The Oscars may be over, but entertainment instruction in the colleges and neighboring high schools continues to move full speed ahead this spring due to an innovative bootcamp program developed and produced by Dan Watanabe DSN, Los Angeles.
Dan Watanabe has launched an eight-week Video and Vlogging Bootcamp to train students on the ins and outs of working as a production assistant. The bootcamp focuses on several areas of Entertainment, including radio and television, which includes broadcast, cable, streaming, and web, as well as feature films.
One bootcamp is being held at the Los Angeles Valley College Television Studio, and a second bootcamp at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys. By the end of eight sessions, students have a working knowledge of how a production operates in the office, on the set, and during post-production and delivery. And, just as important, they have an understanding of how the business functions as a whole.
Watanabe is also re-vamping a video series designed for instructors to use in their online entertainment-related classes. “Industry Insiders” was produced nearly five years ago, and Watanabe found that he needed to update many of the older episodes to keep them current.
“We are doing a reshoot of several episodes of Industry Insiders as well as re-editing our older versions,” said Watanabe. “We are doing this so they can be more easily used statewide as resources on below-the-line jobs for those who don’t have the access.”
When not busy running bootcamps and updating instructor resources, Watanabe serves on a large number of advisories in the LA area in an effort to keep the colleges current. This is especially important in light of the recent report by the LA Economic Development Corporation which gives information on future workforce needs and where the industry is headed.
The report states that jobs in entertainment grew four times as fast compared to the regional economy as a whole, which is welcome news for students interested in this field. Employment in digital media is expected to grow by nearly 7 percent by 2021, adding more than 14,000 new jobs in the region. The report also highlights community college programs in the LA Basin that train students for jobs in digital media and entertainment. View the full report here.
For more information about the bootcamps and entertainment instructor resources, contact Dan Watanabe at watanabedan-ideas@yahoo.com.