There was a time when the Clackamas Community College (CCC) cable access channel provided telecourse lectures for students to watch at home. With the growth of distance learning via computer, the days of telecourses are a thing of the past. Today the college’s cable access channel provides a showcase for the work of students studying digital multimedia communications at the college.
Andy Mingo, director of the CCC Digital Multimedia Communications (DMC) program, is working in partnership with the office of Clackamas County Cable Communications, with support from the county’s economic development services. The program is being positioned to both provide quality content for the cable television channel, but to also support the growing film and media production economic sector in the county and the state.
CCC started its DMC program five years ago as the creative services industry in the Portland area was taking off. Since 2007, the metro area has seen a 24 percent increase in film and video production jobs, and the sector is forecast to grow by 25 percent over the next 10 years. According to a recent study by the Northwest Economic Research Center report, Oregon’s film and television industry has a direct impact of $788, 825,355 in the state’s economy.
Enrollment in the college’s DMC program has grown as well. Since the program started five years ago, enrollment has grown more than 200 percent, from 97 students to 300. Students in the program gain the skills needed to work in entry-level positions in film and video, broadcast journalism, production and related fields. Graduates of the program have gone on to work for the Portland Trailblazers, Nike, MTV, and Funnelbox, and to work on numerous commercial projects and films.
CCC offers an associate’s degree in digital multimedia communications, as well as high quality training for video production and multimedia reporting. Student work provides a variety of creative and informational content for the CCC cable channel. Gordon Christianson, a graduate of the DMC program, manages the content for the channel, which includes segments about college programs, speakers and events.
Clackamas County’s support of the DMC program has enabled it to offer education and training that has not been available in the state before. Through Public, Education and Government (PEG) grants the county has provided to the college, the DMC program has purchased state-of-the-art equipment such as a 16-camera, Phasespace motion capture system and a RED Epic, professional cinema camera for educational training and workforce development.
“These two media systems are industry standard, and CCC is the only film or digital media program of any kind in the state of Oregon that is currently able to offer such a level of training for a growing and vibrant high-tech industry such as film and media,” said Mingo.
This term, for the first time in the state, CCC is offering a motion-capture technology class, providing the training and equipment to support the state’s growing movie, gaming and animation industry.
For more information, please contact Andy Mingo at 503-594-3264 or email andym@clackamas.edu.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
