The Piedmont Highlander

The Student News Site of Piedmont High School

The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

Lights, camera, and where is the action?

Lights%2C+camera%2C+and+where+is+the+action%3F

At the most recent Career Day, 73 students signed up for the Film Live Action presentation, and 87 chose Film Animated. After such a resounding display of interest, I would like to encourage PHS to look into developing live action and animated film courses.

Currently, students interested in pursuing careers in either film or animation must venture outside of school to study and hone their skills. They can join our student-led film club, but they find no opportunities in the course catalogue to pursue the subjects they are passionate about. To be the best school possible, Piedmont should actively encourage these students to follow their passions, just like it does for those interested in ceramics, math or history.

The digital media arts courses I propose would be continuations of the introductory ones taught at the middle school. As a former student in both the film class and the animation class offered by PMS, I can attest that the semester-long courses merely whet the appetites of students interested in pursuing the digital art forms as careers.

When we reach high school, inspired by watching “Psycho” and “Rebel Without a Cause” and excited by making short animations with clay and paper cut-outs, we quickly find our schedules crowded with academics and void of the subjects for which we had just discovered enthusiasm. Without stimulation, the passion quickly fades.

Some might say that the basic classes at the middle school do enough by simply introducing the topic, allowing some students to recognize their interest and then follow up with an extracurricular activity. This path saves the costs of additional classroom space, materials and staff. Yet I would say in response that high school is absolutely not too late to discover a new hobby or possible career path.IMG_2878

Since 160 students came to hear about film, the question of student interest has already been answered.  If this enthusiasm is any indication, I’d imagine new film and animation classes would have no issue filling a classroom.

Not all those students will be passionate enough about the subjects to actually pursue them as careers, of course, but that does not take away from the fact that they are interested. That interest is enough to make new film and animation classes valuable—not necessarily as the direct preparation for a future job, but as investigation into a subject of curiosity.

As for the costs, I don’t claim to know how much two new classes would require, or for that matter, how much the district is capable of spending. I only ask that it be brought up for consideration.

The great filmmaker Stanley Kubrick once said, “The best thing that young filmmakers should do is to get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all.” That is all a high school film or animation class would need to provide: an outlet for creative expression and productivity. 

Donate to The Piedmont Highlander

Your donation will support the student journalists of Piedmont High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
Donate to The Piedmont Highlander