Hands-on experience in media productions class

At Lake Shore High School, there are a variety of classes that offer many skills that will help students prepare for the real world. Career Technical Education (CTE) classes give students the opportunity to learn skills not taught in a textbook but get a hands-on experience. One of these CTE classes is media productions.

The Media Productions class is broken up into three courses taught by Tamela Blaszkowski. In order to take Media Productions II students have to take the introductory courses, Media Productions and Media Productions I.

The introductory course for media productions reviews terms and covers the basics that will help students in Media Productions I and II. Media Productions I is a year-long CTE class that builds on what was taught in the introductory class and delves further into editing and producing videos.

Media Productions II is the class responsible for producing the school’s daily announcements, The Shorian Report, and producing videos that are requested by the district. Media Productions II focuses on creating and editing videos but also gives students an in-depth look into consumer and producer relationships.

Blaszkowksi states, “This class is very “customer” based as students are working with district personnel as clients to help create media.”

Media Productions gives students an experience that they wouldn’t receive in a typical classroom setting. Students are able to use actual equipment that they may use in the future if they continue down the media productions field. They use Nikon DSLR cameras, Canon Vixie cameras, tripods, iPads, various microphones, GoPros, Media 2 students learn to fly drones. They use Adobe Creative Cloud for our software to create videos. The Shorian Report uses a Tricaster system as our switcher to do the live announcements.

Media Productions classes are responsible for different projects that they have to complete throughout the year. Blaszkowski explains, “Some of the big projects are the competition videos that are Public Service Announcements that are a requirement for Media I and II students to create and enter. The competitions we have participated in are Courageous Persuaders, Meijer Great Choices and the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Student competition. Another big project for the Media I students is the News Feature interview project and the broadcasting project where that class learned to create a “show” using the tricaster switcher system. Introduction to media creates various projects including a commercial and a music video.”

Blaszkowski talks about how many of her students enjoy the class because of the use of technology and its different from what they normally do. She said, “I think a lot of students like to take the class because they like to make things on their phones and want to take it further and learn even more using industry standard software.”

She also explains, “Most projects start with learning some element of video/ movie making, such as camera techniques, color editing, how to do a proper interview and choose the correct microphone.

Then students get an actual project to practice what they learned about. They plan their project. Record their project and then edit the project into a final video.”

Media Productions is geared towards students who want to learn more about recording, editing and producing videos. This class offers a more handson approach than traditional classes and helps students get real-world experience using different types of technology.