Next Up NoVa Teaches the Next Generation of Creators with Blackmagic Design

Next Up NoVa Teaches the Next Generation of Creators with Blackmagic Design

Brie Clayton December 18, 2024

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Students discover passion for filmmaking using DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4Ks.

Rob Giampapa created Next Up NoVa, a nonprofit arts and athletics facility for the youth of Northern Virginia, combining his passion for creativity and filmmaking and his partner Travis Simoes' passion for athletics.

We wouldn't be where we are without those things in our lives, and we want to help more kids discover themselves, said Giampapa. We needed all the help we could get growing up, and we want to provide the local youth with a safe, creative, and high level instructional experience.

Next Up NoVa and the Next Up NoVa Youth Center in Gainesville, VA, does just that with 10,000 square feet dedicated to production and athletics, including a cyc wall, two soundproof podcast studios, a state of the art control room, and gym space. In addition to athletics, the program offers free classes in videography, photography, podcasting, and audio/video production powered by ATEM Mini Pro ISO live production switchers, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K digital film camera, Blackmagic Video Assist 5 3G monitor/recorders, and DaVinci Resolve Studio editing, color grading, visual effects (VFX) and audio post production software.

Bridging the Gap

According to Giampapa, Access to the arts has been shown to have positive benefits in the classroom, for academic achievement, and with life skills, but oftentimes funding gets cut. That's why we're here.

For Next Up Nova, the goal is to bridge the gap between visual arts programs offered in school and the number of students in the area. We don't do it with written homework or assignments; we do it through hands on learning, pre production to post, he noted. Luckily there exists affordable and powerful tools, like our Blackmagic Design gear, for the students to learn on.

Backed by Blackmagic Design products, the students study the arts of filmmaking, production and post, as well as create their own content, all with the same tools used by working industry professionals.

The quality of Blackmagic products is second to none. The ease of operation for the quality is hard to replicate or explain to people that don't use cameras daily, said Giampapa. The cameras' image quality and touch screen are incredible, and DaVinci Resolve is truly taking over in the industry. Resolve benefits new school creators and editors as well as provides the tools that are key for old school filmmakers too.

Resolve's functionality and node based workflow provide a very fluid editing experience for newer creators, along with the speed needed when editing video games, YouTube, Twitch, sports, and TikTok content, especially with action, effects, or graphics. Its magic mask tool has been a revelation for green screen application as well. It's a totally different style of editing than traditional film and commercial editing, but Resolve is moving toward being the industry standard in traditional editing as well. The ease of the workflow and powerful color correction tools make it unrivaled in this regard.

Transforming West Potomac Academy

Giampapa has had a history of championing arts programs in the area, beginning with West Potomac Academy in Alexandria, VA.

My production company 2Up 2Down Media had partnered with the local school districts, and I was holding classes and working on projects with students and interns. When the teacher from West Potomac retired, I jumped at the chance, stepping back from my company to put my all into the classroom, explained Giampapa.

Turning to Blackmagic Design, Giampapa equipped the program with Pocket Cinema Camera 4K, 6Ks and 6K Pros, Blackmagic Video Assist 5 3G and DaVinci Resolve Studio. In 2020, I purchased the first Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and a Video Assist, and it completely changed the quality of what students were able to do. The program was 20 years behind on technology when I got there, and students had barely used DSLR cameras, he noted.

We then bought additional Pocket 6Ks and 6K Pros, and by 2023, four students had their own Pocket 4Ks and 6Ks with many making the switch to DaVinci Resolve, Giampapa added. That's a huge transformation in a short amount of time, and again, it boils down to the Blackmagic gear's accessibility and feature set.

What makes Giampapa the proudest is watching the students flourish. West Potomac has had students get accepted into film programs all around the country at a rate that is shocking for one classroom. I have 16 graduates currently in film programs that have acceptance rates between 3 and 18 percent, he said. We've had multiple national video contest winners, several hundred thousand dollars in scholarships and most important, students that would not have graduated high school did so because of a camera and the class.

A New World of Production

The way I've explained it to education departments is, with the historic broadcast format, I can prepare about four people a year for a career. Opening it up to all disciplines, such as film, music video, commercials, social media ads, sports, etc., means that I can prepare 200 plus people a year for a career. Almost every company has a social media department, video production department, etc., so it's a new world, and schools need to catch up, said Giampapa.

With the goal of opening two additional Next Up NoVa Youth Centers to better serve all of Northern Virginia, Giampapa stated that he is relentless in his goal to help the next generation of creators.

Today is so different than it used to be, as we have so much more information and technology at our fingertips. But kids still sometimes get left behind and arts funding

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