Get to Know HFC: Courtney Spivak makes complex ideas fun and relatable
When she was a child, HFC telecommunication instructor Courtney Spivak knew she wanted to be an artist.
“I was interested in filmmaking at an early age. I had a toy video camera called a Pixelvision, which could record low-quality visuals. My friends and I would take animal figurines and make little movies with them. I played the keyboard to make dramatic scores. It was a lot of fun,” recalled Spivak, laughing.
Born in Royal Oak, Spivak, who lives in Oak Park, is the youngest of three. Growing up, her parents were supportive of her artistic endeavors. When she was a sophomore at Lamphere High School in Madison Heights, her parents bought Spivak her first video camera. She filmed everything within her line of sight.
“You get obsessed with filming everything,” she said. “We also had an ancient editing system at home. Being an intrepid child, I convinced some of my teachers to let me do video presentations for assignments. I made a short French movie for my French class. Having an entrepreneurial spirit, I taped the senior all-nighter and sold copies of it to the other kids. At that point, I didn’t know about filmmaking as a career.”
Spicing things up on her public access show Static Vision, being selected for Cannes
After graduating from Lamphere, Spivak hosted Static Vision “with the exuberant ignorance of a child in her late teens” on a local public access channel for 2-3 years.
Her guests included filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman, who directed the 1984 cult classic The Toxic Avenger, and Detroit native Lauren Flax, a DJ, musician, and songwriter who is a member of the band CREEP, based in Brooklyn, NY.
“The content I featured wasn’t the usual content seen on a public access channel. I certainly spiced things up when I came through,” she recalled. “It’s very much a product of its era. I don’t know if it’ll hold up now, but it sure would make a pretty funny time capsule!”
Spivak completed some coursework at Oakland Community College. Transferring to Wayne State University, she earned her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary film studies and her master’s degree in media arts and film studies.
Throughout the years, Spivak has made short films and music videos. She has played in several local bands as a vocalist and keyboardist. She also edits their videos. Sequestered, her short 2009 film, was selected in the Court Metrage (Short Film Corner) of the Cannes Film Festival in France. It was an experimental film piece that explored sound design and dialectical montage (symbolically related images combined to create new meaning).
Spivak completed the audio for the documentary called Where the Soil Waits about Kresge Artist Fellow Kaleigh Wilder, which won the Best Micro-Short Documentary at the Idlewild International Film Festival in Idlewild, MI. It was also shown on PBS.
“Teaching made a weird kind of sense”
Spivak stumbled across teaching by accident.
“Teaching made a weird kind of sense because I was always commandeering my friends and training them and directing them. I worked at Wayne State when I was a freshman through grad school. I became a teaching assistant, where I taught a film class. I was also an assistant in audio production classes. When we would get new audio production software – Pro Tools – at Wayne State, I was the one who learned it and taught students how to use it,” she explained.
Lara Hyrcaj, Spivak’s colleague at Wayne State, taught at HFC (then Henry Ford College) and was involved with WHFR-FM (89.3), HFC’s student-run radio station. Hyrcaj recommended Spivak teach at the College.
“My Pro Tools experience helped me get a job at HFC,” said Spivak. “I remember visiting the College once, and it seemed like such a cool place. I had come to videotape someone doing a live on-air performance at WHFR. When I came back for the job interview, I thought, ‘I remember this place.’ I’m excited to be here.”
Spivak joined the HFC faculty in 2008. She teaches the digital audio editing and audio production classes at HFC.
“I have worked in filmmaking in various aspects throughout my time teaching at HFC,” she said. “I remember the first audio production class I taught here. It was a great way to jump in. I still keep in touch with that group of students. We really bonded.”
“Courtney is one of the most creative people I know!”
Spivak reports to HFC Chairperson for the Department of Communication and Media Susan McGraw.
“Susan’s great. She’s one of the most helpful and happy people I know. She’s a delight to work with. She’s the ideal boss, actually,” said Spivak.
“Courtney is one of the most creative people I know!” said McGraw. “She's a very effective instructor and has that rare gift of introducing very complex concepts in our field while making the material relatable and fun. Courtney's love of her work is evidenced by the way she goes above and beyond in her holistic commitment to our students' success. She's a great asset to the Media Communication Arts team at HFC and we're lucky to have her.”
The small teacher-to-student ratio at HFC allows Spivak to take an in-depth approach with her students.
“Anything that’s tight-knit and small works well as a team and goes smoothly. I get the support I need with anything I do with my classes. I’m happy to see more integration of film students in on-campus projects like HFC-24," said Spivak. "I like the interaction with students. I like hearing their ideas and approaches. The more interactive, the more sharing of ideas. This leads to making projects work and seeing their progress over time. That’s why I enjoy keeping in touch with my first audio production class. It’s wonderful to see that progression and see that people grow and become successful. Former students pop up in interesting places and that’s really exciting to see. It’s pretty funny when students come across me when I’m playing at shows. Playing shows with former students is really fun.” She added with a laugh: “I want to keep teaching and making films until a ripe old age.”