BNN Behind the Scenes- Off Camera Action Fast Paced!

"Corvasier! Relax your eyes."

"Did you go over the pronunciations? There are some funky names!"

Communications professor Alicia Pryor is a cascade of commands and a metronome of motion as she and her young "Bulldog News Now" team prepared recently to record a new newscast in the program's television studio.

Professor Pryor and sports anchor Jalen Tart

In the span of a few minutes Pryor, BNN's faculty advisor and overall person in charge, rushes several times between the studio floor for some quick words with the anchor team and to the adjacent control room to receive updates on final pre-production procedures.

Then she dashes down the hall to a computer lab to retrieve a needed video that should be finished processing.



Pryor is busy but not stressed as she's been here before. Before coming to teach at SC State she was a longtime television news producer and reporter.

The BNN students on the scene are getting a big taste of TV behind the scenes motion and commotion. But this is and should be "controlled chaos" that so long as everyone does their job properly will result in a high-quality news production.

Control Room is where the magic happens! 

But tell that to the Tricaster! This is the "TV production in a box" unit that everything runs through such as cameras, microphones, video and graphics.

On this day, it seems the Tricaster is not trying hard enough.  There are some glitchy delays but cool heads prevail in the control room where several students coordinate, under the watchful and helpful eyes of faculty, all the subtle things that need to happen for a smooth, well-paced broadcast.

Positions in here include director (Jose Matthews in the gray cap), who pushes buttons and moves dials to switch cameras, cue video, control sound and mix everything together just right. There is also an audio director, teleprompter operator, and associate director who helps the director and communicates with the studio camera crew.

BNN rotates anchors- this time it was Corvasier Mayrant
and Monique Daniel 

As the control room crew patiently works through some persistent delays, the anchor tandem of Corvosier Mayrant and Monique Daniel show icy veins and steely nerves as they keep up their energy level by rehearsing their scripts.

With the program airing the next day, which is Halloween, on the Communications Program's Facebook site, Mayrant and Daniel come up with a fitting close.

Let me give you a hint: it's very spooky!  Watch for yourself! 

The next BNN program tapes on Nov. 14. It is hoped the Tricaster gremlins will be gone for good!

A true behind the scenes look at the studio and set

Keep tabs on SC State news brought to you by BNN. To find it on Facebook search South Carolina State University Communications Program.  Or click here.