Luis Mauricio was looking at SF State’s cinema department Web site over the summer when he noticed the “gallery” link never seemed to work.

“I felt like there was a missed opportunity for cinema students,” said Mauricio, who is the website administrator for the College of Creative Arts Technical Services. He found the solution on a popular Web site: YouTube.

Using YouTube’s technology, the cinema department discovered a new way to showcase students’ works on the department Web site while also promoting the works outside of the university. Cinema students can join the department’s YouTube group as a way to connect with other SF State filmmakers, and the cinema department can gather videos from the group’s members to feature in the department Web sites gallery.

“This is a way for SF State to put our face out there,” said Raymond Rea, production coordinator for the cinema department. “And students have a way of influencing that face. It makes our Web site active and constantly changing.”

After discussing the details with Rea, Mauricio figured out a way to reformat the department’s Web site to accept the embedding of YouTube’s videos. After almost four weeks, he said, the YouTube group launched Aug. 30.

This solved several problems, said Rea. Instead of having to upload onto the cinema department’s Web site, which forced students to familiarize themselves with RSS and HTML code, students were able to use YouTube and free up space on the department’s server.

“[With the old way,] you’d have to be more of an expert. It wasn’t really for the lay person,” Mauricio said. “Now students can just do it without being technical.”

Now all that students have to do is create a YouTube account, upload their videos onto the Web site, and send an email to Rea, who decides whether or not they can join the group. Afterwards, Rea looks through the members’ videos and if they fit the criteria, he posts them on the department website’s gallery. Anything that contains extremely low production value, excessively offensive or distasteful content, or are simply home videos, will be rejected.

So far, the group has 20 members, composed of current and former students, and faculty. Members were originally invited through emails sent by Rea to faculty and advanced production students.

“I think it’s great because it is more accessible to see what previous students have done and helps set the bar for future cinema students,” said senior Joshua Chen, 21. Chen’s video about a lost production crew in China quickly became featured on the cinema department’s website.

“Enough people, SF State’s cinema students included, already post their stuff on YouTube,” said Kasra Shokravi, 20, a senior cinema major. “So it’s really a natural venture for the department to make a group where all the material produced at [SF] State can be posted and accessed by other [SF] State students as well as the multitudes of devoted YouTube fans.” Kasra added that he also uses YouTube as a way for cinema professors to comment on videos for class assignments.

Andrea Hale, 21, who graduated from SF State last semester, said the new group allows her to keep in touch with the SF State cinema community.

“It’s not very often that you get to see the films your peers are making,” Hale said. “There are only a few shows a year. With YouTube I can easily see what everybody’s up to, and, now that I’ve graduated, keep up with what my former classmates have been working on.”

Rea sees the new YouTube implement as only a part of how the Internet is changing cinema’s future. “The internet has really revolutionized cinematic distribution to date. With faster connections, a greater number of social networking sites, and the advent of a greater variety of portable video devices, we will see even greater opportunities for internet-based distribution in the near and far future.”