I revamped my classroom setup to accomodate the daily news. The first realization that our director came to is that we need a better setup than this. Taking over the entire classroom just won't cut it. We are going to try in the theatre as soon as we get a set built. Here's what our second take of the day looked like. The fact that we post to Youtube each day definitely increases students' idea of what is good and what is sub par. I like this angle.
Still, we have some work cut out for us. Here's how we did it...
We used Boinx TV as our video switcher. For anyone wanting to get into student productions on a budget I highly recommend this product. The export options are very robust and the external feeds that you can bring into the productions (like Twitter, RSS feeds and even an IP security camera) are amazing! We bought the sponsored edition which adds a 5 second "Made with BoinxTV" credit after your production is over. It's a great deal and I have no problem telling people we use this product.
The best part of producing the news is
that students on the team are busy and engaged all the time! Today the director officially took over possession of 'the markers' which
write on the glass in my room. Planning in advance will be the challenge for my director to make sure all packages are editing and submitted on time, and the entire show is ready to go before recording.
I had 2 students on audio and lighting who lit the green screen and prepped the anchor with his lavaliere mic. Perhaps the greatest pressure was on the script writer who had to take the teachers' announcements from a google docs spreadsheet and write them into a script and then control the teleprompter while the anchor reads it.
Tomorrow we add our first news package about our pep rally and recent volleyball tournament as well as the weather. We're on our way, and with the help of student mentors from Arkansas we will learn a TON about news production!
