Jump into the action this winter with “DMA 131K – Special Topic: Action Sports Digital Filmmaking” at Lake Tahoe Community College in South Tahoe.

This ground breaking new class will explore the tips, techniques and digital filmmaking technology that makes it possible for anyone to make compelling, entertaining and even profitable action sports films. The class will be hands-on experience for students interested in learning more about this unique and popular specialty genre of filmmaking that is particularly appropriate for Lake Tahoe.

Classes will consist of weekly shooting sessions on the mountain during the day and editing sessions on campus at night. Sierra-at-Tahoe has made this class possible by offering a special lift access price of $100 for 10 shooting sessions on the mountain.

After the initial first week of in-classroom preparation, the on-mountain shooting classes will begin at 9 Tuesday mornings. After class ends at noon, students will be able to continue skiing, snowboarding and shooting on their own for the rest of the day with their special one day passes issued by Sierra-at-Tahoe. Students may also use their own Sierra-at-Tahoe season passes if they already have them.

Instructor Rob Armenti is an experienced filmmaker specializing in action sports and documentary filmmaking.

In addition to the focus on winter action sports, students will learn the craft of storytelling and reporting by creating short films pertaining to the various aspects of ski resort operation, winter life, scenic winter beauty and other stories taking place on the mountain. Students may use their own video camera equipment or use a limited number of compact Mini DV cameras available through the college.

Final Cut Express will be used to edit footage shot on the Tuesday morning shooting sessions. Editing sessions will take place on campus Thursday evenings on Apple Macintosh computers. Basic knowledge of computer use is advised along with intermediate skiing or snowboarding ability. PC users will learn the basics of how to apply their computing skills to the Macintosh operating system.

Snow riding ability will be accessed during the first on-mountain session. Class size is limited to 15 students.