Sophomore Slump: 2020 Vision
Teaching Resources Tom White Teaching Resources Tom White

Sophomore Slump: 2020 Vision

2020 Vision is going to be the most cliche thing of the year. That and the “roaring 20’s.” I want to share my vision for 2020, which is to inspire something in you. My goals are not for everyone. I don’t know that I would even call these goals. I hope that I make progress in building my program. That’s it. I want to build my program. The plan is the key…

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Teaching Resources, Production Guest Contributor Teaching Resources, Production Guest Contributor

Company Profile: Conference Room Systems (CRS)

CRS (Conference Room Systems) is an ecommerce company offering a curated selection of audiovisual solutions for any organization. The parent company to CRS, Haverford Systems Inc., has been working within the audiovisual arena for more than 30 years as a Phila.-area installer and integrator. Following that legacy, CRS knew that they could also help DIY (do-it-yourself) customers across the U.S. With well-known manufacturers featured on its site, including Cambridge Sound Management, HuddleCamHD, PTZOptics and Magewell, CRS proudly offers the right balance of high-quality and affordability.

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Learn How Schools Can Stream Esports Tournaments
Teaching Resources, Production, Streaming Guest Contributor Teaching Resources, Production, Streaming Guest Contributor

Learn How Schools Can Stream Esports Tournaments

During the 2019 StreamGeeks Summit, a three-versus-three RocketLeague esports tournament took place. The event was live-streamed by a student-run team from New York City’s S.A.R High School and broadcast to Twitch. The student-run broadcast team used a Wirecast Gear video production system, which was connected to three PTZOptics cameras via SDI and seven gaming computers using NDI. The main PTZOptics camera was a 12X ZCam connected via SDI. This camera was used to capture the play-by-play announcer team from Hofstra University. Students from the S.A.R High School also had access to two PTZOptics 20X-SDI cameras they could remotely control using Wirecast and Xbox controllers to capture various views throughout the esports tournament.

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Why Can’t I Live Stream to Facebook?
Teaching Resources, Production, Streaming Guest Contributor Teaching Resources, Production, Streaming Guest Contributor

Why Can’t I Live Stream to Facebook?

If you’ve tried to stream to Facebook recently and encountered an error on your encoder, you’re not alone! At the beginning of May, Facebook started rolling out a new streaming protocol called RTMPS. As of November, the new protocol took full effect. Previously, Facebook - like nearly every other CDN - used the RTMP protocol for live streaming. Consequently, up until Facebook announced its update, most live streaming encoders were only designed to support RTMP. So, if your encoder is suddenly unable to stream to Facebook, you likely have Facebook’s streaming protocol to blame.

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Sophomore Slump: Wait! What?
Teaching Resources Tom White Teaching Resources Tom White

Sophomore Slump: Wait! What?

Here’s the deal. This semester, I had less than 20 students total. Before you go all “I have 348 kids in each class and only have 1 chair and 2 8mm cameras,” I am building a new program. Last year, I am fairly certain I had the highest failure rate in the southeast United States. When you have that, it’s hard to come back the next year and have a huge class load and still have kids progress through the system.

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Get Thee to a Support Group
Teaching Resources Guest Contributor Teaching Resources Guest Contributor

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.

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What Your Students Need To Know Before Leaving The Video Program
Teaching Resources Guest Contributor Teaching Resources Guest Contributor

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!

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We Revisit Hoover High School After 10 Years
Teaching Resources, Production, Streaming Kreativ Alchemy Teaching Resources, Production, Streaming Kreativ Alchemy

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.

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Sophomore Slump - It’s Happening
Teaching Resources, Streaming Tom White Teaching Resources, Streaming Tom White

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.

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Jumping Into The Unknown
Teaching Resources Guest Contributor Teaching Resources Guest Contributor

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.

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The Game Has Changed: Video Production is Not What it Used To Be
Teaching Resources, Production Tom White Teaching Resources, Production Tom White

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.

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Great Opening Shots For Your Video Project (And Your Storyboard)
Teaching Resources, Filmmaking Guest Contributor Teaching Resources, Filmmaking Guest Contributor

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.

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Reeds Spring High School
Teaching Resources, Streaming Guest Contributor Teaching Resources, Streaming Guest Contributor

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.

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How Maple Elementary Live Streams Morning Announcements for FREE
Teaching Resources, Streaming Guest Contributor Teaching Resources, Streaming Guest Contributor

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.

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Making the Investment in Live
Teaching Resources Kreativ Alchemy Teaching Resources Kreativ Alchemy

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?

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