The Center for Advanced Learning web site, director Bill Lesh
The CAL Five Minute Film Festival
Foodgeeks, owner Ryan Snyder
Avatar, Inc., owners Glyn and Sue Thomas
The Last Stand Online, webisode
In Transition, Floater video
Portland Community Media PSA

* There is rarely such thing as a part-time high school teacher. My observation is that excellent full-time teachers are 1.5 FTE or more and excellent part-time teachers are 1.0 FTE or more.

After college, I spent 8 years in print/web publishing and marketing/advertising before deciding to become a teacher. Now that I teach “part-time” (FYI, there is no such thing as a part-time teacher), I have time to write for you. Do you need someone to blog, write copy, manage your content, or edit your marketing materials? If so, contact me at barbmyers@yahoo.com to discuss your project and my affordable editorial services.

After the hair and make-up crew put a sufficient amount of gelatinous goo on on us zombies, we got to storm the staircase and attack the humans. Zombies of all kinds—kids, teens, moms, dads and grandparents—had fun partaking in the mayhem.

Watch us in episode 3, and see more episodes here: http://www.thelaststandonline.com/

This March, Martin and Rachel were so generous to come talk to my Intro to Digital Video class about their work and career opportunities in video.

My friend Heather’s co-worker’s friends Kyle and Adam (did you get that?) produce videos in Portland. Last March 2009, they needed help with a music video for the local band Floater, and I volunteered my assistance. The first day we shot under the Burnside and Hawthorne bridges where I helped direct traffic and was a gracious gofer. And yes, I made chocolate chip cookies for the crew…maybe I have a future in craft service.

The second day we shot at Zilla Sake on Alberta where most of the day was spent on getting the lighting right. For 15 seconds of video footage, it sometimes may take 5 hours of lighting and setup. After tape began rolling, they decided they needed another tall blond for the bar scene. So I threw on a change of clothes and made my debut as an extra. Look closely in this video and you may see me if you don’t blink.

This year, Adam and Kyle were so generous to come talk to my Intro to Digital Video class about their work and career opportunities in video.

If I could be a student for the rest of my life and not have to pay for it, I’d do it in a heartbeat. As a person who gets bored pretty easily, I love to learn new things and take classes. To feed that need, I regularly take video workshops at MetroEast Community Media and Portland Community Media. They offer training in state-of-the-art video equipment at very affordable prices. You can take classes in field production, lighting, audio, editing and studio production. Plus if you become a producer, you can check out their equipment for a nominal fee.

I created the PSA above in an editing workshop at PCM. They provided the video clips (which aren’t great), and I had to create the message, voice over and final edit. My video is definitely cheesy, but it is interactive and holds the viewer’s attention.

In 2009, I worked with senior digital media students at CAL to produce the first Five Minute Film Festival. We held the free event in the CAL forum and expected mostly seniors and their parents to attend. To our surprise, about 150 people showed up for the event. Needless to say we were delighted with the turnout but were unprepared to seat so many people and did not have an audio/visual system that was robust enough.

So on February 24, 2010, we hosted the event at the Mount Hood Community College Visual Arts Theater and charged $3 for students and $5 for adults. Over 250 people attended, and we made over $1000. Plus we had a professional panel of judges and gave away a $100 prize for the judge’s award and $50 for the people’s choice award. Both the event and movies were an improvement than the first year, and I can’t wait to see how next year’s event is even better.

Watch the winners and all five minute films here: http://calfilmfest.com/.

I am a Digital Media Instructor at The Center for Advanced Learning, a charter high school in Gresham, OR. My focus is video production, a media where anything can happen. My curriculum is modeled after the American Film Institute’s production process for moviemaking, so students get a real-life experience from pre- to post-production. If you’re not sure what that means, watch the above video I created that describes what students must do to create their movies.

Pre-production is a time where I hear lots of initial complaining from students, but then they realize the importance of planning in the end. Once students move to production, they have the great opportunity to use equipment from MetroEast Community Media, an organization that became our partner in September 2009.

During post-production, students learn to edit using Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express. They learn that video has so many variables that can go wrong, and troubleshooting is a valuable skill to have.

Loney Dear: Dear John
Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career
The Postmarks: Memoirs At The End Of The World
Passion Pit: Manners
Say Hi: Oohs & Aahs
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
The Low Anthem: Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
The Raveonettes: In and Out of Control
The Big Pink: A Brief History of Love
The Depreciation Guild: In Her Gentle Jaws

From Joshua Kaufman:

My top ten favorite albums that I bought in 2009 (but aren’t necessarily from 2009):

Alaska in Winter: Holiday
Passion Pit: Manners
Memory Tapes: Seek Magic
My First Earthquake: Downstairs
The XX: XX
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It’s Blitz
Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs
Bachelors of Science: Science Fiction
Cut Copy: In Ghost Colors
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

From Andy Myers:

Hmm I could only think of 8 so I kinda cheated on the last two:

Deer Tick: Born On Flag Day
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
Wilco: Wilco (The Album)
Islands: Vapours
Girls: Album
Dark Was The Night Compilation
Flight of the Conchords: I Told You I Was Freaky
Bon Iver: Blood Bank EP
Beatles Remasters
Neil Young Remasters

From Jude Huzicko:

Tough year. But there were a few stand-outs. And a lot of UK, NYC.

Broken Records “Until the Earth Begins to Part”
The Antlers “Hospice”
Phantogram “Phantogram – EP”
The Rest “Everyone All At Once”
The Twilight Sad “Forget the Night Ahead”
We Were Promised Jetpacks “These Four Walls”
Andy J. Gallahger “Helicopter Dolphin Submarine”
Pteroldactyl “Worldwild”
Pet Ghost Project “Idiot Brain / Genius Heart”
Gildon Works “Artful Rifle”

From Kevin Myers:

Girls – Album
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Kurt Vile – Childish Prodigy
Real Estate – Real Estate
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Its Blitz!
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
Bill Callahan – Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures

From Kevin Quaid:
Wow, either I need to listen to more music or I’m overly discriminating (I know the answer, the former)!

Fruit Bats – Ruminant Band
Passion Pit – Manners
Girl Talk – Feed the Animals (US release in 2009)

Barb’s Top 10 (in no particular order):

NASA: Spirit of Apollo
Dark Was the Night Compilation
Tune-Yards: BiRd-BrAiNs
We Were Promised Jetpacks: These Four Walls
The Thermals: Now We Can See
Monsters of Folk: Monsters of Folk
Metric: Fantasies
Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca
Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career
Bonnie Prince Billy: Beware

Honorable Mention:
Noah and the Whale: The First Days of Spring
YACHT: See Mystery Lights

Need more? Here are lists from other people who have fine taste in music.

Click here for past years’ lists.