Ray Johnson
Assistant Professor of Cinema and Television Arts
Department: Cinema and Television Arts
Email: johnson@elon.edu
Phone number: (336) 278-5677
Professional Expertise
Brief Biography
Ray Johnson has been a professor at Elon since 1984. He has been actively involved in all aspects of the development of the Communications program. He initiated and was the first person to teach all the fundamental classes in television and cinema. He is actively involved in the production of documentary films. He has produced major films on the Occaneechi-Saponi native American tribe, Black Mountain College, the civil rights movement in North Carolina and the film “Just a Guy,” about David Rhodes who is a quadriplegic and serves as Assistant Attorney General of the State of California.
News & Notes
Education
University of North Carolina - Greensboro
M.FA - Broadcasting and Cinema - 1992
University of North Carolina - Greensboro
M.Ed.History
Appalachian State University
B.S. History
Employment History
1984 - Present Elon University, Elon, N.C.
Assistant Professor of Communications and
Director of Television Services
Initiated television production curriculum
Initiated the Cinema curriculum
Teach classes in television production and film theory
Supervise television production facilities
Purchase all television production equipment
Produce weekly television programs for cablevision
Produce promotional and training videos for Elon
1979 - 1984 Burlington City Schools, Burlington, N.C.
Teacher/Social Studies
Coordinator and Demonstration Teacher for eleven school
Initiated television production curriculum by administering
$89,000 per year (3 years) Federal Title IV-C grant
Taught television production at Williams High School;
recognized as model program for State of North Carolina
Initiated all Advanced Placement courses in the school system
Served as Economic Education Coordinator of nationally recognized
economic program
Coached High I.Q. Bowl teams for 10 years; won two stateCourses Taught
Producing for Broadcast and New Media
Australian and New Zealand Cinema (Winter Term Study Abroad)
From Gutenberg to Film (Winter Term Study Abroad)
African Film
Digital Media Convergence
Film Censorship
Media History
Senior Seminar
Television Production
Editing the Moving Image
The Auteur Director
The Development of the Cinema
The Kennedy Assassination and Film
The South in American Film
The Elon Film Heritage
Graduate production course in London
Leadership Positions
Committee Service at Elon
Athletic
Lyceum
Study Aboard
Long Range Planning
Technology
Writing
Dean’s Task Force on Curriculum Development
Research
Current Projects
Worked on a major documentary film entitled, An End of Silence, about the creation of the Crossroads rape crisis organization and the empowerment of women in the 1970’s. Researched and conducted more than 25 interviews for this project. The film had one public showing for the Crossroads organization and will have more public showings in the future.
Publications
Major Film Produced:
The Survival of the Circle - Occaneechi-Saponi native American tribe of NC and Virginia
Fully Awake – Black Mountain College
Just a Guy – The David Rhodes Story
The End of Silence – The creation of the Crossroads organization
Presentations
Film Screenings for the film Fully Awake: Black Mountain College
I was associate producer for the film.
Berkshires International Film Festival
Great Barrington, MA
May 15-18, 2007
Rome International Film Festival
Rome, GA
September 6-7, 2007
North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh
September 15, 2007
National Gallery of Art
Washington, DC
Dec 27, 28 2007
Museum of Modern Art
New York, NY
November, 2007
Professional Activities
Member of the Broadcast Educators Association.
Member of the Digital Video Professionals Association. This is an organization created by the National Association of Broadcasters designed to bring together digital video professionals.
Service Activities
Served on the Alamance-Burlington, Elon Partnership Committee. This committee is made up of professors from Elon and Alamance-Burlington School personnel. It is exploring how Elon and the school system can work together on joint projects. The committee is jointly chaired by the Superintendent of ABSS the Dean of Education at Elon.
Served as a consultant to the Alamance-Burlington School System. Worked with elementary teachers how to best utilize digital media in the classroom.
Worked with teachers to produce training videos.
Mentored an iMedia graduate school class in producing a multimedia, interactive website for Barrow-Hill Elementary School in London, UK.
Awards
Mentored a SURE project with an Elon student. This project won second place in the nation for promotional video in a competition sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters and the Broadcast Educators Association