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Secondary School Technology
Secondary School Technology Course Offerings
Graphic Design
(Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)
Every time you open a magazine or turn on the television or enter a supermarket you are bombarded by visual images that have been carefully designed to attract your attention and then emotionally touch you. This is the task of the graphic designer and this is what you will learn: how to attract, then touch, your audience through your graphic artistry.
Graphic Design is the art of visual communication. You, the graphic designer, will create images that visually connect with an audience: the more dynamic and distinctive the better.
In this course you will learn to use the professional tools of graphic design: Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. With these digital imaging and vector drawing tools, there will be no boundaries to what you can create. Your imagination will be your only limitation.
Class projects will include illustrations, photo compositing and retouching, poster design, magazine layout, product packaging, book design, identity design, corporate publications, type design, and all will require project management skills.
Digital Video and Audio
(Adobe Video Collection: Premiere Pro, After Effects, Encore, and Audition)
Do you want to be the next Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, or John Ford? Is there a story that you want to put on film? Perhaps a dazzling idea for a music video? Then this is your big chance.
The heart of this course is film making. You will make movies. However, there is also a soul to this course. It’s film appreciation. You will study and learn to appreciate films.
Our film making will take the form of digital video, which will provide you with a basic understanding of planning, directing, shooting, editing, and producing a film project. You will gain a good working knowledge of a digital camera’s functions and how to use it. You will also learn the techniques of lighting and cinematography.
Once the film has been captured digitally, you will edit it on the computer using the most sophisticated and professional software available: Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. Using this software, you will enhance your film by applying special effects, titles, animation, voiceovers, and soundtracks.
The digital audio component of this course will provide a basic knowledge of how to record, sample, mix, master, and produce digital audio tracks. While you will explore how to record, sample, and manipulate different audio signals, the primary aim will be to create and modify soundtracks for your digital videos: voice, sound effects, and music. Our digital audio projects will be accomplished with Adobe Audition.
Class projects will include, but not be limited to, a movie short (drama), music video, interview, mini-biographical sketch, and a process or training video. All students will be required to create a DVD of their best work by the end of the course using Adobe Encore. Students will submit this DVD for review.
The film appreciation component of this course will include viewing historically and artistically significant films, such as Citizen Kane, The Godfather, Star Wars, and Psycho. While we view these films, we will examine them for their enduring value and for what techniques we can apply to our own film making.
Digital Photography
(Photoshop, Illustrator)
More than half of the photos taken today are taken by digital cameras. This course is dedicated to helping you develop the technical skills and creative artistry to excel in the field of digital photography.
In addition to mastering the technical aspects of a digital camera, you will learn the two key professional applications for digital photography: Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Course work will include digital photo studies, retouching, compositing, illustration, identity design, color matching, photorealistic imaging, color correction, and art exhibition development.
As you learn the technology of digital photography and explore its professional and artistic applications through hands-on projects, you will also undertake classic photography assignments, study composition, and develop a portfolio.
Digital Animation
(Flash, After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator)
Would you like to create and animate the next Toy Story or South Park? Do you enjoy painting and drawing, but don’t like the messiness of watercolors, oil paints, charcoals, and pastels? If you answered “Yes!” to either of these questions, then this is your course.
Before we animate, we will first explore basic illustration skills and their application through carefully planned Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator projects. We will study basic drawing and painting techniques used to create impressive graphics, illustrations, and designs.
Once we have completed our painting and drawing apprenticeship, we will dive into animation. Some people think that deep down every illustrator wants to be an animator: that the illustrator wants his illustrations to awaken and move about like Geppetto wanted Pinocchio to be a real boy. Well, who knows? But fear not, Flash will give you the opportunity to try your hand at making the next Looking for Nemo or The Simpsons. Flash gives the serious animator more than enough power to make any illustration come to life and walk, talk, and perform.
You will learn to apply and master the principles of traditional animation using the basic Flash toolset. You will create stunning animations using tweening and frame-by-frame (called “cel animation” in the industry) techniques. You'll also learn how to draw simple but compelling characters, prepare them for animation, add expression and motion, and animate a 30-60 second sequence with a soundtrack. In addition, storyboarding will be a key skill to keep things organized and on track.
Once you’ve mastered basic animation, you will learn more advanced techniques to create interactive environments for your characters. At this point, you will explore techniques for using scenes, movie clips, masks, compound objects, and buttons.
Web Design
(Macromedia Studio 8: Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash)
Nearly everybody uses the Internet today: email, news, stock quotes, weather, movie times, research, music, and more. What can’t you find or do on the Internet? But have you ever wondered who designs and makes all those web pages? Something like 65 billion the last time someone counted!
Web Design is about how all those web pages get made. The course focuses on developing the visual and informational design skills required to create compelling web pages and sites.
Students will learn to use the professional applications of Macromedia’s Studio 8: Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash. Course projects will include how to plan a web site, design simple but dynamic web pages, photo retouching and compositing, simple HTML editing, design using tables and frames, button creation, graphic and logo design, Flash animation, Information Design and Usability, and project management scenarios.
Web Design is fast paced and will cover the basics of each program in the Studio 8 Suite.
Yearbook
(InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator)
Yearbook is a one year course whose goal is the production of the school’s annual yearbook. The skills learned in this course include digital photography, photo editing and layout using Adobe Photoshop, page layout and text using Adobe InDesign, and journalistic writing. Each student is responsible for approximately 10 to 16 pages, including all of the photos, text and layout.
Student Work:
Graphic Design
