Yuba College’s Mass Communications program prepares students for careers in the media through collaboration and hands-on practice.
Jeremy Poulos, the instructor for Mass Communications 4, helps students master basic skills in composition, use of the camera, lighting, sound recording and editing.
In this class, students complete projects such as TV commercials, music videos and short films. Every week, during class time, students produce a news shows, talk shows and game shows.
Students who have completed the Mass Communications program leave prepared for careers in broadcasting, filming and radio production. They are also prepared for positions as editors and producers for media organizations.
One of Poulos’ former students, Sam Diaz, completed the Mass Comm program and has moved to Los Angeles to attend film school at Cal State Northridge. He is currently shooting his Senior Thesis film.
Poulos does give homework to his students. In Mass Comm 5, Electronic Movie Making, he assigns students to make three films: a scene recreation, a silent film and short narrative film that runs five to seven minutes. Students are required to find a location and the actors they want to have in their films.
The students in the program interact very well because the classes are often small. “That encourages students to help each other on the films that they do together,” Poulos said.
The class also requires a lot of off campus work for students. The documentary class requires the students to pick a topic that they like and shoot it.
A course that Poulos wants to add at the college is Digital Compositing and Animation, which he thinks a lot of students would take interest in and learn something new that could help them in the future.
The classrooms and facilities were recently updated with up-to-date equipment and technology, which means that “there is excellent work being produced by the students,” Poulos said.
In November, 2015, five students participated in the Sacramento Intercollegiate 48-Hour Film Festival, where several students won awards for their work on the films that they completed.
Note: This article was featured in the Spring 2016 edition of The Prospector.
My name is Harnek Singh and I attended Yuba Community College. My major was Communication Studies at Yuba Community College. After that I transferred to Chico State University to pursue my Bachelors degree in Communication Studies.
Comment Policy: Comments are welcomed and encouraged. However, the editorial board reserves the right to edit or delete, without notice, any comments submitted to the blog. For more details, see our full Comment Policy.