Welcome to Scotts Valley High School’s Video Productions website!
Any high school class with a foundation built on good times and creativity is going to generate a lot of student interest. Our 2003/04 Video Productions class did just that – to the tune of 77 sign-ups. Unfortunately, we could only take so many students. But if the product is any indication, it’s safe to say we have an excellent group of people that are dedicated to learning, entertaining, and of course, getting that shot just right.
 
What makes SVHS VP different from other video-based classes? Enough to write on a website about, obviously. Both of the instructors are of the same age as the students and armed with the same enthusiasm. We recieved a grant from the Best Buy foundation, and we are one of twelve schools in the nation to have received a hefty NEA grant to purchase all the equipment we need.
That equipment consists of 6 eMacs, 1 Mac G4, 1 Mac G5, and enough top-of-the-line Apple video editing software to pay for Steve Jobs’ next three vacations. And the curriculum is focused and intense enough to turn out truckloads of high-quality, engrossing product, but fun enough to keep the students from declaring mutiny.
Students declare mutiny a lot, especially at this phase in their life, when they aren’t sure who they are, and can’t stop declaring mutiny on things.
But I digress. There are two basic lesson plans within VP (Production and Screenwriting) that work in very different ways.
 
Production encompasses the storyboarding, the filming, the editing, and the reshooting. Lessons taught in the Production unit include operating Final Cut Pro, Adobe After-Effects, DVD Studio Pro, cameras, green screens, and much more. Drew Mylrea teaches the Production unit. The Screenwriting unit, taught by Brian Firenzi, focuses on script formats, dialogue, characters, and creating scripts that connect with the audience. One unit can’t work without the other, unless you’re Jerry Bruckheimer, in which case you seem to do just fine without any screenwriting instruction at all.
On the SVHS VP website, you’ll have access to everything, from the projects the students create to the lessons that helped them get there.
It’s a lot like being in the class itself, only without that awkward smell coming from the corner of the editing room.
 
In the end, what keeps this maiden voyage from collapsing in on itself is the hard work from the students, the teachers, and the parents. Special thanks go to Karin Babbit Chilcott and Erik Wyner for their consistent support and guidance, as well as Principal Ken Thomas for giving this ambitious project the go-ahead. With that kind of help, the class can go nowhere but up.