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DVD Dilemma
Rye enjoys bringing real world experience into his classroom. He is able to draw from the pathos of Vietnam and the nuts and bolts experiences he encountered making films from California to Michigan. Television Production requires students to learn to tell a story and communicate through a moving image on a screen.Rye is concerned that Ferris students be kept abreast of the swings in technology.

"The technology keeps changing," said Rye, "but our instruction attempts to go a step further than mere mechanical wizardry. We seek to develop the inner eye as an intuitive package that uses motion and sound to both communicate and be interactive with the potential audience.

"To keep up, we would like to have the latest in digitized cameras and studio production equipment. The industry is moving towards digital video technology. We're headed towards DVD and multi-track interfaces and need to be able to share tomorrow's technology today. We need alumni support."

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"Combat engenders a certain
perspective. It makes one aware of what's... frivolous."

-Clayton Rye,
associate professor, Television Production

Indochina, South East Asia, Vietnam, "The Nam" — geographic place names that conjure visions of blood, mud, pain and tears for many Ferris State University alumni. Names suggestive of difficult times at home and horrendous happenings abroad. Ferris students today perceive Vietnam as an Asian conflict fought by fathers and uncles, occasionally referred to on late night television as an historic military struggle that left America divided, demoralized and bruised in spirit. For the men and women who served, flashbacks lay like land mines, undisturbed and quiet until the moment they erupt.

A Whole New Perspective
Army Sergeant Clayton B. Rye served the 4th Infantry Division and 101 Airborne in Vietnam from June 1969 until June 1970 as a Field Radio Communications Specialist. He was awarded a Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal, and an Air Medal along with his Combat Infantryman's Badge.

From Pleiku to Ahn Khe, his time "in-country" left scars, images and perspectives that would not be denied in his later work. Rye's experiences under fire forged deep bonds to the men with whom he served, experiences which helped him lay hold of the truth that ‘I have something to say.' His military training taught him to ignore his natural fear of failure and gave him the strength to deal with everyday realities and harsh adversities.

"I learned I can survive," said Rye, now an associate professor of Television Production at Ferris State. "I know I will survive. I learned to handle matters that meant the difference between life and death. Combat engenders a certain perspective. It makes one aware of what's... frivolous."

No Safe Place
Ironically, Sergeant Rye's most traumatic personal experience occurred well behind the front lines.
"A few months after arriving in Vietnam, I contracted malaria and was hospitalized at Cam Ranh Bay, a supposedly ‘safe' rear area on the South China Sea. Several other ‘walking wounded' and I heard small arms fire and what we believed to be incoming mortars. We were weaponless and dressed in hospital gowns. We quickly ran outside and sought shelter in a corrugated metal bunker. A more experienced ‘grunt' with several months under him recognized what we thought to be mortar fire as satchel charges' explosives hand delivered by ‘sappers.' He grasped that we were dead meat if we stayed in the bunker and scrambled us out of there. Nearly a hundred soldiers were killed or wounded that night. No one is ever secure just staying in the rear."

Building Credentials
Rye and his work have been in the forefront for years. After Vietnam, he earned a B.A. in Advertising from Michigan State University and an MFA in Cinema from the University of Southern California. Over the next decade he produced, directed and supervised films including magazine segments, documentaries and full-length features for hospitals and PBS and local television.

Rye has studied alongside and directed popular cinema personalities at both ends of the camera. Henry Saunders, who portrayed the blacksmith on "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" has the lead role in Rye's film, "FNG." The explosive ordinance sequence shown in the film was originally shot for the highly acclaimed television series "M*A*S*H." The footage was given to Rye by William Christopher a.k.a. M*A*S*H's Father Francis Mulcahy.

Rye gained national cinematic recognition this year for his unique work in time-lapse film footage when he negotiated a seven-year contract with MPH Entertainment's "In Search of History," a regular television series on the History Channel.

On June 10, the History Channel aired "Miracles," a one-hour documentary which included some of Rye's time-lapse sequences that included scenes of FSU and downtown Big Rapids.

Preserving History
The Texas Tech University "Vietnam Archive" in Lubbock, Texas recently placed three of Rye's films, "Boom," "F.N.G." and "Ten Vietnam Vets," in their permanent collection. The archive serves as a holding tank for several million pages of original documentation, letters, film and photographic materials providing a kaleidoscopic view of the political, military, social and economic nature of America's involvement in Vietnam.

These award-winning films will be rendered archive safe and made permanently available to students, scholars and future generations wishing to better understand the turbulent passions and politics permeating America's involvement in Southeast Asia.

"I hope my films will provide a personal and intimate portrait of some of the varied aspects and reflections on the war. ‘Boom' was created as ‘art for art's sake'; ‘Ten Vietnam Vets' shows that veterans should not all be painted with the same brush; and ‘F.N.G' is personal portrayal of a war moment and flashbacks after returning home."

The Vietnam War Collection of the Connelly Library at LaSalle University in Philadelphia also houses some of Professor Rye's films. The Connelly collection is oriented specifically toward preserving creative works about the Asian conflict.

The Work Continues
Rye is currently in the post production stage of "Drawing Flies," a full-length feature film again centered on Vietnam and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He received a Center for New TV Grant and a Ferris Faculty Research Grant to write the script, drawing on ideas and visuals from the National Archives in Washington, D.C. This time, he has involved several Ferris students, employees and faculty as both production assistants and actors. The principal photography is now completed, and he has begun the arduous editing process, which may take another year.

Rye is frequently asked to show his films and lecture in other departments across campus. He has presented his perspectives on Vietnam in history, humanities, and literature classes. In Television Production, however, he uses his films primarily as a focus for sharing production techniques. He knows it is vital to prepare students for the non-entertainment settings, which constitute the majority of video productions.

"The FSU Film and TVP program is different than so many places I've worked in the past," said Rye. "Most TV stations and other places seem to feel threatened if an employee expresses creative impulses independent of their agenda. They often sought control over all my work, fearing a potential conflict of interest. Ferris not only allows, but encourages, extracurricular creative endeavors. I've been here for 11 good years. I've grown, and my students have blossomed."

Creative Catharsis
Rye's films seem to have served as a catharsis for him. Unlike so many of his comrades, he appears almost untouched by the horrors he witnessed overseas. But he hasn't forgotten. The specter of the American experience in Southeast Asia hovered in his imagination and haunted his memory until finding creative release on film.

F.N.G.
Written/Directed by Clayton Rye
1975 USC Cinema, 14 minute VN War drama 16mm
Finalist in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Student Film Awards
Winner of the Expose Yourself Festival, Washington, D.C.
Considered "The Best of the USC Student Films"
Selected for screening (June 10/13, 1999) Waterfront Film Festival, Saugatuck, MI.

Boom
Written/Directed by Clayton Rye
1976 USC Cinema, 1 - 1/4 minute animated cartoon, 16mm
Distributed internationally with "The Best of USC Student Films"

Ten Vietnam Vets
Filmed, Edited, Produced and Directed by Clayton Rye
1983 KISU-TV 60 minute Video
First Place - Northwest Film Studies Center Festival
Special Jury Award - San Francisco International Film Festival
Honorable Mention - American Film Festival, New York
Honorable Mention (Local Program Awards) - Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Idaho State Broadcasters Association Award - Best Public Affairs Program