High School Digital Media Class

Digital Media class is an increasingly popular high school art elective. Students meet with their art teacher, Brian Thornhill, twice a week in the upstairs loft of the light-filled art studio. Thornhill offers students many ways to explore the power of image making, storytelling, and conveying messages through digital art, digital photography, and video. Students explore traditional and modern genres in each medium as they find their own interests, style, and voice. Students gain experience shooting with digital cameras, creating and editing photos and videos on iMac computers, and posting work onto their own digital sketchbooks to share with each other the world.

Photography

Students are introduced to works of great photographers to learn about composition, focus, shadows and reflection, in both color and black and white. With digital SLR cameras in hand, students are often paired up with one or several photo assignments to complete in an allotted time on campus. Students review and discuss their work together, and assignments increase in complexity throughout the semester.

Short Films

With video making becoming so ubiquitous and familiar to young adults, Digital Media offers students time to go beyond the quick social media edit to create short movies. Students are encouraged to tell a unique story while learning about basic camera angles, editing styles, scoring music, and adding titles. By writing scripts, recruiting friends as actors in their short films, and learning about editing software, digital media students learn to analyze film and filmmaking with fresh eyes.

Digital Sketchbooks

Throughout the semester students create a digital sketchbook that includes project images, notes and commentary. Usually in a slideshow format, students review these sketchbooks together throughout the semester. Finished work in photography and short film projects are on display at the end of each semester during High School Showcase.

Photo Gallery

The following gallery provides few examples of a black and white photography assignment exploring shadow and composition, from high school sophomore Estrella’s Digital Sketchbook.