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!

The PAWS PSA Contest

The PAWS Public Service Announcement Contest has begun! The Advanced TV Production students each created their own PSA for the Detroit Bully Crew, C.H.A.I.N.E.D. Inc, or the All About Animals Clinic. We screened the videos in class with Ms. Akins' AP Biology students, and voted on our favorites. The top videos in each category were then uploaded to the Fitzgerald's PAWS Facebook Page.

Check out the videos on the Fitzgerald's PAWS Facebook page, and vote for the best one by "liking" it. The video with the most votes by December 16th will win a cash prize!!!