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News from HQ
Digital Media Academy at UCLA provides more than just summer camp fun!
News from HQ
Music-Making with Logic Pro
Winner of a Week of Free Summer Camp Announced 
News from HQ
Digital Media Academy Celebrates 10 Years of Excellence
News from HQ
Documentary Filmmaking : Learn How to Make a Documentary Film
News from HQ
Careers in the Film, Music, and Digital Media
Filmmaking
DMA Studios Expands OfferingNews from HQ
Prestigious Summer Camps at Swarthmore College
- Winner of a Week of Free Summer Camp Announced
How-To
DMA HOW-TO: Source Filmmaker, Part 2
Music Production
Dr. Dre Music School: A New Program at USC
DMA Locations
The Univ. of Chicago: Cutting-Edge Campus & Tech Camps
Game Design
How Many Downloads Has Minecraft® Had? 10 Million
Industry News & Events
Adobe Moving Creative Suite to the CloudFilmmaking
DMA HOW-TO: Source Filmmaker, Part 1
Music Production
New Daft Punk Album: Random Access Memories Preview
Posts Tagged Digital Filmmaking for Teens
Make an Amazing Film and Change the World!
Filmmaking by Philip Harding
As the admin for this blog, I get to rub shoulders with some pretty talented and amazing technical instructors, and I do get pretty envious! But once in awhile they come to me for my little area of creative thought, and I get to do what I do best, which is to think of how on earth people use the internet to find what they’re looking for. I take that info and share it with the authors, so they can write technical copy to be reachable by those people. I don’t write the articles here, I take the written articles and insert them into the blog with pictures and videos. I add categories and tags, keywords, and I brainstorm about why kids want to come to summer camp – what are the needs that can be met and exceeded by our training and summer camps for kids, teens and adults and how Digital Media Academy’s training and summer camps can help people meet their goals. I try to make sure those important ideas and words are included. And it all ties in together – we have the terrific professional instructors, the amazing university locations for our summer camps (Stanford, UCLA, UC San Diego, University of British Columbia at Vancouver, University of Chicago, Drexel, Swarthmore, Brown, George Washington University Washington, DC, Harvard, University of Texas at Austin.) We just need to present the information in a way that is interesting, original, and findable. Findable being key! Read more
You don’t have to know an Ollie from a McTwist or Gain from Shutter Speed…Why? Digital Media Academy has partnered up with leading local retailer SkateWorks and are raffling off a board AND free spot in our upcoming Skateboarding and Filmmaking Camp for Teens.
Summer is fast approaching and in sunny Los Angeles that means more time to do the things your kids love. Digital Media Academy courses at UCLA provide the perfect mixture of fun and education! Families looking for a summer sleepaway residential camp in California love the University of California (UCLA) American summer camp experience!
The addition of some great new teen programs such as our Action Sports & Media Combination courses allows our teen camp participants to enjoy skateboarding while learning practical skills in filmmaking. Digital Media Academy’s Action Sports Filmmaking and Skate Boarding and Filmmaking camp at UCLA will also give your child a competitive edge in the job market!
L.A. Action
With the ever-growing industry in Action Sports in Southern California, Digital Media Academy at UCLA will be able to provide an advantage to anyone who is thinking of pursuing a career in that field. It’s a great way to get started on your new career choice using some of the hottest technologies. Students will be able to learn cutting edge cinematography techniques and editing footage that your teen films while they visit a real life action sports event.
Shooting and Editing From Soup to Nuts
News from HQ by Lee Manansala
My classmates and colleagues and I have a particular way of speaking to each other when we discuss film and filmmaking, and after three years of film school the language we share is fairly rich and fairly idiosyncratic. One of the expressions we like to use is “from soup to nuts,” which means from beginning to end (back in the early 19 somethin-or-others, a meal at a restaurant started with soup and ended with nuts).
How long is the movie, from soup to nuts?
How much is the camera package going to cost, from soup to nuts?
Wow! She took first prize at Sundance!? How much did she win, from soup to nuts?
You get the idea. You’ll notice that the three examples I gave all have to do with money. That’s because, to be perfectly honest, film school is an expensive endeavor. I’m sure I speak for all my classmates when I say that we wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. We’re doing what we love, we’re getting better at doing it, and we’re surrounded by people who support and believe in our work, and we know that once we enter the professional filmmaking world we probably won’t be in such a comfortable environment. That’s not to say, though, that everything about filmmaking is prohibitively expensive. The actual equipment one needs to make a film, from soup to nuts, is very affordable. Chances are, you already own the major components. They are:
A video camera:
Most new video cameras shoot onto memory cards. The new handheld, consumer grade cameras yield a really impressive image, and they shoot in HD, but cameras that shoot on standard definition mini-DV are great, too. They’re just as easy to use, they have all the ports necessary to edit footage, and the fact that you’re shooting onto tape gives you the added security of having actual masters, meaning a tangible copy of the original footage you can archive.
