The Changing Landscape of the News Business

While acknowledging that the traditional newspaper is rapidly vanishing, Desert Sun Executive Editor Greg Burton (left) told students Wednesday morning that "The core of this business will be the story. It was that way fifty years ago, and it will be that way 50 years from now."

Burton and Desert Sun digital reporter Brian Indrelunas (middle) were dialoguing with Matt Hamilton's journalism students about social media intersecting with traditional reporting and the opportunity and responsibility reporters hold in their hand.

"Our industry has really changed in the last decade," Burton said. "When I was a young reporter 10 or 15 years ago, we came into a news room and it wasn't wired like this," he said, pointing to banks of networked computers. "We sat down and talked about the news that was going on and set our timing for our deadlines for the monstrosity of a printing press out back. Everybody was focused on the getting the best story to put on the spools of paper that would be printed and delivered by the next morning at 6 a.m.

"Today, if you are waiting for that 6 a.m. paper on your doorstep to get your information, you're the last one to know what is going on."

Indrelunas is one example of a modern newsgatherer, spending some his time scouring Facebook and Twitter and other social media for trending stories.

"Instead of waiting for a 20-inch story to be written, processed, and edited 15 times, sometimes we only need a headline on our web site. And as we get details, we can keep expanding that story all day."

Burton called Inderlunas "the new model of what our industry has become."

The Desert Sun web site gets 200,000 hits daily.

Filmmakers in the Classroom Series Begins at CCHS

Playwright John Steppling (right) and Education Outreach Director Ken Jacobson kicked off the Filmmakers in the Classroom series in Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School Friday morning.

As Steppling explained at the beginning of class, one of the purposes of the series is to help the students develop a critical vocabulary and learn how to analyze a film. "Art tends to ask questions," Steppling said in his introduction. "You don't have to answer those questions. The most important questions are those that can't be answered."

Digital Storytelling is just one course offered in the Digital Arts Technology Academy at CCHS.

After watching the opening of "The Killers," Steppling and Jacobson engaged the students in discussion of what they observed. "Film is a pervasive, ubiquitous art form, an all pervasive medium and an important one" Steppling said. "You add up all the hours of narrative, thousands of hours, and it's hard to create something that stands out from the tsunami of film of film."

The idea for this series, which will occur twice a month, resulted from a meeting Hamilton, Jacobson and Steppling set up during the summer.

"The Palm Springs Film Festival is interested in engaging the future filmmakers in our community, and my students are excited to have people who have been intimately involved in film share their experiences and expertise," said Hamilton

DATA Students Spend The Day At UC Riverside

A campus tour, a question and answer with two playwrights, stories of challenges and success by students from two Chicano organizations, and some insight into video games and literacy by an associate professor of media and cultural studies were all on the menu Monday, May 23 when 52 Digital Arts Technology Academy sophomores and juniors spent the day at UC Riverside.

The day for the Cathedral City High School students was organized by UCR's Tony Lawrence and began with a campus tour followed later that morning by a meeting with an admissions counselor.

Playwright and UCR Professor Stu Krieger (The Land Before Time and ten original movies for the Disney Channel, including Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century and its two sequels, Tru Confessions, Smart House and Cow Belles are among his credits. He has been a story editor and writer on Spielberg’s Amazing Stories and the supervising producer on the ABC Television series Jack’s Place) told the students about his early days hustling any job he could find to be near the entertainment industry.

Associate professor Rickerby Hinds, a leading innovator in hip hop theater, talked about his recent work "Dreamscape," an interpretation of a true event based on the story of a young black women in Riverside, passed out in her car with a gun on her lap who ended up shot to death by police.

Hinds said he wrote the play from the point of view of the woman as the protagonist and the coroner as antagonist.

Later in the day, Media and Cultural Studies Associate Professor Derek Burrill talked to the DATA students about the prime importance of narrative in video games. The trip ended with a visit to the California Museum of Photography.

Digital Storytellers Spend Day at Desert Sun

Desert Sun publisher Mark Winkler told juniors from Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class that "My advice to you is to have passion for what you do. That's the most important thing."

