Starting March 9, Oxford High School will have a new video media teacher, one whose name may sound familiar.
Bruce Holladay, who serves as both an instructor of digital media arts at the Lapeer county Education and Technology Center in Attica and as an associate director and producer for WDIV-TV in Detroit, will bring his expertise to Oxford classrooms.
He sees the program he’ll be teaching as one set up to teach video production fundamentals. Students will work in a studio, on newscasts, perform interviews and do electronic field production.
With digital media, students will learn to come up with ideas for stories, go out and record video and then return and edit the final product on a computer.
‘Besides digital media arts, we’ll also do audio video production as a chunk of the class,? Holladay said. ‘I also teach graphic and web design and digital photography.?
He described the class as about 50 percent hands-on and doing field work using microphones, lights and cameras and computer editing.
The computer side of the job is designed to help students keep up with the changing industry of how news is broadcast. Goodbye, video tape: hello, digital recordings.
Through the diverse curriculum, students will also do documentary projects, a how-to video and even short films.
In his 14-year career, Holladay has lots of experience to draw from.
He’s taught at St. Clair County Community College, at Digital Media Technology and holds a master’s degree in education with a technology specialization from the University of Michigan.
He’s worked many jobs for many television stations and is also a member of both the Director’s Guild of America and of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.
Among the people Holladay has met through his job include actors Tony Danza and Morgan Fairchild, television culinary personality Rachael Ray (‘The go-getter you see on TV is definitely how she is in real life,? he said), television journalist Brian Williams, former world champion boxer Mike Tyson and U.S. Senator Carl Levin.
‘It’s been an interesting career, both on the professional side and in teaching,? Holladay said. ‘I didn’t go to school to teach but for television production, but I knew I enjoyed sharing knowledge…I’m proud I have experience in the field and continue with it. I pay close attention to industry trends.?