Pack Up the Kids and Send Them to YouTube Summer Camp

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By Liz Gannes

Watercolor, ice climbing, underwater basketweaving — you can pay someone to teach you (or your kids) anything these days — and now, how to YouTube.

A couple years ago, we wrote about Pitzer College offering a media studies class on YouTube. There’s also Kansas State cultural anthropologist Michael Wesch, who’s become something of a social media celebrity for his video reports on the web, which often focus on YouTube. But if you’re looking for a little summer extra credit or personal growth, check out these online video workshops, both of which hit our inbox in the last day.

In both these instances, you’ll have to go to New York (but c’mon, NYC is lovely in the summer). First, “From You to YouTube” is a summer camp for young adults ages 12 to 18. Forget campfires and archery, bring your working knowledge of Mac computers. Held at the Manhattan Edit Workshop in August, the camp costs a hefty $2,000.

“Designed to create a fun and exciting learning atmosphere, class is divided into small crews of writer/directors. In week one you tackle writing, camera instruction, and pre-production. Then it’s two solid days of shooting films. The week ends with screening dailies and an introduction to editing.

“In week two you will learn how to use Final Cut Pro and how to streamline your post-production workflow. With an emphasis on the creative aspects of storytelling, we will look at films to understand the ‘why’ of editing in addition to just the “how.” Each student has their own fully equipped, state-of the-art editing system and access to cameras and equipment for their shoots.”

Second, the three-class Viral Video Workshop at NYU from Indigo Productions (a steal at $200 with a $50 discount for students) promises to “teach you how to create great short videos, distribute them successfully, build an online brand, and make money in the process.”

The instructor, television producer and development exec James Murray, has made viral videos of his own, such as Cooties (embedded above), which has a respectable 1.7 million views and an airing on MTV.