Media Arts at Lakewood Ranch High School

 Instructor: Greg Klein


All Media Arts classes are held in the Digital Media Lab, Rm 531. The lab consists of 34 iMac desktop computers along with peripheral technology including scanners, card readers and printers. Students also have access to digital cameras, digital video cameras and limited access to tablets. Adobe Creative Suite is the primary software with particular emphasis on Adobe Photoshop both as an image-processing and design tool, Adobe Lightroom for digital photography and Adobe Premiere for video editing.

Adjacent to the Media Lab is the video/photography studio that contains a green screen, audio capture/editing tools and a tethered camera system with a small shooting cove for product photography.

                                                

The Media Arts program is geared toward laying the necessary foundation for advanced study in the Digital Arts. Classical studies of composition, elements and principles of design, color theory, etc. blend with current perspectives on media and emerging technologies. 

Students learn the process of design, while acquiring the technical skills required to realize their ideas. Ideation, refinement and visual problem-solving are daily activities as students work through and develop their own creative process.  

Technical assignments are intermixed with conceptual assignments, but ultimately the students understand that images communicate meaning and that the underlying ideas and concepts are as important as the image on the page, in the gallery or on the screen.

In order to encourage students to approach their work with thoughtfulness and intent, students will examine and consider relevant works from their field and post written responses. They will also present their own work with an explanation of their conceptual intent as well as their process and technique.

*Media Arts classes are documented through this Blog. Much of my communication with the students will be via the specific page for a given class. All assignments, notes, pertinent information and links to further information can also be found on the Blog. 

**In turn, each student will maintain a Blog through which they communicate with the teacher; responding to questions, critiquing work and posting their assignments for grading.

Below are links to pages for the individual classes. There is a link to student pages on each of the class pages.


Creative Photography I

Creative Photography II

Digital Art I

Digital Art II

Filmmaking I


*Making use of web-based technology as a content delivery system allows leveraging the differentiated, multi-modal nature of the web, while harnessing the vast (and expanding) landscape of visual and textual information that resides there.

Web-based course materials also provide convenient access from home and on mobile devices, resulting in more opportunities to stay current and engaged in the class proceedings.

**Maintaining their own Blogs allows students to learn and hone technical communication skills that will be a cornerstone of much of their future education and careers.