At the high school 42 electives are offered for students to take. One elective is News Media and Film Studies. The class is run by Mary Holton. The class teaches students about different media forms and ways people use them in their everyday jobs. The class is found helpful when it comes to filming and Journalism.

  Senior Cyrus Hackman has learned about movie soundtracks.

“We learned a lot about shot composition and the way soundtracks and scores are made and foley sounds which are the fake sound like closing a door,” Hackman said.

In the class, students also learn about photography and the different ways to take pictures. Students learn about the rule of thirds and how that affects the image. 

Many students in the class have a favorite thing they learn about in the class. For junior, Nikita Rogov, his favorite unit was learning a lot about photography. 

“I think for me, the most exciting thing was the shot composition because I like taking pictures. In the class we got to try different compositions so I got to take a lot of pictures and it was a lot of fun,” Rogov said.

Students also learn about different films and how they are shot. Students will get to watch movies and discuss different lighting techniques.Students will also learn how to wright feedback on a movie. After students learn about movies, they get to learn how to make a podcast and how people record and edit them. 

The class is hands-on and interactive. Students get to film videos, take pictures, create newspaper outlines, and record podcasts. In the beginning of the class, students were able to learn about how to set up yearbook layouts. When students learn about the layouts they will cut pictures out of magazines and put them into a layout you made. After the film unit there is a research project to know more about different types of movies and tv shows.  Students will get to use a range of online media platforms such as adobe indesign, photoshop, premiere pro, and canva. 

Many students enjoy the class and are excited to learn more. Junior Claire Taylor enjoys the class a lot.

“I definitely would recommend the class. It is a really fun class and I think that everyone would enjoy it,” Taylor said.