Written by Albert Frates : DMA Teen Alumnus

Throughout my three summers spent at Digital Media Academy, I have met many new people, that share common goals, and interests.  I have grown more aware of the different aspects of digital media, and have been inspired by both instructors and other students.  However DMA has brought me more than inspiration, and new friends.  It’s brought me a solid footing for my future.

I began at DMA summer 2006 only fourteen years old at the time. I took Maya I with Adam Watkins, knowing very little about Maya, or what could be achieved.  In less than a week Adam had brought the  class out of the unknown, and into what I would call my first true steps of digital media at a professional level.  Opening many new doors I began to pursue other aspects of media, (Film, Animation, TV, Games, Web Design, etc…).  The following school year I worked on many media projects, for my school.  Live event recording such as Graduation, and sporting events was the beginning. Later entered into a student film festival. Using Adobe After effects, and Final Cut Pro for the first time I managed to craft what would be a festival winner.  Knowing this was something to potentially pursue I went back to DMA summer 2007.  Taking classes that both focused on After Effects (Motion Graphics, and Compositing) with Betsy Kopmar, and Hands on Digital Filmmaking with Travis Schlaffman.  (On a side note I recommend both courses).  Sure enough I was right that fall I was had met up with a producer on a school trip in Seattle who was working on live events for DECA (A High school organization for business and marketing students).  After talking to him briefly during a seminar he had invited me to come check out the production backstage.  Getting to sit in on, and at one point help out with the production I was offered an internship at the end of the show for the next conference in spring.  This is where I love to point out that this would not have been possible without Digital Media Academy playing a role in my past.  Because of the tools, and concepts learned at DMA I was fluent working in a professional environment at at the age of sixteen when the challenge of a live production was presented to me I was able to tackle it without any issues.  My point is it’s never to early to start achieving your goals, especially with DMA.

On a last note which is something I kinda blew off at the start of this post.  Friends and connections you make at Digital Media Academy, is possibly one of the best parts of DMA.  The more people anyone knows in life the better off they are, and once again most of the people at DMA will share goals, and interests that you do.
It’s never too early to start, achieving your goals.

Written by Seamus Harte from the John Lennon Bus

Visit http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org to find out how to grow your digital brain.

Visit http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/give to sign up for your chance to win a trip to one of the many digital media camps happening this summer.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw7LF_RorSw

Written by Ben Hazen from the John Lennon Bus

Apple’s Logic Pro 8 is a really amazing and intuitive program for recording/arranging audio, and its great comping function is just one example why. This is especially effective with vocals since it can sometimes be difficult for a singer to hit every note and rhythmic value of the melody. With Logic Pro 8, the process has been made much easier on both the engineer and the artist. This also really helps to keep the vibe nice and mellow in the studio.

Start by recording a take of your vocalist. Don’t even start to stress about any mistakes that are made. When this is done, simply re-record over that take on the same track, concentrating on the sections that you think need to be re-done. Do this as many times as you like until you’re satisfied that the different sections from each take will add up to one great take. Now comes the real digital magic, my friends.

With the pointer tool selected, click in the left corner of the track’s region to open the take folder, showing all recorded takes within the track. Then, click-drag over the desired section of each take. As you do this, notice that Logic automatically compiles or “comps” each highlighted section into the topmost region, complete with crossfades. Notice too that selecting one area of a take de-selects that same area in the other takes because only one take can play at a time for each section. Next, drag the end points of each section to fine-tune your selections.  When you have all the best sections chosen, click on the arrow in the top right of the take folder to Flatten or Flatten and Merge the comped sections. The Flatten option will turn your selections into a series of regions that are movable within the track. The Flatten and Merge option will create one new region that includes all the chosen sections. Now just push play and watch the surprise on your vocalist’s face as they listen to the “perfect take”.

You also can use this technique to get a killer whalin’ guitar solo, thumpin’ bass groove, or to nail a difficult passage for any instrument. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes. P-Schwaze from the B-Haze.

=)BHazen

Announcing the Second DMA Camp Fair Free Tuition winner!

