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Here’s an update on what the TV/broadcasting studio/classroom at Ronald E. McNair High School in Stockton (CA) looks like.
First…below is a rough diagram of what the layout looks like so you can relate to the photos.
Rough diagram 7/09
And now for the tour. We’ll begin in the control room. The room can easily hold up to five students working and has a window looking out to the floor. It is NOT soundproofed…but since the control room crew works quietly, that is not an issue.
The studio has some real professional aspects and some parts of the design are frankly amateurish.
The pro aspects include the greenscreen and grey curtains that cover completely the south and west walls. Nice. The light grid…we only have two 1Ks up there, but can add probably another twenty of varying sizes…all controlled in the control room by a progamable light panel.
With the hole/pass through between the floor and the control room, students can set up in minutes. The anchor desk was a find – a display from a bankrupt store. Very heavy, holds two comfortably, and on wheels so we can move it around.
I’m still working on work stations in the control room – but here’s the basic layout. Enter the room and the light control is right inside the door. The rest of the workstations are in this order:
Audio board
Director
Preview screen for switcher
Video switcher
Playbacks (DVD, mini-DV)
Sony DVCam record deck to record the show
Monitors
Next is the on-air monitor for showing the Daily Bulletin as we playback for the campus – I currently have our Pansonic mini-DV deck hooked up for playback, although it really belongs over in the playback area.
We can also hook up the mini-DV deck to the small TV set for viewing tapes. Finally, a DVD duplicator.
There’s also a table in the room to hold the crew headsets and to work on scripts, etc.
I’m waiting for at least three (I hope) more computers…two to go just outside the control room for Internet access – none of my computers are currently hooked up.
Plus one computer (please let it have a DVD burner) for any add-ons to the show. Right now students are only switching between cameras and we have to edit in bars/countdown/show open and credits. As they get better, I’ll add in more components (live playback while shooting of bars/countdown and show open and credits).
Procedure to shoot the show.
Director and anchors get script (I type it due to time constraints) and read and mark their individual lines and which camera(s) will be up for each part of the script.
Floor Director is in charge of pulling mike lines and placement of microphones for the anchors. S/he also has to hook up their headset to their com line. Also is in charge of anything that happens on the floor, from working w/cameramen to communicating with anchors (plus telling students not working on the show to shush).
Cameramen pull cables (S-VHS and com line) to tripods and place tripods. They then get cameras/batteries and place cameras on tripods and hook up video to camera and their headset to com line.
Director is the boss and runs the show. All of the following must be stated over the com system so that all crew knows the Director is running through the checklist.
First s/he checks that all crew are in position and tells cameras what their first shot is.
Call for Floor Director to get “Quiet on the set!”
Directs switcher to roll tape and gets confirmation.
States that tape is rolling and to “stand by.”
Tells Floor Director to begin the countdown in “ten…nine…eight…”We are keeping the switcher’s job pretty simple right now…all they have to do is read the script and switch between the initial two shot and then between anchors as they read their lines, ending on a two shot.
I also keep the camera/anchor ID simple. Anchor One and Camera One are on the right, from the viewpoint of the Director in the Control Room. Anchor Two and Camera Two are on the left. Anchor One’s camera is Camera One – and Anchor Two looks to Camera Two.
Remember…we’ve only been doing this for two weeks and I felt it was best to keep it simple initially.
My final bugaboo: choosing anchors, rotating anchors, philosophy of student participation. This is a developing philosophy..and I’m gonna wander off a little here with some personal opinions.
When I worked in TV news, one of the things that really bugged me was when administrators marched out the same top-of-the-line kids every time media came on campus. We never saw real kids…just perfect kids.
My principal I know does the same…and I understand why. He wants to make the school look good. Good PR.
But by only allowing a select few opportunities, you create a culture of segregation. Those who have and get it and the great unwashed. Those who get to look and live in envy and crushed hopes.
Call me a daft – a fool – but I am in a way jettisoning decades of training that says that only the best and brightest deserve the spotlight. I want my slow kids and my gangbangers and my quiet bright kids to have the same opportunities as those with who live life with a silver spoon.
