(Marietta, Ga. – June 17, 2015) Chattahoochee Technical College’s Television Production Technology Program has again been recognized for excellence during this year’s Southeastern Emmy Awards, held Saturday, June 6, at the Grand Hyatt in Atlanta. Student and Kennesaw resident Savannah Pratt’s film “Exploited No More” received the award for Student Production-News, while instructor Ian Feinberg received the Governor’s award from the board of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Southeast Chapter. In addition, student Katherine Hollyday, of Morrow, was nominated for her film “Ms. Donna’s Book Club.”
“Exploited,” focuses on the topic of human trafficking. “Ms. Donna’s Book Club” features an administrative assistant in Chattanooga, Tenn., who created a read-aloud group at her school and the difference it has made in the students there. The two were selected out of 14 students nominated in the Southeast. There were four finalists, including the two from Chattahoochee Technical College and two from the University of South Carolina.
“Both pieces are shot and edited well, and really do a good job at relating the stories of the subjects,” Feinberg said. “You really get a sense of who the people are in the segments and easily relate to their circumstances. That’s what we try to teach our students. It probably sounds like a broken record, but you can have the prettiest pictures and coolest editing, but if it doesn’t tell a story, then it is a poor piece.”
Feinberg’s award recognizes achievements by individuals, organizations or companies which do not fall within the structure of the Chapter’s regular Area Awards. Historically, Board of Governors Awards are for truly outstanding and unique accomplishments or for achievements of some duration and durability.
Feinberg was inducted into the Silver Circle by NATAS last year, an honor for those with more than 25 years of broadcast excellence and community commitment.
An interest in photography led Feinberg to his career. During his high school days a friend of his worked at a local television station. He began going there at night to self-train. The experience paid off when he was hired in the 10th grade.
“I loved every aspect of the work,” explained Feinberg. “In the two and a half years I worked at this station, I did everything – studio camera, building and lighting sets, audio, directing, film playback, shooting and editing film. It was more experience than most college students received in four years.”
Feinberg then attended the University of Georgia where he graduated from Film School. He was hired by WXIA in Atlanta where he worked for 20 years. His career has included many highlights, including travel, celebrities, shooting out of helicopters and planes, as well as several Emmy Award wins.
Now Feinberg has parlayed that same love for the industry into a career teaching at Chattahoochee Technical College. Through this role as the program’s lead instructor, he educates future industry leaders while he continues to direct and produce shows for television. Feinberg, along with other instructors in the program, routinely lead students through the process of shooting programs like the Shuler Hensley Awards and the Regional Emmy Awards presentations. Additionally, this past year his students worked under his direction as part of the crew on Play to Win – a weekly sports show broadcast each Saturday on Atlanta’s Fox 5. He has been with the college since 2001.
“When I graduated college,” said Feinberg, “my favorite professor told me to attach myself to the most talented person wherever I landed, which is what I did. I learned so much from some very talented people.”
Offered at Chattahoochee Technical College’s Mountain View campus in Cobb County, the television production technology program allows students to learn the behind-the-scene skills necessary to produce TV news, documentaries and entertainment shows. They learn to operate cameras in the studio and in the field, as well as producing, directing, writing, lighting, editing, audio, graphics and digital-animation skills. The program strives to stay current with the industry’s state-of-the-art equipment, including a modern, on campus studio that offers students the opportunity to use the tools they need for the job. Graduates of the program have a wide variety of job opportunities in the television and film production fields.