Senior Celebration

Congratulations to the class of 2013! The seniors celebrated their last year of high school on Friday, November 16th at the Fitzgerald Gym. Here are a few highlights from the evening:


Remember to check out the Video Yearbook in May for highlights from the class of 2013's senior year!

Join the SADD Club!

Great news! I am now the club sponsor for SADD - Students Against Destructive Decisions! That's right, the club that sponsors the Mr. Fitz competition, and brings in a crashed car to spread awareness about the dangers of drinking and driving. We have had a few meetings so far, and would like to invite you to join us at our next meeting - Monday November 19th.

**** Right now we are collecting winter coats, boots, hats, gloves, etc for Homeless Awareness Month. **** All coats collected will be distributed to Fitzgerald Families, so do something sweet and help keep our Fitz families warm this winter! Coats can be dropped off in the main office of the TV studio!!

Lanyards for Sale!!

Purchase your new lanyards from E-268 or the Spartan Shop and support the TV Production classes! Lanyards are just $5.00!!!

Video Response: Public Speaking

Have you ever watched a video and thought - hey I can do that better! Well, I certainly have! As I was preparing a lesson on proper delivery techniques for my Public Speaking class, I came across this video:



Two speech teachers decided to put together examples of what to do and what not to do when delivering a speech. Although the teachers are hilarious, and the information is great - I found myself distracted by the lack of a tripod, microphone or white balancing in the shot.

So, I said to my students - let's do this...better! Here's what we came up with:



What do you think? Did we accomplish our goal? What videos have you seen that you think you can do "better"? Comments welcome!

Welcome Students!

I'm super excited for the 2012-2013 school year! This year the Fitzgerald TV Production classes are now on Twitter! Follow us here! I look forward to an exciting school year and plenty of creative videos! This year's Film Festival will be Wednesday, April 17th at 7:00pm! Have a great year everyone!

2011-2012 Video Yearbook

Attention class of 2012 - we have a special treat for you!

This year's video yearbook features interviews with seniors, teachers, video from pep rally's and senior events, along with photo montages from Prom and much more!

Check out this sneak peek of the 40 minute video:



Order your copy by contacting Mrs. Smith, or bring $10.00 to Graduation!

Fitzgerald Student Film Festival

Follow us on TWITTER: @FitzTVProduction or #FitzFilmFest

You are invited to the Fitzgerald Student Film Festival! Friday, May 18th at 7:00 pm in the Fitzgerald High School Auditorium! Scary Movie Trailers, Music Videos, Stop Motion Animation, and more! Come out and support our TV Production students, they have worked hard all year to see their videos on the big screen!

Fitzgerald's Open House

Tonight, Fitzgerald High School will host an Open House for students and families across the state who are interested in enrolling in the fall. The open house will showcase our elective programs and feature a video we created that highlights all of the classes. Here is the section that depicts our TV Production program: What do you think? Are you a school of choice student? What program drew you to pick Fitzgerald? Leave your comments!

Hallway Expectations

From the creators of "Auditorium Behavior" comes... "Hallway Expectations"... The Advanced TV Production class was once again asked to create a short film depicting appropriate behavior at Fitzgerald High School. This time, the administration wanted us to address the chaos in the hallways during passing time. Teachers put together a list of behaviors they wanted to see improved, and how students can improve them. We took that list and gave one issue to each group of two students. That group then brainstormed how we could show this to the school. After running their pitch by the rest of the class, we started production. This time we went for a more comedic approach and threw in a reference to the great Tarantino (did you catch it?). The staff and students haven't seen our final product yet, it's set to air on March 19th. Until then, enjoy this video and let me know what you think! Do you think anything needs to change in our hallways? Have you ever been late to class because the hallways were so congested with people standing around that you just couldn't get through? Do you find yourself with a splitting headache after standing in the hallway for only thirty seconds? How do you think this video will impact our school? How would you have done the video yourself? Leave your name in the comments for extra credit... Check out more of our videos on our YouTube Page.

Orchard Lake Film Festival

On Friday, February 3rd, several TV Production students from Fitzgerald attended the Orchard Lake Film Festival at West Bloomfield High School. While we did not submit any entries into the contest, we did enjoy listening to the presenters, and watching student films from other schools. My favorite moment from the day was when Gary Schwartz, animator from Single Frame Films, presented a stop motion demonstration.

He selected a series of sounds that were already mapped out for frame duration, and asked student volunteers to create movement frame-by-frame for the duration of the sound. The effect was exciting and presented a unique approach to our class stop motion projects in the future!

Next year I hope that we can enter some of our own student work, as the top prize was a brand new HD camera and the second prize was a $1,000 scholarship from the Motion Picture Institute. Now that we know what to expect from the event, I look forward to what we can bring next year!

Comments? Questions? You know the drill...

Video Valentines!

Fitz News Presents: Video Valentines Send a Message to your Sweetie On the Daily Announcements Too shy to appear on camera? No problem! You can write out your message, and we will air it on screen with fun Valentine’s Day hearts and candy. $1.00 Written Message $5.00 Video Message February 6 – February 10 All Lunch Hours Video Valentines will air February 14th 5th Hour on Fitz News

The Do's & Don'ts at Fitzgerald

As we sit back and observe the comings and goings at Fitzgerald, a few things come to our attention. It seems that there are certain situations in which our students have a hard time knowing what behavior is expected of them. At this stage in the game, it is assumed by most secondary teachers that these expectations have been taught previously... but what if they haven't? Fitzgerald staff has decided that it's important to take some time to teach, or remind, students what their behavior should be in various situations, and how that behavior impacts our school's reputation as a whole.

In order to make this experience a little more entertaining, the administration asked our class to create some videos that would teach the proper behaviors. We had some fun putting together our first video in class, and I really enjoyed being able to work with the whole class on this project!

Check out the video, and leave us a comment. If you helped make the video, let me know what you thought about the experience and the final product. Do you have any thoughts on the behavior at Fitzgerald? Do you think things like how to behave in an assembly should be taught in high school? I'd love to hear your feedback!