A computer with at least 100 gigs of hard drive space:
For the Digital Filmmaking for Teens courses we use Apple computers because Final Cut Studio, the editing and finishing software we teach, only runs on Macs. I personally have a MacBook Pro with 4 gigs of RAM, and it edits High Definition footage like a champ. Before that, though, I had a PowerBook G4, and if I didn’t start getting professional editing work that requires a more robust processor I’d still be using it.
For now, a computer with a lot of hard drive space, at least 100gigs, will suffice. But once you start getting serious about your film projects, you’re going to want to invest in an external hard drive. Something in the 250 gig range is perfectly acceptable. Just make sure that the drive spins at 7200 rpm and that it has a FireWire port (as opposed to just a USB port). Glyph hard drives are really reliable and come with a great warranty. Here’s the drive that just about everyone at NYU used during first year. You’ll notice that it works out to less than a dollar per gig:
Editing Software:
We teach Final Cut Studio at Digital Media Academy, and it is in my opinion the best editing software on the market today. The interface is very intuitive because most of the editing is done on the timeline; you trim the clips, move them to where they belong in the story, and before you know it you have a movie. Final Cut Studio comes with the programs Color (a great color correction tool), Compression, Live Type, and DVD Studio, which is such a powerful program that I’d pay up to $500 dollars for it if it were sold separately.
Blank DVD’s:
To screen your movie! Look for bundles of DVD-r; they also work great as back-up storage media.
And that, from soup to nuts, is what you need to make a movie: a camera, a computer, editing software, and blank DVD’s, and much of this equipment can be purchased at DMA at a considerable discount. In my classes, I make it clear that the important part about making a movie—the writing and storytelling—is free. It’s entirely within you. Now, with cameras, computers, and editing software at such reasonable prices, the expensive part isn’t all that expensive, either.
I am teaching DMA’s Digital Filmmaking for Teens courses at Harvard and Brown University this summer.
The 10 Best Academic Programs for Documentary Filmmakers
News from HQ by Seamus Harte
It’s great when people recognize you for something you enjoy doing and do well. Digital Media Academy has once again been recognized for its world-class filmmaking program.
Digital Media Academy’s Documentary Filmmaking camp teaches future (and existing) filmmakers how to use the medium of film to tell a story. With instructors that are both award-winning filmmakers and educators with working experience in the industry, DMA’s filmmaking course gives you the chance to get first-hand experience from professionals.
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Ranked as one of the 10 Best Academic Programs for Documentary Filmmakers, DMA is in good company. Schools like Duke, University of Florida, NYU, and George Washington also made the list.
DMA doesn’t offer a Master’s Degree for attending filmmaking camps, but they do offer professional, top notch instruction. In fact DMA has been cited for it’s ability to provide a “quick but comprehensive taste of the craft.”
If you’re about to or have graduated high school and are thinking about attending a 4 year college to pursue a career in movie making, you should check DMA. They’ll help you get a head start on making your passion your career.
Editing in the real world.
News from HQ by Instructor
By Jenn Garrison, Filmmaking for Teens/Adults and Apple Certified Final Cut Pro Instructor
I have been teaching for DMA for almost 6 years now!
Wow! I always love the experience of working with the enthusiastic students that come to the variety of DMA classes I teach. I primarily teach Final Cut Pro courses as well as narrative film-making for both adults and teens.
When I am not teaching for DMA, I continue to shoot my own projects as well as teach and edit projects for some of the major studios here in Los Angeles.
I’ve taught editors how to use Final Cut Pro at Paramount, Sony and even NBC/Universal.
Over the fall, and currently, I have been cutting webisodes for networks like NBC/Universal and Mun2.
I love bringing samples of my professional work into the classroom when I teach, to better show my students what I face in the “real-reel” world media making environment. Some students want to pursue careers in Hollywood, some just want to make their vision come across the screen. Either way, I am there to help them however I can.
For this blog, I wanted to share some examples from one of the more recent editing I’ve done.
They are nothing fancy, and something that anyone who learns Final Cut Pro in DMA’s courses can certainly tackle. Enjoy!
