A total of 131 students went to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art March 5 to see an exhibit on filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. The field trip was offered to students in Video Art, Cinema Studies, Directed Studies in Cinema and Philosophy in Art and Science because “in one way or another, they had all studied Stanley Kubrick,” Cinema Studies and Philosophy teacher Ted Walch said.

Students could explore all of LACMA and the exhibit, which was only open to Harvard-Westlake, from first to sixth period.

“I cleared the idea with all other department chairs before proceeding with the planning since I knew it would have a big impact on classes with so many kids out,” Walch said.

The faculty on the field trip thought it a success, Walch said.

“It was my third time at the exhibit and I’m a Kubrick junkie, so, of course, I thought it was a success,” Walch said.  “All I can say is that the kids seemed to enjoy it very much.  They also enjoyed the food trucks, although after one-half of a grilled cheese and lobster sandwich the stomach gets, shall we say, overly taxed.”

Like Walch thought, students enjoyed the exhibit.

“I thought being able to explore the exhibit and see someone from HW at a section and converse about what we were viewing was very interesting and rewarding,” Megan Ward ’13 said. “The exhibit was filled with an enormous amount of information and comparing what I saw with what my friends found was interesting. Everyone seemed to pick up something different.”

Video Art student Henry Woody ’13 was particularly interested in Kubrick’s filming techniques.

“What a breathtaking spectacle it was to witness on display the props and scripts of the very movies that changed my life,” Woody said.

“It was so interesting to be able to read about Kubrick’s process, motivation and techniques. He accomplished so much with his films.”