Get Thee to a Support Group
It’s certainly something that William Shakespeare could have taken a page from 400 years ago. Instead, he brought us characters who engaged in wicked swordplay, poisoning, spreading scandals, thwarting romance and duplicitously conniving for riches…and that was just within their own families. How very different those lives might have turned out if they could have availed themselves of a professional sounding board; specifically, a trained psychotherapist to help them sort out their feelings prior to acting on them.
What Your Students Need To Know Before Leaving The Video Program
To make sure that they could leave my class at the end of the semester equipped to handle film school or the professional set, I distributed this survey and adjusted my projects as needed. This truly helped give me a better perspective into what my students had attained in earlier classes, and what knowledge needed more reinforcement. I hope it will help you improve your program as much as it helped me improve mine!
We Revisit Hoover High School After 10 Years
The Video Productions program at Hoover High School in North Canton, Ohio, began in the fall of 1998 with the purchase of two digital broadcast video cameras and one Avid Express nonlinear editing system. Today, the program is two-fold, with three levels of a Career Tech based Video Production classes and a multi-year set of Broadcast Journalism courses. Both programs are multi-award winning and are rooted in exploring the fundamentals and advanced techniques of the television and film industries.
Sophomore Slump - It’s Happening
Reflecting on the last 6 weeks, I realized that I made a major mistake in how I was running my live productions this year. Last year was our first year and I knew we would be taking it kind of slow. But last year was great! We did a ton of shows… a ton of GREAT shows. Multiple cameras, great audio, the whole sha-bang. So this year, I came in with the same approach… BAD idea.
Jumping Into The Unknown
As for graphics, I am going to go with Titler Live from NewBlue FX. I am actually pretty excited about this. Here’s the plan. The actual graphics operator will be in the “control room” with the tech director and me but I will have another person in the gym keeping time and score updated. Titler Live allows you to control their scoreboard tools remotely via a web interface.
The Game Has Changed: Video Production is Not What it Used To Be
The demand for video content has grown exponentially in the last five years. It’s everywhere. In the past, if students put out some video products the response was “that’s cool” or “man I wish I knew how to do that.” Now video products must flow from the classroom immediately and consistently. News, sports, clubs, administrators, community entities, and more all want video and they want it now. If you are in a small community, they not only want it now, they want it for free and from you. Video has permeated every aspect of life and this is the biggest thing that has changed about our jobs.
Great Opening Shots For Your Video Project (And Your Storyboard)
The human attention span is now shorter than a goldfish’s….about 6-8 seconds. And there’s a lot of stuff in the world trying to get our attention. Whether you’re making a short film or long video, it must compete to get it. Starting your project with a boring establishing shot was fine for last century, but not anymore. Good first shots are unique. Capture my attention. Compel me to watch. Don’t let me look away.
Reeds Spring High School
Late in the Spring of 2015 I was asked to work on some video projects for our high school graduation ceremony. You know the ones, they are, “no big deal” until a parent or two feels their kid was overlooked or neglected. I always like a new challenge (if you do then video is a good place for you!) so I jumped in with both feet.
How Maple Elementary Live Streams Morning Announcements for FREE
Morning announcements during our adolescent years involved listening to an intercom, or at best, getting to see a pre-recorded video on our classrooms’ CRT TVs every morning. But today’s students get to experience morning announcements in a truly live and high-quality setting. For the K-6 students at Maple Elementary in Smithville, MO, this comes in the form of live streaming.
The Streaming Chronicles - Chapter 2 Graduation
Graduation. For some video teachers, it is a complete nightmare. I was one of those several years ago. I would literally spend three or four days prepping for graduation. I had three to produce each year but I still spent way too much time fretting over an hour long show. Seriously, don’t fret about graduation.
The Streaming Chronicles - Introduction
The world of live streaming has changed in a million ways since I started streaming high school sporting events.
Case Study: Transforming Complexity Into Flexibility - UMiami Upgrade
How Midtown Video designed and built a centralized, ESPN-compliant HDTV broadcast production facility enabling University of Miami Athletics to Contribute Live “Hurricanes” Games to the ACC Network.
More Powerful Shot Design for Your Storyboard (like the pros do)
Sure, you can just wing it when you get on location but when you do that, you’re missing the opportunity to do something great
Making the Investment in Live
Kent State University School of Journalism & Mass Communications Add LiveU Technology to give students more opportunities to produce live news. What happens when Journalism students are willing to produce live reports, but the technology is holding them back?
Making Money with Your Video Production Department
The equipment I had was barely consumer grade. I needed to replace it with higher grade equipment as well as massively increase the quantities of everything I had so more students would have access to gear at the same time. I could get everything I needed but for one thing – I needed funds. The following story has a happy ending and it is filled with ideas that you can adopt to create the same solution to the money problem while at the same time giving your students a real-world education.
Want to Major in Sports Journalism? Now You Can
With the expansion of broadcast networks, the rise of heavily trafficked niche outlets, and ever-popular local coverage, sports journalism is one of the few beats that can be called a media growth industry. This fall, Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication debuts its bachelor and master degree programs in sports journalism, its first standalone degree programs for a specific beat and perhaps the first of their kind nationwide.
Sophomore Slump - The Beginning
Last year, we produced over 120 newscasts and over 130 live sports broadcasts. We received a ton of support from the community via social media and brought home a couple of awards from the NFHS Network. A colleague called us the “Rookies of the year” for bringing home the “Best New Program” honor and I called us lucky for bringing home the best highlight. Now that the new school year has started, I have a new concern… how do I follow last year? What can I do to continue to build the program and take it to new heights?
Riverside Military Academy Profile
For over 112 years, Riverside Military Academy has remained the nation's preeminent all-boys military college preparatory academy. Located in Gainesville, GA, Riverside Military Academy educates young men in grades 7-12. Our Corps of Cadets averages over 500 cadets from 30 nations and 30 states. The Video Production program, led by RMA Alumnus Zach Garrett, '11, introduces cadets to the fundamentals of storyboarding, filming, editing and producing digital media projects.
What Professional Development Should Be
Camp T&I meets each year during the first week of June. It is a partnership between the Georgia Department of Education and the Career Technical & Agricultural Education Resource Network. I first attended Camp T&I in the summer of 2012. I was blown away. Not by the dark room in the back of a community college in Savannah. Or the lack of internet access. Or the fact that as teachers introduced themselves, I was the newest to the profession by 4 or 5 years. (And had only taught part-time…) I was blown away by the fact that all of those teachers shared so freely. Shared lesson plans. Shared successes. Shared failures. I knew immediately there was something special here.
New Kid in School - Turning in My New Kid Card
We did a ton of really cool things. Invented new segments - Word On The Street Wednesday being the most memorable. We had some failures (The Tiger Wood vs. Santa Clause Joke that somehow made it through my review of the script). Overall though, I would say that the first year of the program was more than a success. We won NFHS Network Best New Program and Highlight of the Year but more importantly to me was that we won the hearts, minds, and imaginations of a new batch of students who had never experienced a video production class.