Larry Bruce, Bavaria District educational technologist leader, and Becky Connolly, video teacher at Vilseck High School, demonstrate a multicamera video mixer for Mobile Studio at the Take One video symposium Tuesday at Hohenfels High School. (Pat Ridge / Courtesy of DODDS-Europe)
Larry Bruce, Bavaria District educational technologist leader, and Becky Connolly, video teacher at Vilseck High School, demonstrate a multicamera video mixer for Mobile Studio at the Take One video symposium Tuesday at Hohenfels High School. (Pat Ridge / Courtesy of DODDS-Europe)
Dave Bickham records a song in digital format Tuesday for a video project at Hohenfels High School, Germany, during the Take One video symposium. Watching Bickham are, from left, Raven Morales, Lauran Mier and John Valle, all from Patch High School. (Pat Ridge / Courtesy of DODDS-Europe)
Some DODDS video production students were in high-tech heaven this week during the Take One video symposium at Hohenfels High School in Germany.
Twenty-three students from the Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Europe worked on state-of-the-art equipment and software that is used by professionals in video production, according to Larry Bruce, educational technologist leader for the Bavaria District.
The 2½-day symposium was an intensive learning event, which ran Monday through Wednesday. During the mornings, students learned about software, equipment and techniques. During the afternoons, they worked on actual products, which were reviewed by all in attendance on the final day, Bruce said.
“The students are working from the time they wake up until they go to bed,” Bruce said. “They are very driven.”
Teachers from the participating schools — Ansbach, Hohenfels, Patch and Vilseck high schools — were on hand to lead the classes. Subjects included shooting and editing video in the field, recording a garage-band soundtrack and using editing software to complete the project, Bruce said.
The students were selected by video production teachers for the workshop and are to return to their schools to teach other students what they learned, he said.
The students, getting their first big taste of professional video production, were hooked, despite the long hours.
“This is definitely going to be one of my [college] majors,” said Courtney Pirosko, a Patch High School junior. “Whether you want to be in front of the camera or behind it, this really helps you understand the big picture of a production.”
A newcomer to the video production program at Ansbach, senior Mike Ewing said he studied harder to prepare for the symposium.
“When they opened up video production program at my school last year, I couldn’t take it because of scheduling conflicts,” he said. “I took it this year and studied a little harder to catch up to where other students were.
“This symposium is an awesome program that gives students another career opportunity to look into.”
