If you haven’t already heard, Mr. Evans is creating a new media production program and I took pleasure in interviewing him about this new program.
Q: What inspired you to create this program?
So first of all, I love creating content and the whole process to it and creating our YouTube channel and “The Nerd Librarian Show.” I realized how comprehensive and sometimes difficult it can be to create media content and then I also saw that we don't have a course or really many courses related to content creation and media production. So those two things together I’d thought it would be really great to try to bring something new to Mayfair.
Q:What are you going to cover in this class?
So media production is very broad and it has a whole lot. There is a lot of opportunities there for multiple courses, so for this enrichment course I'm going to keep it general and do the A- Z basic content creation from storyboards to preproductions, stage, lighting to filming, the action portion of it as well and then post production which involves video editing which can be complicating but we’re gonna keep it simple. And then additionally publishing your work, disseminating and advertising it and just getting your work out there as well.
Q: What skills do you expect students’ to come out with?
I expect them to come out with very different skill sets. We’re all different, and we all have different skill sets and that will add to—I think —the fun of the class. We will have some students that may not have any experience in content creation and others who might be very skilled in some or all aspects of content creation so I am actually expecting and preparing for students of all levels of skill in this course .
Q: What kind of equipment will students be using?
So again to keep it simple in the beginning students are not required to have or to bring any of their own equipment. A cell phone is suggested for sure and then from there we will be using some open source video editing software. So I will be providing iPads and a camera as well as lighting, green screen, teleprompters, and various equipment. And as I said we will be using some open source video editing software and some various platforms to upload and publish content as well and there’s gonna be a bunch more involved in there but those are some of the basics that we’re gonna be using.
Q: Will there be resources for students who can not make it during the scheduled time?
Absolutely, this is a fun and casual class so there will definitely be the opportunity to create on their own this of course assumes that they have some level of technology on their own— at the very least a cell phone and an app like iMovie to edit their content so a lot of that does depend the work away from the classroom. Also, a lot of that does depend on them having some level of their own equipment but there will definitely be opportunities for students to practice and grow outside of the classroom as well.
Q: Do you plan on turning this into an elective?
I would love for this to become an elective. I am hopeful that it will be a CTE course or Calapps course in the near future working with the district. Potentially this isn’t a guarantee but to potentially bring it in the fall of 2025. Because I mentioned this before I feel that this site has a lot of room for growth in media production and not just one class you can have several classes in different areas. You can have a broadcasting class, a video editing class, a script writing class, so I think there’s a lot of opportunity to bring multiple classes to Mayfair in this area as well as this. Perhaps its own department could be comprehensive and we could have students working to create and publish content for the school like video announcements. We could have our own broadcasting crew and put out newscasts for relevant events, football games and things like that. So the answer is yes. I am working on getting an elective for fall of 2025 for media production and my hope is that eventually it grows from there into something much broader and more expansive.
Q: Do you plan on publishing any media online?
Yeah absolutely. So part of the class will be for students to create their own portfolios. I'm all for students to seek out and create things that they are interested in. I would like to start by seeing their skill level and interest and then from there having them set a goal for their portfolio. “What do you want to create? What are you passionate about?” Let's set a goal to create content about that and achieve that goal and for those students who maybe aren't sure where they want to go with this and what exactly they want to create. I have my own option, for instance they could start by working on “The Nerd Librarian Show" with me which is my goal to continue creating it and content for the library Youtube channel. Students could assist me during that process because our Youtube channel covers all aspects of content creation and media production as well.
Q:What would an average day look like in this class?
Well I would say that there wouldn't be an average day because there’s so much to explore in media production, but I would say in general we will start by learning about a new topic or subject whether that's lighting or the rule of thirds or storyboards, and then importantly we will go out and do the things that we learned about. They’re also going to learn about hardware and software and become versed in all of the different aspects of media production and the hardware and software that goes with it.
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