Congratulations to Darryl Sanjeant (Dominic) for winning the raffle for free tuition to the Digital Media Academy from our second round of camp fairs! Dominic can choose from our many great courses.

DMA attends many camp fairs across the country. Attendees are able to enter their name for a chance to win a free summer camp course by Digital Media Academy.

By Jan Ozer

Download a free primer on streaming media from DMA instructor Jan Ozer. The primer starts by defining commonly used streaming terms like bandwidth, streaming and data rate, and then explains universal encoding parameters like VBR and I, B and P-frames. Then it introduces readers to the big three codecs, H.264, VP6 and VC-1, and briefly compares and contrasts Flash and Silverlight. The primer finishes with a section on how to choose common encoding parameters like data rate and resolution.

This summer, Ozer will teach two courses for Digital Media Academy, Producing Video for the Web (3 days) and Web Video Compression & Delivery (2 days). The courses will be offered twice; once at Stanford (7/20-24) and once at Harvard (7/27-31). Check http://www.digitalmediaacademy.org/courses/all-courses.html#videopro for more details.

Here’s the URL for the streaming primer: http://www.streaminglearningcenter.com/articles/26/1/Download-free-streaming-media-primer-here/Page1.html

By Lee Manansala, Teen Filmmaking Instructor DMA @ Harvard University

The basics of filmmaking are, to be perfectly frank, the most important things an aspiring filmmaker needs to know.  Composition, screen direction, shot sizes, set protocol—these are the things that get one hired as a director in the film/television/commercial industry.  The students I taught at DMA had innate creativity to spare, and I was just there to teach them how to apply that creativity to the film medium, and how to use the tools of the medium to realize their cinematic visions.  I’ll admit, it sounds funny to use a term like “cinematic visions” to describe short films made by teenagers, but it’s entirely appropriate—these kids were GREAT, eager to learn, and they had amazing ideas and a real sense of what they wanted their films to be!

I taught my students Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro, two incredibly sophisticated filmmaking programs that intimidate and baffle some of my fellow graduate film students at NYU.  The programs are, however, very intuitive, and by explaining the basics of what the program is actually doing, I found that my students took to both programs very aptly and comfortably.  By the end of the third day of instruction, the entire class had what I like to call “the edit face”:  the look on a seasoned editor’s face when she/he is fully immersed in a project.  On the final day of instruction, the class outputted their projects onto DVD with DVD Studio Pro, something I didn’t do until my first semester at NYU.

I’ve dreamt of making movies since I was 10, but never thought it was a possibility.  The countless names on the credits at the end of every movie made me think it was an incredibly involved process and a near impossible task.  I wish a resource like DMA was available to me when I was younger.  The process would have seemed less complicated, I would have met kids with dreams in common with my own, and I would have spent less time doubting myself  and more time learning and becoming inspired by the tools of filmmaking.

By Mike Johnson, Lead Digital Photography & Photoshop Instructor, DMA @ UC San Diego

Iain Macmillan had ten minutes one August morning in 1969 to take the iconic cover shot of the Beatles crossing Abbey Road.  Out of half a dozen frames, number five became the cover.  He used film and he didn’t have Photoshop.  What would that image have looked like if he’d had today’s digital tools?  Probably not much different.
Today, a creative mind armed with a digital camera and Photoshop are capable of creating virtually any image imaginable.  But will others believe it?  One of the greatest challenges for the photographer in post-production is to exercise restraint on the computer.  As a judge of several photo competitions, the easiest images for me to pass over have been those that were over-processed in Photoshop.  Likewise, there is no substitute for a good eye.  Synthesizing a natural-appearing image from disparate elements is impossible without understanding the fundamental principles of photography and the behavior of light.

Two images of the famous crosswalk taken in April of this year; which one is real and which one was ‘Shopped? Click each for an enlargement.

In Digital Photography and Photoshop I, we’ll concentrate on techniques to ensure others will enjoy our images without bemoaning our clumsy use of either camera or software. Register now.