MURFREESBORO — For
the past week, 14 youngsters have delved into the world of professional
journalism in a supportive, fun-filled multimedia environment.
They departed MTSU’s second annual Innovation J-Camp, which
was held July 11-15 on campus, with a greater knowledge of what it takes to be
skilled in videography, still photography, audio gathering and editing,
internet posting and writing stories.
“We just pushed them a little harder because we found out
that it didn’t take them as long as we thought it would to write a story or to
edit pictures or to create a website,” said Val Hoeppner, director of MTSU’s
Center for Innovation in Media and camp director.
One of Hoeppner’s games, “Photo Bingo,” challenged the
campers to take pictures of specific scenes around campus in order to fill all
the squares on their bingo cards. Some of the scenes included “skateboard or
bicycle” and “something blue.”
The camp’s partnership with Canon made it possible for the
students to learn their craft with some $60,000 worth of donated photography
equipment.
Rebecca King, a 17-year-old Central Magnet School student,
said she gravitated toward still photography more than any other medium, a
tendency she had not discovered before attending the camp.
“I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of field I wanted to go
into in the media,” said King. “So this is a good way to experience journalism
and filmmaking and photography and see where I really fit in.”
King also noted that the camp has given her a head start on
creating work with which she can impress college recruiters and prospective
employers.
“It helps you build a portfolio so you can already have
things to show people,” she said.
Hoeppner confirmed that the camp is an amazing recruitment
tool, noting that three incoming freshmen in the fall 2016 semester will be
former campers.
Each camper paid $150 for the intense, weeklong experience,
which covered meals, snacks and water. The instructors included Ken Paulson,
dean of the College of Media and Entertainment; journalist-in-residence Whitney
Matheson; incoming assistant professor Rhyne Piggott; filmmaker Allie Sultan;
songwriter and assistant professor Odie Blackmon; and three student mentors.
For more information about Innovation J-Camp, contact
Hoeppner at 615-898-2337 or val.hoeppner@mtsu.edu.
No comments:
Post a Comment