Joe Johnson
Special to In Motion
To keep up in a rapidly evolving world, Daytona State College continues to introduce video and multimedia courses into its longtime curriculum based on “freezing moments,” also known as photography.
“Five years ago we didn’t have a video course. Now we have two video courses and one multimedia,” says Eric Breitenbach, Senior Professor at DSC’s Southeast Center for Photography.
Three classes may not seem like much, but other courses in drawing and design also have been added and traditional darkroom classes are on their way out. And this is only in the long-standing photography major. A new major is now entertain its second year. Offered as a two-year Associates of Science degree, the Interactive Media AS is proving to be a popular draw among media-savvy students.
The new degree offers classes in journalism, music, web design and web publishing, graphic design and of course photography and video. Five writing classes are required because the focus is on storytelling.
In fact, DSC graduates such as Steven Katona — who landed the job of managing editor of the Independent Florida Alligator based on his editing and writing ability — are finding their multimedia skills come in quite handy in the real working world.
Katona came back to DSC at the end of spring term to talk to students about what it takes to succeed in the media in the Digital Age. Speaking to the Journalism 1100 students, as well as the Mass Media and Popular Culture class, his message was clear: read a lot, write a lot and be able to present your work on multiple platforms.
“It’s all about story telling,” says Breitenbach. “They come into the program already knowing the software, it’s the story telling that is the focus and technology has offered a new story telling medium.”
Breitenbach recalls a student that asked if he could shoot an assignment on his phone. “At the time I thought that didn’t make any sense, but it makes perfect sense. That was 10 years ago and the quality is much better now. It just shows how video and phones are the biggest change in the profession and they’re everywhere.”
Some fundamental darkroom classes will still be offered but only as hobby, or elective classes. The schools primary focus is on professionally ambitious students.
One recent graduate, Daniel Dorsa is currently working in Brooklyn as a freelance photographer and at the studio Root. Just out of college, Dorsa and a friend began a music and art blog based out of Orlando called Tiny Waves.
“We worked on Tiny Waves for about a year before it spawned into a collaboration with the strictly music review blog, Portals,” says Dorsa.
During this time he reviewed bands throughout much of Florida but after being offered an internship with VICE, Dorsa moved to New York City. Most of his work with VICE was based on music reviews but it was his knowledge of photography that landed him a job at the studio Root.
“It’s gnarly. It’s really insane. Sometimes I work 17 hour days. I hardly work less than 12, but it’s a great platform for meeting people and learning,” Dorsa says about his experience at Root.
While Dorsa mostly works in the equipment room and as an assistant during shoots he is thankful for what he learned at DSC and can see its benefits further down the road.
“We shouldn’t override photo altogether but I agree that a strong focus should be placed on video,” Dorsa says. “It’s super important to start learning it. You can’t do just one thing anymore.”
Dorsa went on to describe the people he’s seen who’ve worked in fashion for many years and unfortunately the videos he’s seen them make. “I’ve seen a lot of terrible videos because they weren’t trained. But it’s part of the industry now.”
While Dorsa praises DSC’s focus on video and multimedia he half jokingly criticized their poor selection of industry standard equipment and lack of training as assistants.
“Everyone wants to be the photographer,” Dorsa says, “but you’re not going to start as one. If you know your equipment you can be a better assistant and the more jobs you get the more connections you make.”
More importantly Dorsa says, “No one is good at it right away, and no one is good at every aspect of it.”