B-CC HS Digital Media Studies

     

    BCC Media Film Production Picture 2016-2017

     

    Overview:  

    Of all the arts, films and TV shows are the ones that look most like life.  Characters on screen court and marry, pick quarrels and fight, fall sick, and die.  In short, they seem to live, albeit in a compressed way.  They portray, as Alfred Hitchcock said, “life without the boring parts.”  

     

    The truth of the matter is, of course, that digital and film-based media are not life any more than landscape painting is nature. Students in the Digital Media Studies at B-CC study films and videos as composite creations made possible through the creative efforts of numerous arts practitioners:  writers, actors, directors, cinematographers, editors, and designers just to name a few.  Because all courses are project-based, students also are encouraged to test their ideas and take creative risks with their work.  

     

     B-CC Film Students Collaborate with the White House  
    In 2016, B-CC film students were chosen as finalists in the White House Film Festival and had the honor of meeting President Obama and screening their film in the Executive Residence. As a result of this work, B-CC students were invited in 2017 to collaborate with the White Houses video production team on a very special project.  Click the link below to see the result!  

     

     https://www.youube.com/watch?v=eDOo3v2ntHI 

     

     

    Digital Media Course Descriptions:

    Introductory Digital Media Course Descriptions:

     

    Production and Performance A/B (grades 9-12):  Students in this course will learn everything they need to do to nurture short, scripted productions to fruition.  Students will explore all of the phases of preproduction and production, from idea development to sound and music design.  Special emphasis, however, will be placed on the relationship between the director and the actor so student directors can play more active roles in engaging their casts in the emotional events of the script, helping them harness innate impulses and feelings. This class fulfills the state required fine arts credit for graduation.

     

    Advanced Course Descriptions:

     

    Video Field Production A/B (grades 10-12):  Students continue their work in production with an emphasis on non-scripted field work, including news gathering, documentary, and non-narrative forms. Emphasis is placed on pre-production planning and using industry-standard digital software such as the Avid DS System to create broadcast-quality television content.  Students will plan program clocks and write and develop media content to broadcast. (prerequisite: Production and Performance)  

     

    IB Film 1 A/B (grade 11):  Students in IB Film both study and create films in order to understand the "language of film" and explore assumptions about it.  Since it is so familiar to us, film is often labeled "entertainment."  We often assume that it is easier to understand than literature which is often regarded as "serious" or as "art".  In fact, film really is entertaining, and it really is complex. It employs two channels--sound and image--and it is culturally ambiguous, blurring distinctions between art, entertainment, and mass communication.  IB Film students will begin to develop the skills necessary to achieve creative and critical independence in their knowledge, use, and enjoyment of film.  

          Note:  IB Film 1 requires NO previous filmmaking experience.  It is less a film production class and  more an introduction to film as art and artifact.

     

     IB Film 2 A/B (grade 12):  IB Film students will continue to develop an appreciation and understanding of the art of film making and its history, the ability to plan stories and ideas for their own film productions, film production skills, critical evaluation of their own and others film productions, and an awareness of international film-making.  (prerequisite: IB Film 1)    

    Mission for Digital Media Studies at B-CC:    

    •  To provide student with the ability to understand and produce digital media-based content in a variety of forms.  
    •  To give students meaningful, project-based experiences in creating and using performance and media to entertain, inform, and persuade.
    •  To provide students with critical thinking skills, which enable them to deconstruct and interpret messages and to develop independent judgments about media content and art.
    •  To facilitate the students' ability to use a variety  of digital platforms and tools to produce effective and responsible projects.
    •  To encourage risk taking with digital forms ("Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will." Suzy Kassem).