High School Workshop Day at the Center for Arts and Media

Assistant professor David Lehleitner working with high school students on a spaceship film set  

The swish, swish, swishing of swords. The thumping, rhythmic beat of music and feet on the dance floor. The “lights, camera, action” of capturing what it would look like floating in zero-G on a spaceship. For one day, high school students experienced what a classroom at Salt Lake Community College’s Center for Arts and Media would be like.

On Friday, Nov. 4 at South City Campus, High School Workshop Day gave high school students from around the valley the opportunity to participate in three-hour workshops led by distinguished faculty from the School of Arts, Communication and Media. The workshops were open to all 9th-12th grade high school students where they learned stage combat, video animation, dancing, filmmaking and audio production.

“I am such a stage combat nerd. I've been doing it for four years,” says high school senior Kjiersten Lavine [Skyline] who participated in the stage combat workshop. “It was really great having a new teacher, giving an idea of what it would be like in college and just how excited I am to do this in college because I'm pursuing this for a career.”

Kjersten’s dream job is to be a stunt double someday. This is her second time attending the high school workshops. She attended a musical theater course taught pre-pandemic, the last time SLCC held these in-person workshops.

“This event has been going on since long before I got here, since about 2005, and we're hoping to rebuild after the pandemic,” says Josh Elstein, program manager of Center for Arts and Media. “The hope is that students both do something fun and that they connect with our programs and with our faculty.”

With topics ranging from film and dance to theater, each workshop lasted about three hours and allowed students more time to work on bigger projects. By the end of the day students all created something with the professor that gave them a feel for what SLCC has to offer.

“We’ve given literally thousands of tours of this space and the biggest thing I hear is, ‘Oh, I had no idea this was here.’ That's what we're working with this outreach is to make sure that students, teachers, counselors, everyone knows this is an option after high school,” says Josh.

Combat For Film and Stage, taught by associate professor and Theater Program director Zac Curtis, helped students interested in theater and performing arts learn the techniques for safe and realistic looking fight scenes for theater and film acting. Students from Skyline and Beehive academy started with unarmed combat, then moved on to stage swords, learning to tell a story through movement.

Introduction to Dance Exploration, led by assistant professor and SLCC Dance Company director Whitney Harris, taught both experienced and inexperienced dancers through movement phrases in Jazz, Hip-Hop and Contemporary dance styles. Students from Olympus and Taylorsville High, were able to show off their dance teams and perform a dance number.

Adding Life to Film, taught by associate professor Jon Clark, was a Foley and Sound Effects class that explored the process of adding sound effects to a film through synchronized recording, Foley and sound effects editing. Foley (named after sound-effects artist Jack Foley) is adding sound effects, such as creaky doors, glass breaking and footsteps, to films in post-production. Students in this workshop learned to add sound to a film created by SLCC students.

Complete with a haunted house and spaceship film set, assistant professor David Lehleitner ran the Sci-Fi, Horror and Special Effects Cinematography class where students learned lighting, practical special effects shots and how to shoot horror, sci-fi and fantasy. Students used a fog machine and lights to simulate an eerie stormy night complete with lightning and howling wind. They made short films, with each student taking on different roles acting, directing, lighting and effects.

The Animation class taught by associate professor Chad Erekson turned ordinary magazine photos into a hilarious animated short story (see video). Students cut out pictures from magazines to use in making stories and learned principles of animation and storytelling. The teacher even taught a physics lesson, the laws of motion and the way this is presented in animation.

“We hope participating students enjoyed working with our faculty and in our facilities. We’re excited to continue hosting this event in the future to continue connecting students with our programs,” says Josh.