Many people have a favorite YouTube celebrity or a movie they love watching. Regardless if it’s Ray William Johnson, Avatar or anything in between, it all involves countless steps in order to turn what started as an idea into what makes it to the TV, computer or movie screen.
At some point while watching a movie, we’ve all said, how did they do that? In order to understand “how”, it’s crucial to know a bit more about the movie world. Impressively, Albany High has both a video production class and club. Mr. Mark Sickler, the head of video production, took some time with us to discuss a bit more of what goes on when Albany High students walk into his world.
The video production classroom is one of the most advanced rooms in Albany High. There are high tech items inside including Lenovo touch screen computers. However, you can’t have a cool classroom without a cool teacher. That’s where Mr. Sickler comes in. Classes usually begin with students walking in and directly going to their groups. The class is divided into small production teams depending on the individual’s role. One may be behind camera while the other may be working on lights. All students will eventually have experience on everything as they often switch positions. “It’s collaboration. It’s so important”, Sickler says.
The class has been at Albany High for over 20 years and it grabs the interest of many students. The class usually works together on a project. They create interviews, short films, mini documentaries, thirty second commercials, TV shows and more.
Albany High’s video production keeps up to date using the latest software including Sony Vegas Pro, Adobe Premier Pro and even photo shop. The computers have Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection installed, this $2,000+ software suite contains every Adobe product imaginable (Adobe Bridge CS5.1, Adobe Contribute CS5.1, Adobe Dreamweaver CS5.5, Adobe Fireworks CS5.1 and more).
Mr. Sickler pointed out that filming a movie may seem easy, but it does require some planning before actual filming begins. Students are expected to write out a beginning, middle, and end to the video that they have in mind. Students are provided a story board sheet to sketch out an image of a certain scene as well as outlining the script or voiceover. Mr. Sickler pointed out that when it comes to camera angles, there are many techniques to help the movie look amazing. A technique known as “The Rule of Thirds” places the subject of the scene off center. According to Mr. Sickler, placing a subject in one of the main focal points actually grabs more attention.
Lighting also is the key to a good movie/video. Sickler stated that, “Lighting is very important to set mood.” The video production crew actually released a movie to Youtube on March of 2011. Directed by Alejandro Torres, the movie was about a mass invasion of Zombies in Albany High. Besides movies, the class enjoys making commercial parodies. They’ve done a variety of different types including a doormat commercial. However the doormat was an actual person. Best part is, his name was really “Matt.” Mr. Sickler is proud of the smart and talented students that he has. “The ideas that they come up with are so fresh and creative.” Mr. Sickler was thanked for his time.
If you’re interested in joining Video Production club, meetings are every Monday after school in room 111.