In this Thursday, January 28, 2010 picture, Mountain View High School senior Marcos Brown, 18, makes adjustments to a studio camera as he prepares to help produce a morning show for the school in Tucson, Ariz. The school's television production class works on various projects for the community and Marana Unified School District in addition to producing the morning show. (AP Photo/Arizona Daily Star, A.E. Araiza)
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Brendan Peterson and McCauley Harlan are amateur filmmakers.
Jordan Yentzer is a budding cameraman.
Manny Vinas-Barreras is prepping for a career as a film director.
All are honing their crafts in Bob Abel’s television production classes at Mountain View High School.
Abel’s advanced broadcast journalism class is designed to give his students the independence to pursue their own interests.
“It is what you make of it,” Yentzer said of the class. “I like the freedom of being able to have an image in my head of what I want it to turn out to be and then being able to achieve it.”
Yentzer, a junior, filmed Mountain View’s 2009 football games and edited what he captured to be shown on the school’s student-produced morning show — MVTV3.
Abel’s advanced students produce the daily morning show and also serve as the anchors.
Yentzer prefers being behind the camera.
“I’ve done talent. I don’t enjoy it as much as building up video. I like getting out there and getting into the action,” he said.
Abel’s students also edit audio and video productions, learn to compose shots and create digital portfolios. His senior students intern at local television stations and post-production companies.
They also have access to equipment and software that rival what professionals use in the field and in production houses.
“We get to play with Macs every day. We get to make our own movies with all of the equipment and on top of that, we have Mr. Abel, who is a genius,” senior Chris Klok said.
Abel is in his 16th year at Mountain View and built the broadcast program at the high school with zero equipment.
Today, Abel allows his students to use equipment to specialize and focus on their interests in and out of class.
“It’s relaxing to have a class where you’re not told to do this or this,” junior Taylor Seery said.
Peterson and Harlan, both seniors, are working on a feature-length movie.
The co-directors of “Crisis” already have a movie trailer and three scenes of their zombie movie in the can.
“It’s going to be good if we get it done on time,” Peterson said.
Completing the movie will look good on college applications, Peterson said.
Vinas-Barreras, a junior, is creating a portfolio for college. He’s working on artistic projects to add to it.
Vinas-Barreras and the others like the freedom the class affords them, but they also gain experience by producing work for Mountain View, the Marana Unified School District and local businesses and individuals.
Students have worked with Mountain View’s principal, Patricia Cadigan, to create videos for the school’s administration office. They’ve worked with teachers to create videos to promote campus clubs and with the district to produce promotional videos.
Their first video for the school district highlighted Marana’s Adopt-A-School program, in which local businesses partner with Marana schools.
Mountain View’s video for the program focused on projects happening at Marana schools and interviews with students.
“It was a fun experience to put that video together and then see people’s reactions,” Vinas-Barreras said. “Everyone seemed pretty pleased with it.”
Marana Mayor Ed Honea, Marana school district Superintendent Doug Wilson, educators and members of the Marana business community viewed the video last month at a Marana Chamber of Commerce education luncheon.
The district’s director of public relations, Tamara Crawley, guided the Mountain View team that produced the video.
“It was a fabulous success,” Crawley said. “It was a wonderful opportunity for the students to get some real-world experience.”
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Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.azstarnet.com
