• Writing
• Producing
• Directing
• Crewing

     These are the jobs of Mass Comm -- and you'll learn them all -- but that's not what Mass Comm is all about.  We're here to tell stories, and to tell them well, by combining the tools of the artist, musician, and writer.  We're here to enrich lives by learning to communicate, entertain, and impact.  We're here to help you create the worlds you see in your mind when the lights go out at night.
     We're here, to touch lives, and to teach our students how to do the same.
     Welcome to Mass Comm.  Explore the links on the left and those below to discover who we are, what we teach, and how we approach the business of education.  Then come and visit us -- work with us on a film shoot, sit in on a few classes, talk to us about your dreams.  See for yourself what Fusing Art & Literature is all about. 

• BULLY FILM RELEASED: NNU Mass Comm is proud to release its latest department film, "Bully Club". Directed by all members of the Advanced Directing class and shot on 16mm over the course of four days, the film exposes many of the misconceptions people have about this problem. Thanks to our great cast, and to the Petit Family Foundation and Kodak for the grants that made the production possible.
  

  
  We're offering this film free to the world for any and all non-profit use, as long as it's not altered in any way.  We think it will be especially useful in school classrooms as a discussion starter.  Here's the link:
  

  http://youtu.be/FPJWBPWPREc
  

• DECEMBER SHOOT: Coming soon, the department will will shoot it's first-of-the-year project.  We'll use our skills to shoot a multiple set-up film in the studio, using our crane and just about every piece of equipment we have. This will also be the first time the department will come together with our new 35mm cinema camera.  Freshmen will be exposed to the craft of working on a set, sophomores are being bumped up to key positions, and the juniors and seniors will be working to further hone their lighting and camera techiniques.  
• FROM DOWN UNDER : Senior Josh Weise recently flew back from Australia where he helped film a business conference that was web streamed to printing industry leaders throughout the Asia-pacific region. “Specifically I was the camera operator during the meetings.” Josh also was able to film interviews and pick up some extra shots of the event and the beautiful Sydney Harbor.  Josh went to Singapore with the same company last year for another web streaming conference.
• We have a New Dr.  IN THE HOUSE! After studying two years at a school in the Swiss Alps, and being tutored by some of the most renowned names in philosophy, art, film, and history in the world, Professor Arnie Ytreeide has now acquired the title, “Dr.” Ytreeide.  He and his wife Elsie, traveled to New York this October to defend his dissertation, “The Will to Commune.” Congratulations Dr. Ytreeide!
• DIRECTORS CLUB: The Directors Club is back! Wednesday night movies are back in session as students enjoy an evening of watching movies, eating delicious goodies, and speaking the language only Mass Commers would know. It's all about watching and deconstructing some of the great films, under faculty guidance. The club is so popular students had to be divided into two groups because we wouldn't all fit into our professor's home theater!
• TO THE TRUCK! Freshmen are not the only new addition to the Mass Comm family this year. With our four new studio cameras to use with our production truck, the students of Mass Comm participated in the first ever, "Truck Training course." During the course the students participated in running cables, setting up cameras, weaving through obstacle courses, and managing the art of knotting and unknotting.
• HUT 2,3,4!-As tradition continues, freshman in the Mass Comm department participated in a training course infamously known as "Boot Camp." The camp is designed to equip new students with need-to-know skills to survive throughout the year as a newbie. The course is aimed at helping students feel more comfortable with the new language of film and television.
• EXTREME MAKEOVER - EQUIPMENT STYLE:  When Mass Comm students come back to school after the summer break, they may not recognized the place, at least parts of if.  Faculty and TAs are spending the summer buying, setting up and installing new cameras and equipment as we go TAPELESS and upgrade the studio and broadcast truck.  We'll have four new studio cameras (no more old pedestals!), a new Sony switcher, new cameras, recorders and readers, and a new SECRET camera.  We'll be revealing all this at the beginning-of-the-year meeting the night before classes begin.
• HOLLYWOOD INTERNSHIP:  Each year about 4000 Mass Comm students from around the country apply for 30 paid internships working with Hollywood companies through the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (the Emmy people).  After a very rigorous and competitive application process, this year our own Zac Kinman has landed one of those prestigious internships!  Zac will spend eight weeks working with FOX SPORTS network.
• PHOTOS ON FACEBOOK: See Mass Comm in action with photos of recent and past projects on Facebook: www.facebook.com/nnumasscomm
• MUSIC MADNESS: This past weekend jammed out to Scott Christianson's senior project music video involving a band from Portland, Oregon. This weekend's project involved major set design: the studio was transformed into everything from a snowy winterland to a warm beach and campfire, to the middle of the forest. A stage was also constructed for the band's main set ups.
