This time last year, the Academy of Media Production Technology at Loften High School was new enough that it did not have a normal magnet application portal on the district website. The 16 students in the inaugural class wanted to be there badly enough that they tracked down a unique application. 

Now the program is listed with all the other magnet programs, and those freshmen are finishing their first year in the program.  

“It’s really exciting to be able to kind of make your mark,” said Nicole Tart, the Media Production Technology director. “The students that I got this year here are spectacular. They’re hungry for knowledge, they’re willing to take calculated risks to try something new, even if they’re not sure how that’s gonna turn out. They’re incredibly creative and really smart.” 

Tart has been teaching for 27 years, but only moved to Alachua County two and a half years ago. She started at Loften as a music and theatre teacher, but the school district was also looking into opening a new magnet program to reach a career field with many new opportunities— media production. Tart had a background in production, and when asked she got herself certified to teach the course in time for the 2023-24 school year. 

Because she currently only has freshmen in the media production course, Tart still teaches ukulele and theatre for Loften. Evan Orsini, one of the media production students, said many other students assume the new magnet is a theatre program, but while theatre and filming share some qualities, the outcome is very different. 

The class has learned writing, editing, storyboarding and other aspects of video production. Orsini said his favorite part of the program is scriptwriting, especially because Tart gives her students a lot of creative freedom within their projects. 

“I think it’s really exciting that we are able to do this as like kids,” Orsini said. 

Orsini and another student, Michelle Allen, said the class’s first project was to film a one-shot of themselves telling what they want to do when they grow up. They said they are going to watch those one-shots as a class when they are seniors and, while they are nervous and expect to be embarrassed, they also look forward to looking back at the props, films and memories they will have made. 

Orsini and Allen both said they lean toward behind-the-scenes aspects of filmmaking and video production. Orsini wants to be a writer-director, and Allen is still figuring out what she wants to do. 

“I could do it and then test it out for a little bit,” Allen said. “I would definitely do it… It’s not something I would just kick to the curb after high school.” 

Although many of Tart’s students are more interested in the production side of the process, they make a lot of short films that require them to fill in as their own on-camera talent.  

Ash Wade said he wants to go into acting, so he finds that part of the program appealing, though he has also discovered there is much to learn about what goes on behind the scenes. 

“There’s honestly a lot of stuff that directors and cinematographers do to, in the nicest way possible, sort of manipulate your feelings,” Wade said. “They’ll do stuff with colors and have a certain color mean a certain thing in the plot.” 

Wade said the class has learned about how details as small as which direction a character moves on-screen can change how the audience perceives him. Those kinds of directorial decisions look different depending on which students are working together. 

Tart has shuffled groups around for every project the class has worked on, so all the students have learned to work with different personality types, a skill which their teacher said will continue to serve them well in life. 

Allen said it has been a challenge for the class to learn to work with each other’s different work ethics and paces, and to give up their own ideas sometimes for a collaborative vision. 

“Sometimes it can be different, it can be harder to get together and go off of one idea if you’re really set on one certain idea that you have,” Allen said. “And it’s just like, well, I really want to do this and if I save it for a different project who knows if my creative freedom or my creativeness is the same, or who knows if it might be different.” 

The students work on a lot of short films and are currently recreating scenes from movies like “Up,” “The Godfather” and “Mean Girls.” The students also produce a weekly news broadcast for Loften High School. 

Orsini said he is excited to be able to drive because, for now, students shoot most of their footage on campus, either during class or by staying late after school. If they can drive, they can meet up outside of school and use more locations than their black box studio and the school’s classrooms. 

The students are also working toward certification in Adobe Premier Pro and WordPress this year. As they continue through the program, Tart said she hopes to get them certified in Adobe After Effects and ultimately bring juniors and seniors to the Student New York Film Festival with their own original work. 

“Part of it being new, I guess, is the excitement of being able to push the boundaries of where I think they can go,” Tart said, “and being able to keep pushing them beyond what they believe they can do.” 

With multiple certifications and diverse portfolios, Tart’s students should graduate high school qualified for many entry-level jobs in TV or film studios, music mixing and social media content production. Tart said that ability could launch a career straight out of high school or could provide a stream of income while they go to college. 

Tart said because the program was so new last year, it was less well-known, and she only got a class of 16 students. While she said those students are remarkably creative and fit the class well, she hopes to get closer to 20 with the freshman class of the 2024-25 school year. 

Magnet applications are open on the district website until 4 p.m. Feb. 13, and parents with a student interested in the program can reach out to Tart at tartnm@gm.sbac.edu  for more information. 

Editor’s Note: This is the second story in a series highlighting some of the magnet programs available through Alachua County Public Schools.