Getting behind the camera

Deirdre Newman

A group of Costa Mesa High School students is working on a skit in

the gym.

They’re not young actors, but students in Chuck Schubert’s Video

TV Production class.

And standing behind them is senior Alan Pineda, 18, who is

diligently filming the scene with a digital camera.

The class teaches students how to shoot video and do computer

editing, and how to communicate by writing and acting in skits.

Schubert hopes to give them valuable vocational skills that they can

parlay into a career.

“The goal is to get kids interested in working in the field of

video and TV,” Schubert said. “I want kids to think they can have a

successful career in shooting weddings.”

Schubert started teaching the video production classes in 1995

after the arduous task of single-handedly re-wiring the classroom, a

feat he spent an entire summer vacation completing.

He now teaches three video production classes a day. One is

after-school and includes students from seven different schools.

During the school day, students have to be 16 or older to take his

classes. He also runs K-MESA, the school’s own cable channel, out of

his classroom.

On Monday, Schubert and his students started filming from a script

for the first time. The script is something Schubert re-wrote from a

“Wonder Years” episode.

“The skits teach them how to follow someone else’s lead,” Schubert

said. “Eventually, they write their own.”

During the filming, Schubert alternates between director and

teacher, playing the part of a high school gym coach with gusto and

dispensing tips on handling the camera.

Schubert earns kudos from his students for his enthusiasm for

video production and his intense involvement in the class.

“On a scale of one to 10, he gets a 10 as a teacher,” Pineda said.

Gabriel Felix, 16, said he has learned a great deal from Schubert.

“I learned how to edit, how to use a camera, how to make my own

stuff and how to produce something,” Felix said proudly.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot

education writer Deirdre Newman visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about her experience.