Programs

The Media Arts Departments at Valley College consists of three programs, Broadcasting, Cinema, and Media Arts.

The Cinema Program, offering both Associates Degree and Occupational Certificates, has existed since the 1960's. While being born in traditional film production, has evolved with the industry's move toward using digital media tools.

The Broadcasting Program, also with a many-decades legacy, includes Radio and Television, with options in Production and Performance. The technologies for these areas has also changed over the decades. Updated radio systems include hard drives and computer software to manage audio sources for on-air production. A new digital media-based Television Studio will start construction soon and will be equipped with the latest digital television tools.

The Media Arts Program offers Associate Arts Degrees and Occupational Certificates. Using the latest digital media tools, the Media Arts Program provides choices of options in Directing, Producing, Post-production, and Screenwriting for both the A.A. Degrees or the Certificates.

Description of the Program

Curriculum

The existing Media Arts at Los Angeles Valley College is a convergence of the Broadcasting and Cinema departments with new digital Media Arts, and is supported by courses in such programs as Commercial Music/Recording Arts, Fine/Graphic Arts, Photojournalism, Theater Arts and Computer Science.

The Media Arts Department curricula are centered on a “from-script-to-screen, ideas to programming, and concept to delivery” intensive approach to production, with the student wearing all the “hats” (producer, writer, director, cameraman, editor, soundman, production manager, gaffer, grip, etc.). In Cinema, students use 16mm film equipment for all beginning, intermediate, and advanced workshop courses, with experiences related to areas of video and multimedia production. In Broadcasting, television production students use three-camera studio techniques and radio students use both analog and digital audio technologies. In Media Arts, students concentrate on state-of-the-art digital imaging, motion, editing, and compositing technologies as well as experience courses in the traditional film and television curricula.

The Media Arts Department instructs students in the language and culture of various media from the creation of the initial concept to final distribution. To accomplish this, our objectives are to:

• teach development, preproduction, production, post-production, and distribution;
• train students in basic skills (written and oral communications, computer applications, specific production techniques, and critical thinking);
• cover topics from research to business, from aesthetics to budgets, from basic fundamentals to keeping abreast of the current trends in the industry.

To better meet the needs of the media industries the college began developing a new entertainment studies curriculum that exemplifies the converging production techniques common to motion pictures and television. The Media Arts is taught by faculty who are both graduate-degree educated academicians and experienced industry practitioners with backgrounds in a broad spectrum of the fine, performing, literary, entertainment and communication arts. The course offerings are designed to provide a general overview of the media industries, their inter-relationships, while also concentrating on specific job skills. The students’ education will consist of both group and individualized experiences through lectures, seminars, lab/workshops, field activities, internships, and mentoring by industry professionals.

The key to the Media Arts Department’s curriculum is preparing the student to be a generalist as well as specialist. Students will come to understand the “why” as well as the “how” of production and appreciate the historical relationship of the current industry to what has come before. They will obtain an integrated multi-disciplinary education, including the liberal arts and humanities. They will be taught to value individual creativity while learning to work collectively, being both leader and collaborator.

The SCANS basic skills foundation includes reading, writing, mathematics, speaking, and listening. The students develop foundation fundamentals and problem-solving techniques while beginning to expand on pre-production and planning skills, such as the basics of creating a script, storyboarding, budgeting, scheduling, location scouting, and casting.

Students continue to add skills in the areas of production and post-production which include both digital and non-digital (or analog) methods of creativity. In addition, business skills such as writing letters and resumes, communicating on the telephone and e-mail, and conducting Internet research.

Independent Directed Study/Special Topics courses allow the students to develop in their areas of special interest such as: narrative, documentary, animation, or interactive/Web media under the mentorship of a supervising instructor. The Media Arts Department curriculum is project-based and designed to emulate the real world of the media industries.

This Occupational Certificate program is differentiated from that of other new media and multimedia offerings at other colleges. It attempts to give a student an overview of the industry and an understanding of the basics in the various disciplines/arts that contribute to the media/entertainment industry, rather than concentrating on a narrow track, such as animation or interactive multimedia, etc.

At this point in time, there is no other accredited academic program in the Los Angeles area that approaches the media arts and technologies in quite this way, affording the student a broad overview of several of the many arts and technologies that apply to the entertainment and information industries today. LAVC's Media Arts Certificate is designed to prepare its students for entry into the industry from various portals of entry, providing a general survey/overview of the industry, with some introductory specialization in one or two particular fields of interest.

