love for music.