SC State Sports Talk with Devante Williams and Javonte Neal

This is a second TV production interview we shot and recorded in the SC State Communication Program's studio on the second floor of the former Crawford Engineering Building.

Christian Manning jumped at the chance to direct this sports talk segment with classmates Devante Williams and Javonte Neal. Everyone did a great job, including the students operating the studio cameras and the ones in the control room assigned different tasks.

This week the class, divided into three groups of five students, will begin to organize their own studio interview productions. What a great facility we have for such excellent hands-on learning!

Here are some photos I took during the production:

Video Interview: Kyre Cox- Student/Soldier

In my Basic Television Production (BC 320) course a few weeks ago, we did our first production in the Communication Program's fine television studio. Students operated the three cameras, another was the floor director, and several others were with me in the adjacent control room.

On set was Christian Manning and the classmate he interviewed, Kyre Cox. In October Kyre's National Guard unit was called up to help with the flooding disaster that swept South Carolina earlier in the month. Kyre spent two weeks collecting debris and helping homeowners dealing with the unprecedented- in its scope and destructiveness- natural disaster.

For this first production, I set up the control room's  NewTek Tricaster "studio production in a box" unit. Students observed and were later given step-by-step instructions and one of them, Christian Manning, would be at the helm for the next studio interview.

This first production has plenty of glitches! I was a bit rusty on running the board, doing the switching and directing. Lots more hands-on experience in the weeks ahead for the students- and I.

iMovie "Picture in Picture" Video "Quick Takes"

This is a neat assignment we are tackling in my Electronic (Digital) Media Production II class. Weeks ago, the students did a green screen project blending photos of themselves with background images under the general theme of "Where Do You Want To Be?"

Now, the stakes and skills have been raised with this new green screen "Quick Takes" project. The idea is to gather three short video clips on three different topics, one of which has to be a timely news or sports story.

Then the students, using their smart phones or other cameras, shoot themselves or have a classmate videotape them against a green screen as they give their comments and thoughts about the video they speak over.

For this project, we are using iMovie, which is available on the Macs in one of our program labs.
Here's what I put together to help give the students a better idea what this assignment involves.

I found iMovie very user friendly for this project. I look forward to seeing what my students produce!

The above video was rendered to QuickTime. The below video is an MPEG4. I'm trying to decide if one looks better than the other.

 

"Green Screen at S.C. State" Prezi Presentation

SCSU's colors are red and white but today in Columbia the school color was green as S.C. State senior communications major Kris Bennett and I gave a Prezi presentation at South Carolina Educational Television to members of the South Carolina Media Educators Association.

I gave an overview on the Communication Program's television studio. Three of the studio's four walls are painted bright green to allow for chroma key, which is a special effects/post-production technology for layering or compositing color hues. Think local TV weather reports in front of a big map- the meteorologist is standing in front of a green screen.

I also highlighted some of my classroom green screen projects and students who come to the studio to shoot against the green walls for various school, club and other projects.

Kris spoke about the "Bulldog Bite" YouTube show she produces on campus for her fellow SC State students.

At SCETV in Columbia with senior Kris Bennett

Here is the Prezi I put together for our presentation to the S.C. Media Educators Association.

Lighting- It's Essential to Quality Video Production!

In my television production class we are getting into lighting. Proper lighting must be achieved or your video is going to look shabby and unprofessional. We are fortunate at South Carolina State University to have a wide array of studio and field lighting gear, including some Smith Victor KT1500U lighting kits like the one below.

Communications senior Jasmine Dodd checks out a field lighting set up

Students will be doing an exercise in three point lighting. They will post photos of themselves and classmates in various lighting arrangements. Three point lighting is a professional configuration commonly used by both photographers and videographers.

SC State student Khadijah Johnson used our TV studio for a project having to do with her hair fashion business.

Khadijah Johnson backlight! 

Tweaking the light locations and brightness levels can help achieve desired effects. In this case, her hair is highlighted by some backlighting. 

I'll try to get a nice smile out of Khadijah next time! 

Action Sequence Video

In my Television Production and Editing course textbook, Chapter 4 is titled "Shooting Video in the Field." The video assignment I gave the students is one of the options in the chapter, which is to "shoot a simple sequence in which you edit action in the camera. Shoot only those scenes you want to use on the air, in the order you want them to appear, with action as closely matched as possible."

With the help of S.C. State communications major Lynn McGrier, we produced this video. The simple concept is to shoot Lynn going in and out of shots, as she leaves a classroom and makes her way out of the building.

A little bit of editing was necessary to make the clips and sequences tighter. I also added title and end pages and found a piece of music on my favorite royalty free music website to accompany the action. Fun little Friday class exercise for the students and I! 

SC State's TV Studio Comes To Light!

In my television production class, the students are learning the thought and planning processes in videography. Whether for film, television news, sports or features, or commercials, there are common processes. Among them is the idea of sequences and steps in accomplishing an act.

As a demonstration, I put together this video showing the various steps involved in opening and turning on the Communication Program's television studio.

Once the raw footage was shot, the next step was to trim each shot to three or four seconds and arrange the clips in an orderly, logical flow. Editing is much easier when the video is shot in sequential order. That's not always possible, but in this case it was.