So the initial anchors for the Daily Bulletin were a semi-toughie (advanced student) who has always been a bit of a classroom clown and problem and who proved that my faith in him was warranted by anchoring like a pro (with only a few errors). His co-anchor a quiet B-Boy (yeah I love my breakers). After a week I rotated my clown into the Control Room as Director and pulled in a shaggy haired quiet advanced student. Every week I pull in a new anchor to work with someone from the previous week. And I’ll be going outside my classroom because I’ve appealed to staff to give me their readers – students who would like to try to anchor two a two week period.
Another important part of my plan is to keep the show interesting. When the Bulletin was read over loudspeakers to the classrooms, kids just didn’t pay attention. It was boring.
With the addition of the video Bulletin, we can keep the audience interested by changing visuals daily. The anchors appear daily in the show open. The credits (:30-1:00)change daily from animations shot by my students to highlights of the football game to campus events. The plan is to include as many students at all levels as possible so that at least once a week or more a student can say, “I was on the Bulletin or I saw someone I know on the Bulletin.”
This past week I sent out a notice to all staff that if they had events or meetings or games and could either provide video/stills or give me enough notice so that I could send a student to shoot the event, we would include them in the Bulletin credits. I sent the email on Friday morning and before the day was out I had every spot for next week filled with more coming in.
Our school librarian was even more on top of the situation. She has some of my students in her after-school Eagle Readers Club – and is having them produce a commercial about what a great club it is.
Final note: this is NOT a news show, so I am treating it as a community service program. We will, on occasion, insert a story, but building this into a real news show will take time. I need to build some depth in my crew…get students who want to return again and again so that their strengths and background will allow me to do more and more.
As always…please leave comments; let me know what you’re up to; criticize…thank you.
Not exactly what you’d expect considering it went down for two weeks in what I assumed was a death spiral.
Turned it on Tuesday to demonstrate that it wasn’t working – and it made a liar of me.
Not only did the lights flash and everything work…but the Preview screen, which NEVER worked, is functional.
And with that feature working, I love my little switcher. I can see all of the effects, program it…life is good.
What happens?
Well KXTV’s Rich Raymond, who retired after FORTY-FIVE years is keeping up the pace with his life long passion.
Drag racing.
Gonna hafta put on my racing shoes and rev up the ole van and catch up with him sometime soon.
This active antique got his start in life as a fieldworker – and somehow morphed into one of the rock solid shooters in the Golden State.
Oh – and he is a huggie bear.
No one – no one – can envelop you in his arms quite like Rich…(hey don’t think down that path…we’re buds).
Here’s something new – Kathy Newell forwarded this photo of Rich at a George W. visit to Sacramento in 2006.
My Focus Enhancement MX4 is offically dead. The choices are fix it or replace it.
So, to all of you out there in the invisible world of the Internet – do any of YOU have suggestions for an AFFORDABLE simple switcher that can handle four video and audio sources as well as basic effects, including green screen.
Repair cost is about $500…I’m willing to look at new or used in the $500-$2000 range.
Contact me at cygreen@lodiusd.net.
Well, Amanda Emily has done it again…the techno-geek queen has a calculator that will give you times for the golden and blue hours in your area or any area you are traveling to.
The “Gold” is that time of day – dawn and dusk – when the sun is low and casts a golden light. “Blue” is the period right before dawn/after dusk when the sun is just below the horizon.
Those times are often the best times to shoot scenics or portraits. Knowing your timeframe for shoots can be a timesaver.
This seemingly simple site allows you to enter your location and the month you plan to shoot and then generates the dates for that month along with start/end times for gold and blue.
Now if she could only tie in a weather prediction so we’d know if it would rain or not…
One of the most difficult issues I have is trying to figure out how to explain what I know. If your audience doesn’t have the vocabulary or background knowledge, that makes it more difficult.
Writing a story – well, I just do it.
Explaining to a class full of (sometimes) eager students – is hard.
But there is some light and I kind of have a handle on it. Here are the basics.