B. See Current Course Outlines (at end)

C. See Curriculum Review Sheet (at end)

D. Philosophy

The Media Arts Departments has as its mission the preparation of students who both have a broad understanding of the many facets of Radio, Television, Motion Picture, Internet, and all that comprises the Media Arts and who will be able to participate in the entertainment industry as working, educated professionals.

E. Departmental Goals

The goal of LAVC Media Arts is for graduating/transferring students to have:

• background in one or more of the fine arts;
• effective communication skills, both verbal and written;
• ability to work successfully in a team environment;
• creative thinking and problem solving skills;
• ability to access information and a commitment to life time learning;
• skill to organize time and resources wisely;
• computer literacy, common business software applications and developed New Media software skills;
• proficiency in use of one or more application programming languages;
• and broad based portfolio of fine arts expertise and multimedia production experience.

Transfer: Students transferring to four year institutions will have both the required academic background, as well as the exposure to industry professionals. One of the ways students have contact with working professionals besides classroom present through programs such as "Meet The Pros".

Multicultural & International: We have a great deal of multi-cultural and international involvement in our department: • the industry professionals with whom the students interact as guest lecturers; • professionals at "Meet the Pros"; • hourly instructors and other students in the classes who all come from a wide variety of ethnic and social backgrounds. • the students learn that projects that are pursued by working professionals also reflect our multicultural world.

Occupational Education Goal: In the New Media/Multimedia/Entertainment Industry, change is the only constant as new communication technologies and business opportunities evolve, and hardware and software tools develop. The training requirements for entry-level workers are complex and variable, because (1) the new media crosses traditional industry sectors and (2) the disjointed and independent nature of both the businesses and the workers. Our students will be prepared with a skill set that includes business, art and technology. The existing discrepancy between the demand for people with a required skill set and the size of the disadvantaged population in Los Angeles presents a unique opportunity for the Media Arts Academy to connect the potential pool of talent with appropriate training, work experience, and career-track employment.

General Education Goal: The key to the Media Arts Academy curriculum is to prepare the student to be a generalist as well as a specialist. The student learns to consider the “why” as well as the “how.” They will obtain an integrated multi-disciplinary education, and learn to be both leader and collaborator. They will be taught to value individual creativity while learning to work collectively.

Advisory Committees: Lately the Media Arts Department has held collaborative advisory committee meetings with IDEAS, since many of their goals and needs for environmental scans overlap. The committee members have included local producers and directors, union training representatives, writers, actors, directors of photography and production designers. Faculty from L.A. City College, Glendale College, DeVry University and Cleveland High School have also participated in the annual event.

The Media Arts Department has presented several opportunities for enrichment:

• "Meet The Pros” Recently the IDEAS center sponsored this event, which included students from Los Angeles City College, L.A. city College, and Grant High School.
• Internships for students taking the Broadcasting 81,82, and 83 field study classes.
• Visiting pros from the entertainment industry frequently visit our campus as guest lecturers in many classes • Media Arts and IDEAS have sponsored the LAVC-originated Production Assistant (PA) bootcamp held with Workplace Hollywood.
• MASC, the Media Arts Student Committee, has been a successful student organization sponsoring the “ValleyLight” student screenwriting contest, and film screenings.
• The Department has offered several film screenings open to the public.
• The Media Arts Academy fund-raising telethon began in 2000 the fundraising drive to follow-up the generous $500,000 donation from the Harry Krupnick estate to the new Media Arts Building.
• Media Arts faculty instructor Alan Sacks created a series of videoconference events connecting with a class from the McCLUHAN Institute of the University of Toronto.
• Instructors Alan Sacks and Richard Holdredge made presentations at the League Of Innovation conference in Long Beach, sponsored by the L.A.C.C.D.

Community Services Goal: Support from the entertainment industry is essential for the program to achieve its goals and to insure that the training is applicable to the real world of industry. Through Workplace Hollywood, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and faculty relationships, industry representatives assist in designing programs and new courses, providing student internships, offering guest lectures, faculty internships, and on-site student field trips. The experience of visiting a sound stage, a mixing room, or an editing room provides them with practical knowledge that they cannot acquire from traditional classroom lectures or from a textbook.

Media Arts Department
Los Angeles Valley College
5800 Fulton Avenue
Valley Glen, CA 91401
[818] 947-2600 x5503