The students spent Wednesday April 13, 2011 at the Desert Sun, attending the morning staff meeting (editor Greg Burton at left) where the day's story list was discussed and then touring the facility, courtesy of Press/Distribution Center Manager Mike Soto.

The visit was facilitated by Carol Horton, the marketing manager at the Desert Sun.

Reporters Brian Indrelunas and Sonya English, both new to the Sun, talked about their preparation for the newspaper businss. Indrelunas is a graduate of Arizona State and English graduated from the University of Kansas. Both Indrelunas and English bring evolving media skills to the newspaper, and even though they are newcomers to the news business, they also bring a media savvy that gives them added value to a business that is now much more than just newsprint. "The business is changing, but the basics of storytelling remain the same," said Indrelunas.

The Sun has a circulation of 70,000 during the season that drops to 40,000 off season. It uses 100% recyclable newsprint.

Cathedral City High School Students Document Homeless Experience

Students in Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School are following Rancho Mirage councilman Scott Hines as he spends a week living on the streets in Coachella Valley. The students are participating in a documentary that will highlight the problems of hunger in the Valley.

The story began with a grocery distribution in the parking lot of Calvary Bible Church in Cathedral City Saturday morning, April 2, 2011.

Hines is carrying no cash or identification as he makes his way across the Valley using public transportation and eating at public food pantries. He's meeting and talking with people throughout the week, from the homeless people to elected city officials, to talk about hunger in the Valley.

His journey is part of FIND Food Bank's hunger awareness campaign and ends Friday at KPSP Local2 where he will be part of a telethon at the station to raise money for FIND.

Project Runway Packs Them In; Night Four of the El Paseo Fashion Show

Fashion and television collided in a colorful splash of fun and style Wednesday night at the El Paseo Fashion Show.

With the Real Housewives of Orange County sitting ringside and American Idol finalist Kimberly Locke providing the vocals, Project Runway designers Michael Costello, Mondo Guerra and Christopher Collins delighted the standing room only crowd at the big white tent on the corner of Larkspur and El Paseo.

Thursday night the show continues with the Fashion Institute of Design and merchandising (FIDM) Debut 2011. Doors open at 7 p.m. The show begins at 8 p.m.

The photo above was taken by Digital Arts Technology Academy student Arlene Arellano.

Night Two, El Paseo Fashion Show

Long-legged models and kids with attitude strolled the runway on the second night of the fashion parade at the El Paseo Fashion Week under the big white tent at the corner of El Paseo and Mountain Shadow. Monday night's event featured local stores Tommy Bahama, El Paseo Jewelry, White House Black Market, Cactus Flower Shoe Salon, Wayne's Collection, Eileen Fisher, She She Kids, V&G Hip Wear and Accessories, BB one, Bebe, Tink, Don Vincent, Dani, Josie's on El Paseo, and Chelsea Taylor.

Digital Arts Technology Academy student Spencer McQuinn photographed Monday night's action.

The runway show continues Tuesday night with Rocking Roberge Spectacular. Tent doors open at 7 p.m. with the show beginning at 8 p.m.

DATA Students Provide Total Coverage of El Paseo Fashion Show

Digital Arts Technology Academy (DATA) students at Cathedral City High School are documenting this week's Fashion Week on El Paseo. Sunday evening's show was themed the Best of Saks Fifth Avenue. Monday night the tent opens at 7 p.m for the 8 p.m. show entitled Fashion Runway Bar. The photo at left was taken by DATA senior Spencer McQuin.

DATA digital storytellers document CUE at Convention Center

DATA digital storytellers Jessica Gerrel and Arin Wall filmed and edited CUE Live productions at the Computer Using Educators Conference at the Palm Springs Convention Center on March 18, 2011. The CUE Conference is the largest and oldest education technology conference in California, and among the largest in the United States. Their videos can be viewed on School Tube.

Cathedral City High School photojournalist Spencer McQuinn is creating the runway graphics for the Fashion Week El Paseo Runway Bar. The senior student in the Digital Arts Technology Academy at CCHS spent Monday afternoon shooting images of Christina De Musee's acrylic on canvas art work and then sat down with Palm Springs Life Magazine Fashion Editor Susan Stein to pair the store names with the artwork. At left is an example of his work.