First have them write the ever-familiar three paragraph essay. We’ll use the Autobiographical Assignment as the basis for this. First graph – introduce yourself and tell me about where/when you were born, your family, pets, where you live, etc. Second graph – write about something you enjoy doing and explain why you enjoy it. Third graph – write about your dream/your goal in life and how you will achieve it.
Second – using a storyboard form, write one sentence or one thought for each slide of the storyboard. Then either draw a simple sketch or write notes about what you plan to use for visuals (yeah, I reviewed all of this already in a prior post).
Third – color code your storyboard. Choose four colored markers, make up a color key for on camera (you), download from Internet, find photo or visual, shoot new photo/visual.
Now mark each slide in your storyboard with the appropriate color. The storyboard becomes a color-coded visual reminder of where you must get each visual to cover your narration.
Use the storyboard to plan your timeline or shoot. First go home and find the visuals you think you have at home. During class time, request permission to go to the library (with flash drive) and acquire visuals from the Internet (be sure to note your sources/urls).
Now, request a camera for one day of shooting your on-camera and still photos brought in from home.
At the same time you are looking for photos and downloading from Internet, decide who you will interview and set up a time/date for the interview and request a camera. Shoot.
As you acquire each asset/visual, import/capture it to the computer. If you have down time, you can record your narration and do titling.
When the time comes to finally edit your autobiography, most of the work is done already.
This can apply to a lot of high school stories…although many may be dependent on getting the interview first (aka information).
Finally – burn the sucker to Quicktime, turn in your Project Completed form stapled to your storyboard and kick back. You are done and can take a (brief) break while everyone else tries to catch up with you.
Ever wonder how they determine “average” class sizes? Simple – add up all of the students in all of the classes, then divide by the number of classes. That’s your “average.”
Of course some classes are a wee big – at our school choir and band aim for high numbers: 70-80-90 or more. Freshman English is mandated to 20 students, more or less. And they stick to it.
In our district I think our overall average is around 32 or 34, which always worked out fine in my broadcasting classes. I have gear and computers for 36.
This year I’m stretching it – began with 45 in one class and 42 in the other, although they’ve settled down now to 40 and 38. But checking cameras out has become more complex. All of my Canon Elura 100s have stripped threads and won’t hug a tripod. (I just got the bushings in yesterday and will work on fixing that problem this weekend.) That leaves me with the Digital Media Club ZR60s and the five cameras I’ve bought over the years (all used bargains): ZR55, two Elura 60s, two ZR600s. Plus a ZR200 I scooped up when our last band teacher moved on (with a promise to the music department that my kids would tape their kids on request).
Now with less than four weeks of class – actually 16 days once Labor Day and two days of finals are subtracted – we have two major assignments on the table. The PowerPoint research assignment I’m not too worried about. Kids bring data from the Internet computers in the library back and will build those on their team computers (three students per). But the Autobiographical assignment had me concerned – until yesterday when I had a bright moment.
We’re going through full pre-production with the AB assignment. First, they wrote a three paragraph essay about themselves. Second, they must translate that essay into a storyboard (one sentence or thought per slide/simple sketch of the visual for each thought/sentence). Then they begin gathering their resources.
For stage two, production, they MUST sign up and reserve a camera. That is what cured my headache. Make the students responsible. So now, they must plan ahead and bring their resources (photos, etc) to class on the day they reserved the camera. They have to make an appointment with a teacher for an interview (one interview required in this assignment) or with another student – for a set day and time – and then reserve a camera.
Kind of makes sense – and I may continue this with all other assignments. And I did this back when I taught AVID (the college-bound class, not the editing program) by making my sophomores request a short meeting with me regarding their grades. They had to either email me, call me on the phone, leave a note in my mailbox, or catch me out of class to make the request (no walking up during class). They had to wait for my reply (needed to check my calendar to see what times I had open). The final step was to actually show up and keep the appointment – and I graded them on all of this. Face it: someday they will need to take control of their own lives. I’m doing this at home too. My youngest asked me if she could see the doctor about a problem a month or so ago and I told her to call and make an appointment. She hesitated, and then made the call…and took herself to the appointments and handled it beautifully. Less work for mom and a sense of freedom for her.
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