• ON YOUR MARK: The Mass Communications major was hired to webcast the NCAA Great Northwest Athletic Conference track and field meet. With our new production truck, students were able to stream the event live to viewers on several different continents. The setup included four cameras stationed all around the Idaho Center Stadium with a 12-man crew. Arnie Ytreeide, the department chair stated, "It was tremendous pressure for our students to capture in a professional manner the essence of numerous events happening simultaneously. Our Mass Comm students rose to the occasion and demonstrated they had really learned the skills taught in class."
• OUT OF THE FOG: Senior projects are underway as the students are gathering last minute details. Senior Andy Firestone wrapped up his two-weekend video shoot recently. The project included freshman through senior status, all who were given a job to accomplish that replicated a real-life industry film crew. The project was shot on several locations, including the middle of the desert.  Besides the filming experience for the rest of the crew, this gave Andy's producer some good practice at anticipating and planning for the many needs of that crew, including transportation, food, and...other necessities.
• FOR ARTS' SAKE: The Mass Comm department was recently given the opportunity shoot a multicam production of pianist Walden Hughes of the Music department here at NNU.  Similar to a BBC documentary, the four camera setup involved our newly finished production truck along with an array of equipment for camera movement purposes. After a long day of work, the crew left more educated on technical skills...as well as classical music. 
• REAL TELEVISION: The advanced television production class is currently in production on their multicam projects. During these projects, students have an hour to direct a ten minute TV show which they have written and produced.  Other students work at lighting, audio, camera, teleprompter, technical director, and video tape. The students work on each others crew, switching off jobs to experience all aspects of what it feels like to work in an actual television studio. An hour to shoot ten minutes may not sound like much of a challenge, but when the students sit in the director's chair, with fifteen other people waiting to be told what to do, that hour seems mighty long.
• REAL FILM: The Cinematography class recently wrapped their production of "Resurrection,"  a 16mm film about a morgue worker who falls in love. The film was shot by the entire department.  A professional lighting director was hired to help the cinematography students light each scene as faculty guided students in other areas. The goal of the Cinematography class was to apply their lighting skills and create an image that would help tell the story aesthetically. The students in the class were each given a scene to light that would include measuring for color temperature and intensity, designing the mood of the scene, and helping the director design shots. After "making" the 13 hour day with 11 scenes, students survived with good spirits and the experience of what it's like to work in the film industry.
• NEW PRODUCTION TRUCK: After two months of intense work, several students have completed the re-building of a donated satellite uplink truck. The truck will now serve as a mobile production truck to take on location shoots, much like the ones used by TV stations and networks such as ESPN. The truck can put up to 8 cameras at an event, with complete control room facilities inside. This will give students an opportunity to experience live TV broadcasting from many different events.  The first event to use the truck was the homecoming basketball game.
• INTERNSHIP: Junior Aaron Blackwill spent the summer in an internship in Portland, Oregon, working for a network TV station. Aaron was able to produce and shoot his own television segment as well as learning what it takes to produce a daily one-hour entertainment show.
• REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE: Junior Zac Kinamin recently returned from a job with ESPN in Seattle broadcasting the WNBA Championships. He also worked with ESPN during the summer and was involved in other ESPN shoots. Mass Comm faculty are often asked by their professional contacts to recommend students for jobs like this, and they gladly send those students who have shown a passion for the industry and a great work ethic.
• INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: Junior Josh Wiese spent a week in Singapore at the beginning of the semester, working on a film crew for a corporate vidieo.  One goal of the Mass Comm faculty is to give students a diverse and impressive resume' upon leaving school, full of real-world experience like this.
• OLYMPIC STYLE: Junior Troy Watters spent two weekends at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver B.C. manning a satellite uplink station.  Watters worked with a crew interviewing Olympic stars for live broadcasts across the country.  He was hired through industry contacts with Professor Ytreeide after those contacts had seen his work on other department productions.
• WATER WORLD: Students and faculty of Mass Comm just completed a very wet film shoot for a documentary on Mark Twain - "wet" because both the crew and the 12-year-old actor playing Huck Finn spent 4 hours standing in a stand-in for the Mississippi River.
• DREAM JOB: Graduate Lynelle Thompson was recently offered -- and accepted -- a full-time job at DreamWorks Studios.
• AND THE WINNER IS... Graduate Jeremy Wiese recently prevailed after a long and rigorous application process to land a job as head videographer for a college. His new position puts him in charge of all things video, and involves extensive travel around the country.