Docusodes (a new genre for the web) created for NBC’s new show “Parenthood”
Teaching the Basics of Filmmaking
News from HQ by Lee Manansala
The basics of filmmaking are, to be perfectly frank, the most important things an aspiring filmmaker needs to know. Composition, screen direction, shot sizes, set direction—these are the things that get one hired as a director in the film, television, or advertising industry.
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Cinematic Vision
Students at DMA have creativity to spare. DMA’s filmmaking instructors teach them how to apply that creativity to the medium of film, and how to use the tools to realize their cinematic visions. It may sound odd to use a term like “cinematic visions” to describe short films made by teenagers, but it’s entirely appropriate—kids are eager to learn, and have lofty and amazing ideas—just like real filmmakers, they have a real sense of what they want their films to be.
In DMA’s film camps for teens students learn Final Cut Pro, an incredibly sophisticated (but intuitive) film editing program. Teens get the basics early on and very comfortably ease into using the software. At DMA we’re getting a lot of great instruction into 5 days or multiple weeks, depending on the course. Usually, during the first week, the end of the third day finds the entire class immersed in their project work.
If you’ve dreamt of making movies but never thought it was a possibility, check out how Digital Media Academy can get you started in this amazing industry. Imagine your credits at the end of the movie!
Sony Continues To Provide Professional HD Video Equipment For DMA Film and Video Courses Given At College and University Campuses in U.S. and Canada
Campbell, CA — The Digital Media Academy (DMA), a leading provider of film and video training for educators, adult learners and teens, announced today that Sony Electronics has renewed its official sponsorship and will remain the exclusive supplier of video equipment for DMA’s courses. Sony provides its most current state-of-the-art professional high-definition video cameras and other equipment for use by students in DMA consolidated classes, which take place throughout the summer on college and university campuses including Stanford, Brown, Harvard, U of Chicago, U of British Columbia in Vancouver, U of Texas, Austin and many more.
“DMA is thrilled to continue its successful relationship with Sony as a corporate sponsor,” said Dave Livingston, Director of Instruction for the Academy and its programs. “We’ve made our name providing beginner to advanced training for teens and adults, using the latest and greatest industry standard tools. This relationship puts the cutting-edge, professional Sony video technology, including the HDV™ series of digital video camcorders, directly into the hands of our film and video students.”
Sony’s high-definition camcorders are the choice of professionals working in a range of video applications including electronic field production and newsgathering, and event videography, as well as leading university film and video programs.
“Training programs like the Digital Media Academy are an important part of Sony’s educational focus,” said Shari Sentlowitz, Sony’s Education and Government marketing manager. “We are committed to preparing the next generation of industry professionals and educators, and we’re pleased to continue to be the exclusive video products provider to DMA’s film and video courses.”
About the Digital Media Academy:
The Digital Media Academy (DMA) is a nationally-recognized organization offering hands-on learning in a broad range of digital media technologies. DMA offers a wide range of courses targeted at kids, teens, adults and educators, Founded in 2001 by a group of professionals from Stanford University, DMA is known for its premier summer programs hosted at prestigious destination campuses nationwide. In addition to its summer programs, DMA provides on-site training to schools and companies throughout the year. For more information, go to http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org or call 866-656-3342.
Teens get the full film camp experience at Digital Media Academy summer camps and week-long courses.
Watch a movie created by teens in the Filmmaking course at University of Pennsylvania DMA camp this past summer. All teen students in the class played a part in writing the movie script, storyboard the movie scenes, acting in various shots around campus, filming with high quality cameras, directing the scenes, editing music for the video, and editing the video in Final Cut Pro on their own Apple computer.
This video is just one example of the creative movies that are created by teens at Digital Media Academy’s summer film camps. Enjoy the suspense-filled movie a group of DMA film students made entitled… “Re-Encountered”
All summer camp courses for teens
Directing Film: All About the Perfs
News from HQ by Instructor
By Katy Scoggin – Lead Instructor Hands On Digital Filmmaking for Teens
Right now I’m in the pre-production phase of a short film I’ll be shooting at the end of March. The project is a collaboration between me—I’m the writer/director—and a group of actors from the graduate acting program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
As a writer/director, I constantly have to communicate my vision to a bunch of collaborators: my actors, my DP (director of photography or cinematographer), my production designer, and my editor. But on set, when the camera is rolling, my most important relationship is with my actors. Directing is more about shaping and tweaking and discussing performances than anything else. It requires an ability to communicate, a strong will, great listening skills, and—perhaps more than anything else—concentration. Concentrating on performance, and knowing when you’ve got what you need, is immensely challenging to do in an environment where dozens of people and lights and equipment are always hovering just outside the frame. But once you’re in the cutting room, and you get to savor arresting performances, the hard work really pays off.
