The Television and Digital Media Production program at Ferris is a bachelor science degree
and we take a very hands-on applied approach to learning.
I chose to come to Ferris State because the quality of videos that I was seeing from students
from examples that I was shown it was
really impressive.
We have classes that
do remote productions and
streamed live events like the football games and the hockey games and
that are actually on TV and all of Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.
So it's really cool knowing that your work is real, and it's out there for people to see and admire.
There are many classes offered here in the TDMP program one of them is my favorite
it just so happened to be the script writing class.
It allows you to enhance your creative writing skills and
it allows you to be just as creative and free as you want to and
express that ability to story tell.
Being able to create interesting characters, compelling visuals, and
overall a very
solid storytelling atmosphere.
The students who come through our program are going to get interact with HD equipment.
They're gonna work with editing systems.
They're gonna have experiences as producers doing writing and
all of the elements really that go into creating and producing and
being a storyteller of effective video.
Another class we offer as TDMP
343 documentary production where you'll get a more of a film
based experience using cameras that would be on a film set,
using lighting that would be a little bit more creative,
and getting out there and telling the stories.
The way the program is structured we have the television part
and we have a kind of digital media part.
And so the television part is getting students to experience both field production
as well as live production.
So production in a studio
or covering a live event
or in the field doing interviews like this one or producing stories things like that.
And so we take students through a basic course where we introduce composition,
lighting, the basic fundamentals and then
from that point, we build on that going through the program
until students end up in a capstone experience
where on a weekly basis they're producing an hour of content.
That's a half hour studio show half hour
field production magazine style show.
So that means even a student who comes in and says,
"Hey you know what, I really want to edit."
They're still going to get an opportunity to shoot.
They're still going to get an opportunity to produce.
They're still gonna get an opportunity to write.
And the reason we do that is we want our students to have as many skills as possible.
So we send these students out to
internships with industry professionals again across the state, across the country.
And the feedback we get is how well, you know, prepared our students are.
How capable they are.
How ready they are to be professionals.
I've had the opportunity to work with students over the years and placing them on internships
and it's really exciting to see them become successful in their careers.
The internship gives them an edge.
It's a two semester course where students have an opportunity
to become an integral part of a creative team within an organization and
oftentimes they're looked at because of that the length of time of the internship and are hired as a result of this.
Media supply is a service that we're offered here at Ferris
where we have the opportunity to check out cameras, lights,
tripods, steadicams, pretty much anything that's a industry standard equipment.
Media supply is unique in that
for four hour increments students can check out any equipment for the class they're in.
Students are also able to check out equipment overnight.
So one of the classes that I teach during the summer is the digital cinematography course.
It's really a unique course that allows the students to get outside of the classroom and get into a real-life
film type atmosphere.
So in digital cinematography,
students are really exposed to the pre-production, the production, and post-production side.
And the students really get a sense of camaraderie
when they're working together.
This summer we worked for a short film that ran until 3 a.m. some nights.
And students were able to actually build a lot of community in that environment
and ultimately they came out with a really good
end product that I think they can be proud of and they can actually put it in film festivals.
Well, I'm a graduate of the program as well as being a faculty member in the program
as well as being the coordinator for the school.
And so you know I have a strong affinity towards our program.
But even trying to be non biased about this, what I would say is that the approach that we take to education of
this profession is the right approach.
This major really allowed me to enhance my
technical skills behind the camera.
So it allowed me to step outside of my acting background and
try something that I haven't tried before
which is learning how to produce and direct my own works.
Television and Digital Media Production at Ferris State University preparing storytellers for careers.
