More Programs Help Iowa Students Focus on Filmmaking Careers

Iowa Culture
Nov 4 · 4 min read
Allison Walker of Eddyville practices her camera skills at a workshop this spring at Iowa Public Television.

Allison Walker’s path toward becoming a filmmaker started with the 4-H Reporters Program at the 2018 Iowa State Fair.

The program provides students with recording equipment and sends them around the fairgrounds to make news videos. It helps students develop skills that could lead to careers in the media and movie business.

“I found out that I love videography,” said Walker, a junior at Eddyville High School, a few miles south of Oskaloosa.

After the fair, she downloaded a film app to her iPhone, got a microphone and pulled together a group of friends to create “The Wall Clock,” a short movie about a girl who gets bullied at school. It was selected for “The Film Lounge: Student Challenge,” a job-training program organized by Iowa Public Television, the Iowa Arts Council and Produce Iowa, the state office of film and media production.

“The lighting was bad and the audio was really bad,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m glad I did it because I met the people from IPTV and they got me involved in their mentorship program.”

Chuck Czech, IPTV’s manager of local programming, said the skills Walker picked up while making her movie are essential for today’s students.

“I see a need for people who are multi-disciplinary. They need to know computers, editing systems, lighting and audio,” he said. “But young people are more capable of handling those things these days because they’ve grown up with them. They’re a lot more accessible and a lot less expensive, too.”

Clark Colby, who oversees the 4-H Reporters Program, said he sees students adjusting easily to evolving technology.

“Youth right now are 100-percent native with technology,” he said. “You only have to show them once, and they’re not afraid to try and they’re not afraid to fail. They become comfortable with it very quickly.”

But with new technology, storytelling is still the №1 skill that filmmakers need to be successful, said Liz Gilman, executive producer of Produce Iowa, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

“Storytelling has been and always will be the soul of making movies and other media productions,” she said. “The storytelling can’t be automated.”

Produce Iowa’s executive director, Liz Gilman, interviews Allison Walker at the 2019 screening of “The Film Lounge: Student Challenge” at Iowa Public Television.

It’s a note of caution that has taken root in classrooms across the state, according to Kirk Johnson, a broadcast and film instructor at the Des Moines Public Schools’ Central Campus.

“Kids today are already media literate, so we focus a great deal on the storytelling plus the planning, creation and critique of the production,” he said. “We do all of that in addition to helping them learn the nuts and bolts with tripods, cameras and other equipment.”

His students get to experiment with different genres, from music videos to westerns to public service announcements.

“We give them the freedom to make mistakes, which can be a strange new experience for them,” he said. “But I tell them the only reason I know anything is because I’ve made mistakes myself along the way.”

That strategy is paying off. Central Campus trains 130 digital media students per semester, and many of them stick with the program for two years.

“Some of them land at colleges or go immediately into careers at TV stations, where they operate cameras during newscasts or have other opportunities,” Johnson said.

As for Walker, her experiences at the State Fair, “The Film Lounge: Student Challenge” and IPTV have shaped her educational and career paths. The 16-year-old is producing sportsmanship videos for her high school and is taking mass media classes at Indian Hills Community College.

She’s also planning to submit another short film to this year’s “The Film Lounge: Student Challenge.”

“I know that’s going to make me better at doing videos and other media and movies,” she said. “My main focus right now is to be well-rounded at everything and then get really good at all of it.”

Iowa students in grades 7–12 can submit their short films to “The Film Lounge: Student Challenge” at thefilmlounge.org by Jan. 15.

Selected films and their filmmakers will receive statewide recognition and inclusion into The Film Lounge Academy, complete with a red-carpet premiere screening and workshops with industry professionals. The program blends art and technology to provide creative workforce training for students across Iowa.

Filmmaker Allison Walker of Eddyville takes a turn on the red carpet at the 2019 screening of “The Film Lounge: Student Challenge” at Iowa Public Television.

Jeff Morgan, Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs

Iowa Arts Council

Empowering Iowans to build and sustain culturally vibrant communities by cultivating creativity, participation & learning in the arts.

Iowa Culture

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The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs empowers Iowa to build and sustain culturally vibrant communities by connecting Iowans to resources. iowaculture.gov

Iowa Arts Council

Empowering Iowans to build and sustain culturally vibrant communities by cultivating creativity, participation & learning in the arts.

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