Precollege Programs

Cinema Academy 

Description of the video:

Emma Shreve, Digital Cinema Academy

"My favorite part of the camp, I think, has been working on the short films because it has really given me like a lot of experience with film that I never had before."

Brody Lassner, Digital Cinema Academy

"My favorite part has honestly been being able to spend the entire week with people that just seem to get it. I can come out of my shell I guess and know that everyone can relate to my experiences and my interests, and it really helps me feel like I belong."

Film of the program's participants working and learning is shown. A group photo is shown.

Nathaniel Caudill, Digital Cinema Academy

"What will definitely stick with me the most from the Digital Cinema Academy is being able to talk to big-time Hollywood producers and being able to ask questions and put them in pretty much a one-on-one environment. It's really enlightening to show not only the talent but the mindset that you have to have."

Joleena Mundy, Digital Cinema Academy

"I never really had much experience in like recording video and stuff like that. I've always been like I need to buy a camera and stuff like this, so I was hoping that by coming here I would learn a lot more about editing video, everything that is involved with it."

Program participants are shown filming and editing video on computer screens.

Mundy continues:

"It's actually been better than my expectations, where I wasn't expecting like so many people to be in like the lectures and stuff like that. It's been better than what I ever could imagine."

Participants are shown sitting in a lecture hall. Other participants are shown working behind computer screens.

Jaicey Bledsoe, Digital Cinema Academy

"Also, learning the things that we learned here — I brought notebook, and I was like writing in the notebook the entire time during the lectures, trying to jot down everything, all the little points that I needed to going forward.

Program participants are shown listening to a lecture and taking notes.

Bledsoe continues:

"That's definitely going to be something that I'm able to look over and reread and study. I've got a little blueprint now that I can use."

Participants are shown looking at film negatives.

Jake Rebein, Digital Cinema Academy

"The point of me coming to this camp was for me to learn and soak in as much information as I could.

Participants work together editing film on computers.

"Just being around a ton of people who are really advanced just rubbed off on me.

A cinema professor lectures to the participants. People talk to each other and work in groups.

Anna Brown, Digital Cinema Academy

"The staff is really nice. They know how to work all the equipment. They're very experienced in their field, so I think that's really good to help the campers learn."

Participants are seen setting cameras up on tripods outside on campus.

Shreve talks:

"The campus is beautiful, and it really gave me a good look at what being on IU's campus as a student would be like."

Mundy talks:

"Coming here made me more inspired and feeling more confident that I'm able to like actually make a short film."

Bledsoe is shown working with another participant to film.

Bledsoe talks:

"I know how to make my own opportunities, and if I hadn't been able to be here, that would be drastically different. I'd probably still really be like waiting and dreaming about film instead of doing."

The Media School, Cinema Academy
Video by Christina Mercedes
Music: "How About Nah" by roljui

The Cinema Academy provides in-depth experiential learning opportunities for student filmmakers of all calibers and interests. Students spend the week on campus hearing from filmmakers, attending film screenings and creating their own short films.

Learn more about the Cinema Academy

Game Development Camp

Description of the video:

A game is shown. A camper is shown at a computer working.

Andrew Behringer, administrative director

"Students love playing games, but oftentimes they might not realize how attainable of a goal it is to create their own games as well. At the game development camp, students learn the technical skills to create their own game projects, but more importantly they learn the game development is a viable option for them to pursue."

Participants are shown sitting at computers in Franklin Hall classrooms.

Behringer continues:

"We have a wide age-range of students that we work with — typically 13 to 18 — they never cease to surprise us with how great they are at developing projects."

Participants are seen playing games on the computer and working together.

A game is shown demonstrated on a computer simulation. The game is demonstrated as the camper explains it.

Cal Hubbard, game development camp

"I just created an adventure game. You go to the tower and get prompted by this talking ball right there, and it tells you to lead the dragon to the pen. That took me three days maybe."

Different games are shown on participant's computers.

Behringer talks:

"Their imagination and drive at that age, there's something special about it. They're able to really show us a lot within one week's time."

Participants are shown sitting the Franklin Hall commons while a game is shown on the big screen.

