Welcome to Spartan Studio!

As you know, most major Hollywood production companies end in "studios," as in, Universal Studios, Fox Studios, etc. This is why I chose to name Seaside High Schools's ROP Multimedia/Video Production Class blog Spartan Studio. It is an ironic name, of course, because not only are we the Seaside Spartans (spartan, the noun, meaning "person of Sparta" or "person of great courage and discipline") but our production studio is, for the moment, spartan (spartan, the adjective, meaning "marked by simplicity, frugality or lack of luxury and comfort"). We often do have to be frugal and make do with what we've got, especially now that budgets are tight. However, we do now have both a classroom and a production studio area, and this will allow us the room to film and to build small sets if we wish.

Being spartan is not necessarily a bad thing. Creativity is often spurred by limitation, and there are many examples of low budget films that achieved great critical and financial success, and also big budget films that were flops. It is my hope and intention that my students learn that engaging their inventiveness and creativity are at least–if not more–important than how to operate a camera.