So this was fun.
I was working a gig one fine day, and was chatting with local Bay Area filmmaker and all around nice guy, Kevin Johnson. He asked if I was interested in talking to his high school classes that he taught at BADA, the Bay Area Digital Arts facility within San Lorenzo High School in Oakland.
About a month went by and I got the call that a date had opened up to speak to two classes of his 10th graders.
I set up my prompter on their camera, gave a short talk on the “magic/science/history” of teleprompters, then my path to getting to being a freelance prompter operator. They asked great questions about why people use them, and I shared different scenarios where they work well.
We then got into action, having one student read the prompter, while another scrolled the words on a sample teleprompter script. We swapped roles with the rest of the students about 7 times before the bell rang.
It was a blast!! I love the energy of the students and their questions. Doing pro bono stuff is a large part of my life, professional or personal… although, technically I did get two slices of pizza out of the deal 🙂
The thing you have to know though, is that this is an amazing state of the art studio, not some low budget classroom. BADA has been around for a while now but in 2014 opened its new six million dollar facility, with design and install expertise from Emeryville’s Advanced Systems Group. (ASG) Yay, local dollars!
The cool thing about this, is that the space is available for rent to the public. Bring one or more of their advanced students on as crew, and the price drops. This to me is an awesome win-win. You get a deal on a state of the art studio space and the student gets real time education… which is then shared, since the student debriefs their fellow students after the production is over.
I’m just grateful I got to be part of this experience. Hopefully I’ll see more productions at their facility as the word gets out.