Award-winning filmmaker Tennessee Norton has retired from the industry and found his passion for teaching video production.
“I retired from commercial work but I still do filmmaking projects on my own,” Norton said.
This year will be Norton’s first year teaching, filling the position that former long-term video production teacher Mark Middlebrook retired at the end of last school year. Norton discovered his passion for teaching after seeing his wife inspire other kids through education.
“I got to really see the difference she makes in kids’ lives,” Norton said. “I was looking for something to do with my life that would give back… and I found out about CTE (Career Technical Education) teaching.”
His dad introduced him to film at a young age allowing Norton to develop this newfound hobby into a passion. He even created his first film when he was 12 years old. However, Norton didn’t consider his passion until given an opportunity at a film school in San Francisco. He took this opportunity and it led him to an internship working on “The Nightmare Before Christmas” by Tim Burton, allowing him to start a career and go on to win two Emmys on a show called “Robot Chicken” and an Oscar for Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio.”
“I found out about internships happening for ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’…. I took three months to do an internship in the camera department and then my internship was over…and a position opened up for me in character fabrication,” Norton said.
Norton plans to revive the Pearl Net News and shine a new light on filmmaking at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School. He plans to make a news broadcasting room for students to get the full filmmaking experience. This year, he aims for students to interact with film using a game-based learning platform called GimKit. Encouraging students to have fun within their learning environment while ensuring they know the information. Norton is also the sponsor of the Video Production Club, which will allow students more time to pursue their interests in filming.
“I tend to try and use Gim-Kit… It’s kind of like a quizlet but the reason that I really like it is instead of just asking you a multiple choice question and you get the question wrong, it actually gives you the correct answer,” Norton said.
