Reels to Realization class teaches Culver students to craft videos to sell products, ideas, themselves

 

Culver Academies students can learn how to create compelling videos for marketing products, ideas or personal brands in a class called Reels to Realization.

The one-term class taught by Adam Joyce, director of Culver’s theatre department, might at first glance seem like a lesson in how to make a TikTok. But Joyce said the class goes far more in-depth using film-making techniques and other content creation skills, including lighting, editing and sound effects. Students learn the principles of “bite-sized communication,” similar to commercials or promotional videos, and explore the reasoning behind creative choices.

“After taking this class, a student can understand how to craft a message from concept to realization,” Joyce said.

He said the focus is on the “why” behind the storytelling choices, and not on which buttons to press on a platform, because the buttons and platforms are always changing.

Philip Zurn ’27 said the class is a lot more involved than simply splicing together video shots.

“It’s blending them together with color, music and sound,” he said. “It’s a really deep dive into the video that you take.”

Jack Greenwell ’26 said the class teaches students a lot more than how to shoot a video.

“You’re also learning how to edit, how to use all these different platforms, we even learned how to take photos in this class,” he said.

 

 

These skills are reinforced through hands-on projects that challenge students to think critically about visual impact.

Joyce said he began conceiving of the class when he was working on his master of fine arts degree at Columbia University in New York City while he was working for a commercial casting company that did national television and radio commercials. He said that experience shifted his perspective from traditional narratives to creating meaning through short, impactful videos.

“As a byproduct of that I also was really very interested in having a class that focused more on editing and some of the different kinds of editing platforms that we just don't have time to get to in film studies,” Joyce said.

Students gain proficiency in industry-standard software such as Adobe After Effects, Photoshop and Premiere. Joyce said that mastering these tools requires patience and practice, aligning with Culver’s competency of iteration — doing something repeatedly to improve over time.

The course begins with a personal branding video, followed by a 20- to 30-second piece applying design principles of composition, texture, lines and perspective. Later, students produce commercials experimenting with contrasting settings and lighting to understand how sequencing shapes meaning.

“They'll understand the primacy effect of the first thing you see has great importance and the last thing you see has great importance,” Joyce said.

 

 

Even if students never pursue filmmaking, he believes they leave with a deeper understanding of the media that saturates their lives.

They then create a video hyping anything they want where they will utilize the editing techniques they have been learning.

The class goes through the four Cs of peer review of a project before it is done: clean notice, compliment, criticize and correct. In the clean notice, classmates watch a video and tell the creator what they notice.

“They’ll say things like, ‘I noticed the color yellow.’ Or, ‘There are lots of lines.’ Or, ‘I noticed this texture,’ ” Joyce said. “Clean notice means they'll look at the project, see what is empirically true about it. So, no judgment.”

Then the students compliment the creator on something they liked. Then the third phase is to criticize. The final phase is correct, where the creator has to decide which compliments and criticisms they will take action on.

“Sometimes that means starting over,” Joyce said. “Sometimes it's just like a blue-sky design conversation of, ‘Well, if I had a million dollars, I would have built 100-foot tall robot. But I don't have that.’ ”

Joyce said the class also gives the students an opportunity to work with artificial intelligence where they will create an artifact for students to edit.

“Once students realize how quickly and easily they're able to tap into artificial intelligence it deepens their understanding of how they look at the world and how they digest media,” Joyce said. “So they know when they interact with media in the future it should be with some measure of skepticism, always healthy skepticism.”

Zurn and Greenwell also created a five-minute one-shot film about a museum heist where they had to map out where they passed the camera and add special effects afterward.

Zurn recalled the challenge of syncing sound effects at the precise correct moment, such as two characters slapping five.

“Little details like that is what takes up a lot of our time,” Zurn said.

Zurn, a defenseman on Culver’s prep hockey team, and Greenwell, a goalie, said one reason they took the class is so they could create highlight videos they could send to college hockey coaches.

“I had very simple skills but I wanted to broaden my experience,” Greenwell said.  

Joyce said students taking the class will have a better understanding of how they interact with media.

 “Hopefully a student leaves my class understanding not just what they are seeing, but also what are they not seeing? What are the pieces that are missing here? How trustworthy is this media that is being presented?” Joyce said.

He wants students to always question what they are seeing.

“Much of what you see is meant to divide people. If you approach media critically, you make more informed choices,” Joyce said.

Ultimately, Reels to Realization is about more than video production — it’s about empowerment. Students leave with the confidence to experiment, question and create.

Joyce sums it up simply: “Try something new. Be bold. Be brave.”