McQuinn is a student in Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School.

Fashion week is March 20-28.

DATA Students Shoot Stills For EA Video

DATA photojournalists Spencer McQuinn, Gabe Jiminez, and Matt Aguilar recently conducted a photo shoot with current WBO World Light Welterweight Champion Tim Bradley for the Entertainment Arts (EA) boxing video game.

Bradley will next fight July 27 at the Agua Caliente Casino against Marcos Rene Maidana. Bradley, a Cathedral City High School graduate, is 25-0 with 11 knockouts. Maidana of Argentina is 28-1 with 27 knockouts.

EA is the world's leading independent developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for personal computers and advanced entertainment systems such as the PlayStation®2 Computer Entertainment System, the PlayStation®, Xbox? video game console from Microsoft, the Nintendo GameCube? and the Game Boy® Advance. Since its inception, EA has garnered more than 700 awards for outstanding software in the U.S. and Europe

DATA Students Create Public Service Announcement for SafeHouse of the Desert

Jessica Gerrell, Olivia Reynolds, Flora Lopez and Arin Wall, all students in Matt Hamilton and David Vogel's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School, shot and produced a public service announcement for Safe House of the Desert.

"I'm going to use their video to educate and promote SafeHouse locally at different schools " said Angela Kinley, SafeHouse Youth Development Coordinator. "I'm very happy with the video. Our goal is to help youth, and having students in DATA make this PSA is full circle for me: youth involvement for youth outreach for a youth shelter is a perfect fit "

PSA for SafeHouse of the Desert from Matt Hamilton on Vimeo.

Day Two, Frank Bogert Memorial Rodeo, Palm Springs, March 13, 2010

DATA students captured day two of the Palm Springs Wild WestFest and Frank Bogert Memorial PRCA Rodeo March 13, 2010. At left is a photo taken by DATA student Gabe Jiminez during the saddle bronc-riding event.

The rodeo, which is sold out, ends on Sunday.

Below you can view some video highlights of the rodeo shot by DATA students in Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School.

DATA Students Prepare For Rodeo Shoot

Students in Mr. Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School walked the rodeo grounds Thursday in preparation for shooting this weekend's Frank Bogert Memorial Rodeo in Palm Springs. Later that night they caught up with rodeo queen Jessica Tourino as she greeted cowboys and cowgirls at the entrance to the Spa Resort and Casino.

DATA STUDENTS PRODUCE REALITY SHOW SIZZLE REEL

Students in Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School recently finished shooting a sizzle reel for Healing Horses founders Marcia Levine and Gabriele Lawrence who are hoping to turn their everyday challenges into a reality television show. Levine said that Melissa Rivers is interested in producing the reality show based on the reel put together by the DATA students who started shooting footage in November and finished the editing in February of 2010.

Healing Horses Sizzle Reel from Matt Hamilton on Vimeo.

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Michael Boustead Works With DATA Digital Storytellers

Music Director Michael Boustead (left) spent a class period offering critiques of student music videos during Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class on Feb. 17, 2010.

Boustead was the music director for "The Pursuit of Happyness," "Phat Girlz," "Curious George," "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," and "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. "

"I'm really impressed with the serious attitude of the students and the quality of their work, specifically with matching the mood of the music to their video," Boustead said.

Q&A with Kimjongilia Executive Director and Producer

Cathedral City High School digital storyteller Laura Padilla interviewed "Kimjongilia" executive producer James Egan and director N.C. Heikin Feb. 12, 2010 in Palm Springs. Padilla is a student in Mr. Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class at CCHS.

"This film is about the human rights crisis in North Korea, which, in my opinion, is the worst on the planet," said Heikin. "It's always important to defend our fellow human beings and help them get out of the horrible trouble they are in. After watching this documentary, most people say 'I had no idea that was going on.'"

Egan said this was a breakthrough film in documentaries. "People are startled by the dance and the music that Heiken brings to this production," he said. "Because of her background as a dancer, singer and artist, she has created a documentary that is not only a call to action, but also a beautiful artistic palette that hasn't been seen before in documentary filmmaking."