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Photo by Chelsea Van Baalen/The Advocate
Video student Tim Hanson works on some of the Integrated Media program’s stock footage. Hanson has been in the program since 2008 and hopes to graduate this year.
A natural choice for a driven student
Video student Tim Hanson pursues his passion
in Integrated Media
The Advocate
Tim Hanson came to MHCC to study engineering — until he met a math class with numbers he couldn’t crunch.
“I’m not a big fan of math,” Hanson said. “I got to the point where math was theoretical and I hit a wall. I couldn’t spend my life crunching numbers.”
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Luckily, Hanson had a “natural” fallback. Hanson dropped his engineering classes and enrolled in MHCC’s Integrated Media Video Program last year.
“Film has been something I’ve enjoyed for years,” Hanson said. “But I never considered pursuing film as a career. It just seemed too unpractical.”
Hanson grew up “making small movies with my friends” and said it inspired him to pursue his goals. “Whenever I’d do movies with my friends, they knew how much I enjoyed it so they encouraged me,” Hanson said.
Though he now does films “mostly for assignments,” Hanson hasn’t lost his attention to detail. “Whenever I do something, I like to make sure it gets done the best way I can do it,” he said.
Another quality he sees in himself that swayed him away from engineering is his imagination.
“I think I’ve always been a technical person, but I’ve always had creative swings.”
Though a career in film can include a wide variety of occupations, Hanson is focusing on becoming a producer and a director. “I just like to see where the project is going before it even starts and (see) it fall into place the way it needs to be,” Hanson said.
Aside from directing and producing, Television Production Technology instructor Jack Schommer said Hanson also writes his own material and that most of what he does is “from original pieces.”
“Usually writing, directing and producing go hand in hand,” Hanson said.
However, Hanson added that he ran into obstacles last spring when his work schedule became more demanding.
“I had to choose between work or school,” Hanson said. However, instead of giving up, Hanson made up classes during the summer.
“He had a rough spring term but he’s been working really hard,” Schommer said. “He’s doing everything he can to succeed. He has the drive.”
Schommer said that Hanson’s drive is part of what helps him as a student.
“What makes him successful in the program is that he shows up, he does his work (and) he asks questions,” Schommer said. “He’s looking at this from a bigger picture.”
Hanson is also set to coordinate this year’s Final Cut Film Festival along with fellow student Nathanael Sams. The festival is an annual event that will be held June 4.
“Nathanael and I took on the task of producing it because it’s something we love to do,” Hanson said.
Schommer said the two volunteered to coordinate the event but is confident in their success. “I think they’ll do well,” Schommer said. “They’re interested in making sure (their) classmates’ work gets shown in a good way.”
Aside from the film festival, Hanson is also planning on getting his associate of applied science degree this year.
According to Schommer, the professional-technical degrees, like the one Hanson will receive, prepare students to graduate and to go into the work place.
However, once again, Hanson has a fallback plan.
“If I can’t get a job after this, I’d like to go to the Art Institute of Portland or the L.A. Film School or the New York Film Academy,” Hanson said. “Those are pretty big goals, but it’s good to aim high.”
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