The Digital Video Technology program offering at Florida Panhandle Technical College in downtown Chipley, Florida is not for the faint of heart, daunting and intimidating, with a 900-hour, comprehensive deep dive into many creative disciplines, inclusive of Photography, Video Production, Drone Technology, Audio Production, Basic Business Marketing, Responsible Social Media, Website Creation and Life Skills.
As the saying goes, ‘Many are called but few are chosen’, and there have been a number of students attracted to the ‘glamour’ of this industry only to find that this art/craft/science requires a lot of work, patience and diligence.
Students are ‘thrown into the deep end’ and required by Instructor Paul Goulding to produce a video titled ‘What is DVT?’ within the first few weeks of the first semester of class, reflecting on what they have experienced to date, and a second, longer version of the same at the end of the semester, with the intent of illustrating the progress of the student, both socially and scholastically.
Results differ wildly from student to student, but all are reflective of the expectations (and sometimes the misconceptions) of the class, as well as the journey taken by that student though his or her classroom and studio experience.
Cameron Taylor, initially a dual-enrolled Junior at Poplar Springs, Florida High School, continued the 900-hour program through his Senior year, ultimately finishing the coursework, graduating from both Florida Panhandle Technical College and Poplar Springs High School, and acquiring industry skills which are evidenced by the accompanying video production.
As such, over a two-year period, Cameron produced four of these video pieces, reflecting the beginning and end of each of his two years in the program, and his insight, as reflected by the four video clips (see below) are quite insightful and interesting.
If you take the time to watch all four clips shown below, in succession, the journey of Cameron takes on form and substance, and really answers the question of ‘What is DVT?’.
