Teaching had always been on my mind, but I wanted to work in my industry first. I wanted to be able to bring real-world knowledge into the classroom. Way back in 2012, I had discussed the possibility of starting a film and photography program at a start-up school in Los Angeles but it wasn’t the right time.
Fast-forward to February 2020 when I receive a call from a longtime friend that had just started at a new high school and they were in search of a film and photo teacher. I was in post on my third feature film and had just started directing a feature length documentary but I felt like I should take the opportunity so I applied. I was offered the job in March of 2020, and at the time I could have never prepared for what was about to happen. I started on March 12, 2020 and on March 16 all schools in LA County shut down due to the pandemic. What was supposed to be a two-week hiatus turned into almost a year of teaching online in my office.
As this was my first teaching job, I had no preconceived expectations of what teaching would be, in-person or online. All I knew was I was going to put my all into this experience and see what was possible.
As an independent filmmaker I have never had exactly what I need to create, it’s part of the excitement for me. Would I like to have more money, time, or equipment? Of course, but that may never happen and I refuse to sit around and wait for it all to come together. The same applied to my new adventure, teaching from a computer.
As everyone probably knows by now, this was detrimental to the students in many ways. I’d be lying if it didn’t change me as well. The mental effects of this experience will be felt for decades as we try to explore how to get out of our own ways and be part of the social fabric of our neighborhoods. It changed how we interact with each other, and it changed how we learn. The learning part was what excited me.
For close to a year we created art on a computer, shared it on a computer, and learned from the computer with our little black zoom squares filling the screen. It was isolating, but we made it through. Humans are pretty good at surviving. I guess we like being alive, at least I do. In all of this creation, it shaped who I wanted to be as an educator, and in the end a person.
The Return
Why does this art form work and how do we know we are being manipulated?
In the spring of 2021, we returned to a classroom with masks and sanitation protocols. Don’t Stand To Close! 6 Feet! Testing, Testing, Testing, and not for a class. Somehow we persisted and kept moving forward. The disruption of a daily routine made me start thinking more critically about the human experience and the power of education.
In teaching film and media, I focus time on the critical exploration of the art form. Making it is easy, but knowing why it works is where the good stuff happens. If you know why the camera is where it is you can begin to understand how manipulative film and photography can be. As a film artist, I can take any situation and turn it into something that didn’t happen, and that’s a superpower that must be handled with responsibility.
After a year online, full of individualized media experiences, I knew it was time to focus on the why. The “why” is part of what I got in trouble for as a student myself. When I would ask questions in school it usually led to poor results, I remember most teachers I had not wanting to engage in conversation. We were just learning for the test, instead of a larger context. I wanted to be the larger context teacher.
We returned to the classroom and got to work. We explored the still and moving image, breaking down the artists' choices and why they showed what they showed. These are conversations that don’t have a definitive answer, and probably why a lot of schools are canceling art programs, we can talk about that later. In these conversations, I learned that Middle School and Upper School students had a pretty good grasp of what was happening. They understood the assignment.
1.81 trillion photos are taken worldwide every year, which equals 57,246 per second, or 5.0 billion per day.
-https://photutorial.com/photos-statistics/-
Media literacy and storytelling became the basis for what my classes teach. I learned that I can teach a person how to use a camera in an afternoon, but teaching them the psychology behind the why takes much longer. If the world takes over 5 billion images daily, shouldn’t we take this art form more seriously? Shouldn’t everyone have a basic understanding of what is happening?
This lesson is easily accessed through these photos of Prince William from a few years ago. Different angles present a different story. Your reality will depend on which one you saw first.
The End of The Beginning
Last week I had my last classes. The freshmen I started with graduated from high school moving on to the next adventure, and so will I. In the fall I will be moving to the original school I talked with in 2012 where I will be designing a new film and media program.
Our students have a small computer and camera in their pockets that can capture anything around them. We can create our own individualized reality during every event and experience. That comes with responsibility. If we all live in our own individual realities, then the human experience changes. which I think is fine as long as we understand what is happening.
In starting this program I have a few goals in mind, but I am also not naive and know things will change. I had a college professor once say that the key to this industry moving forward is to “adapt or die”. Streaming, Movie Theaters, and Education. We must continue to adapt as the world changes. I believe the future is full of wonderful opportunities, but I also believe that we need to adapt. Just like I did starting online, and just as I will in my next chapter.
Advice From a Student
I finished my last week at my previous school by putting together a small film festival. I wanted them to have the experience of screening their work in front of a crowd on a big screen. During the Q&A they were asked what advice they would give to someone starting and this is what I will end on.
“Just finish the film, you don’t know if its good or bad yet”
-Advanced Film Student 2023
Seize The Carp Official Trailer. Film drops June 19th for Free on Youtube.