Video II

I have the broadcast schedule for September and October finalized. I will have sign-up sheet for each event on Monday so you can start signing up. If you would like to check the schedule online click here

I hope you’re ready to work. We have a lot of projects and broadcasts in front of us this year. Our first broadcast is BGTV Sports featuring the Varsity Football vs. Camas on Thursday, September 13 at District Stadium. I need a crew of about 8 to pull off a great show. We will discuss this and everything else the first day of class.

Please make sure to pay your $10 class fee by Monday, September 10 at the ASB window. Show me your receipt when you have paid your fee and I will mark it off. You need to pay your class fee so when we start the first video project you will have a videotape to use.

BGTV now has a home in the iTunes store under the podcasting section. I put all of Courtney’s past baseball pawcasts along with a snippet of her radio appearance during a Portland Beaver’s game. Hopefully we’ll be able to add some highlight videos and other fun stuff for everyone to listen to and watch during the year. To go straight to the store click here or go the pawcasting page under the BGTV menu.

I’ve just finished creating an online store where you can purchase some BGTV, BGHS Video Production and Pawcast clothing. I do not make any money from the sales. Everyone has been asking me to do it and I finally got around to uploading the logos and putting them on some t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts. You can visit the BGTV store by clicking here. Click on one of the logos and buy yours today. A credit card is needed to purchase and they offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

It’s that time again. I hope you had a great summer and are ready to explore the more advanced world of video production. This class blog will serve as a constant reminder and listing of all class assignments and broadcasts this year. I will add some of my favorite links and anything interesting I come across so check back often.

Last summer I read an interesting book entitled “Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling Off Your Shorts“. The authors explain the process of making a 5-minute short film. They take the reader from the initial idea all the way through submitting it to film festivals. It is a very educational read for anyone interested in filmmaking and does a good job explaining the main crew positions and how to get a short film made in 1 month.This summer I came across “Rebel Without a Crew“, a diary by filmmaker Robert Rodriquez. The book chronicles his journey to make his first feature length film for just $7,000. He succeeded and Hollywood took notice. He ended up directing all of the Spy Kid movies and Sin City among many others. It’s another great read for anyone interested in filmmaking and especially how you break into the business when you don’t really know anyone.

I am very excited about the new computer hardware and video equipment we have for this coming school year.We have 10 brand new Mac Pro towers equipped with 2GB of RAM, 1 250GB hard drive for the system, 1 500GB hard drive for video, the brand new Final Cut Studio 2 (including Final Cut Pro 6, Soundtrack Pro 2, Motion 3, DVD Studio Pro 4, Color and Compressor 3), Photoshop, Illustrator and Microsoft Office.We also purchased 10 new Sony miniDV cameras along with new Bogen tripods.Through a grant from Comcast cable we are adding some equipment to our mobile studio we use for on-location broadcasts. The most exciting acquisition is a Sony DVCAM hard drive recording deck that will finally allow us to provide slow-motion replays when used with our new JL Cooper SloMo controller. Along with the Sony deck we are replacing our flat screen preview and program monitors with a pair of monitors from Ikegami that will allow us to accurately judge the color balance and contrast of our broadcasts.On the camera side we are adding another Sony studio viewfinder and zoom and focus controls so 3 of our studio cameras can be controlled by a camera operator while standing behind the camera. We are also receiving 2 Sony CCUs so we don’t have to take the current ones out of our studio for each broadcast. Instead of standing on chairs during basketball games and choir concerts our camera operators will stand on our new portable platforms, providing more stability and ease of range of movement. Lastly, to add a measure of safety to our productions we will use our new cable crossovers to protect our camera cables in areas of high traffic.I’m excited about the new equipment and am certain it will add to the production value and safety of our broadcasts.