"These students make a lot of friends at the game development camp that they might collaborate with in the future."

Participants are shown talking behind a podium in the commons.

A camper is shown working on a game behind a computer screen.

Evie Headdy, game development camp

"If I came here, I thought 'Oh, I'll just work on animation and I'll be all by myself.' And I found out that almost everybody in this room also loves art. It's just like somebody I can geek out with basically."

Campers are seen talking to each other and working together to create games.

Headdy continues:

"And like knows all the games I know, like 'Zelda' and 'Pacman' and all that kind of stuff. But that's probably my favorite part about this camp."

Games are shown on the big screen in the Franklin Hall commons. Participants are shown watching the screen from over the balcony on the second floor.

Behringer talks:

"When the students arrive, they get to experience The Media School."

A classroom and the equipment are shown.

He continues:

"The students at the camp are able to use software that our current game design students are able to use, and they're also able to access the game design laboratories that we offer. The other main resource that we offer is through our faculty, which assist with the students' curriculum and help offer their expertise. At local schools, there's not a lot of opportunities for pursuing game development, so this offers that chance at the university level."

People speak behind a podium in the Franklin Hall commons.

Behringer continues:

"They come into the camp maybe just being players of games, but they leave creators of games."

Game Development Camp
gamecamp.mediaschool.indiana.edu
Video by Christina Mercedes
Music: "Powerup!" By Jeremy Blake
Indiana University Bicentennial 1820-2020

Game Development Camp teaches the basics of game design through the very same tools professional companies and studios use to create their work. The camp teaches both 2D and 3D design, and students are encouraged to sign up for whichever they find more interesting, or try their hand at both.

Learn more about Game Development Camp

High School Journalism Institute

Description of the video:

Counselors welcome high school students to HSJI. Clips of HSJI students at the camp are shown as people talk. 

Teresa White, director of the High School Journalism Institute, speaks:

Whether you want to study journalism in college or whether you want to do it as a career, the sort of skills and confidence that you gain from attending a workshop like this will benefit you in anything you try to do.

Grace Ybarra, HSJI alumna, speaks:

HSJI was kind of just like solidifying, like 'yes, this is what I want to do.' I didn't really have opportunities to take journalism classes in high school, so being able to be in a classroom setting especially at IU was really useful for me. 

White:

We offer four different writing and reporting classes. We have news writing, feature writing, opinion writing, and sports writing. 

Ybarra:

I did the sports section of HSJI, and I think my favorite part there was how close everybody got. I still stay in touch with a bunch of the people that I met there. 

Alex Hardgrave, HSJI alumna, speaks:

One of the skills I picked up at HSJI was learning how to write on a tighter deadline than I'd been used to before. Because in high school, I was just like a monthly publication, so we didn't have to worry about these fast deadlines. But it was really a cool, different side of it to have to write three stories in one week and get your sources on your own and everything. 

Ybarra:

One of the really useful skills that I learned from that was just not being afraid to call people. I had to pull out my phone, find whoever I could and call them and conduct interviews over the phone, and I think that was the first time I'd ever done that. So it's a really valuable skill to learn. 

White:

The excitement about going to any pre-college program is one, you get to kind of test drive a college. 

Hardgrave:

I think the thing that influenced me most to come here after going to HSJI was that I was just able to explore Bloomington and the campus so much and just like really, really get to know it while I was here. 

Ybarra:

Being able to be in a classroom setting, especially at IU, was really useful for me to see kind of how it operates and helped me realize that this is something that I would want to do for the next four years of my life. 

White:

It never hurts for you to learn how to be able to ask questions, to research to find answers, how to communicate, whether it's with words or with images – those are all great benefits. Plus just the whole idea of coming to a college campus. You get a chance to see if this is the type of school that's good for you. And it helps you understand more what your own personal goals are.

The Media School’s High School Journalism Institute, established in 1946, gives high school students and teachers an immersive learning experience through a variety of workshops and educational opportunities that span everything from documentary filmmaking to basic reporting techniques.

Learn more about HSJI

IU Bee

The Media School hosts the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee, which brings together student champions from local school bees every February to spell it out for the title. The winner of the IU Bee competes at the national bee in May.