The REAL costs of RTV News

Running a television news program at our school isn't going to be cheap. There are big ticket items that need to be purchased. This includes broadcast cameras, a video switcher, microphones, monitors, the list goes on.

There are many all-in-one software solutions out there. One such program is Boinx TV. It's a great way to get into producing a TV news show, and we've used it for 3 years, but it's time to move on.

Most schools that want to run a broadcast program will soon be on the hunt for some kind of video switcher. There are two basic types out there: the virtual switcher and the physical analogue/digital switcher. Both have merits for applications in schools.

The virtual switcher such as the Tricaster from Newtek is a great value. It's great because you can shoot student news in front of a green or blue screen. The host looks like they are in a huge set with many different angles available. It also requires minimal students to run the software. a 3-5 person team can easily use this virtual switcher to produce great looking shows.

The physical switcher is the route we are going. For about the same amount of money as the Tricaster it allows us to connect 3 cameras as well as a computer source to a physical box that also records to an SD card. This switcher from Roland that we are testing out is more of a solution for us. We will be connecting our 32 channel audio mixing board in the theatre to it with pre-mixed audio from the anchors using 2 of our 12 wireless mics. Lighting will be with the theatre lights. The keying feature will allow us to do weather and sports in front of a green screen. The switcher actually CREATES jobs in the news room. I've got 27 students signed up for RTV News starting January 31 and each one will have a role to play. You can see my preliminary planning on our class wiki. This site will become our own 'how-to' and will share every aspect of how we are getting our program going.

Luckily we have an older JVC DV500 studio camera that just needed a new power cord to make it functional again! It will be the second camera to our new Panasonic camera. I checked these out on ebay and they are still going for $1000-5000!

So the REAL cost of the news? Right now it's sitting at around $7500 for the switcher and camera. If we had to add lights and wireless mics, it would be somewhere around $10-15,000 including computers. We will have one of our Mac Pros ($4000)running a Final Cut timeline through a Canopus converter ($200) to get our packages into the switcher. We also will have a second iMac ($1500) for graphics. It's big bucks. More than most schools can get into.

For entry level, a program can be run with a computer ($1500 iMac), a camera with Firewire ($500), Boinx SE software ($200) and a couple wired mics ($25 each). This is good for about 5 students running a show. I've been there, done that, and now it's time go to the next level, but where is the all the funding going to come from?

It's time to get creative. I'll share some ideas in my next post later today.

40 Episodes Later...

As our semester wraps up this week so many things have been great about RTV news. My last post talked about all of the great things about students' producing the news every day. This Thursday will be our 40th show. 35 or so will be found on our Youtube and 5 will be archived elsewhere because they are pretty much awful.

One sad things from our wrap up episode from season 1 is that the computer program Boinx we were running with crashed- again. We've been having a lot of trouble with the program lately and it's because of 1 of 2 things. First, the computer we're using needs to be re-imaged and the software reinstalled, and second, we are pushing the limits of what Boinx can do with such little RAM available to run the amount of video, camera inputs and graphics we want for each newscast. It's really not the fault of Boinx. It's a great program and I would highly recommend it to any teacher who wants to start a student broadcasting program on a VERY tight budget.

Never fear, the solutions are almost here.... Stay tuned.

For now, check out a short blooper reel of a gag that our control room crew played on some of the anchors. Pretty funny!

Authenticity Rules!

After my long winded diatribe a couple days ago, I promised a follow up on what's so positive about my block 1 multimedia class, which has undergone a significant transformation in the past 5 weeks.

So we're busy. But aren't we all busy? I don't want students to be busy, I want them to be "engaged". This is the current buzzword sweeping education this month. This idea of engagement needs to come with some qualification, and most people are now adding to it and spout the phrase 'authentic engagement'.

Right now there is nothing more authentic for my television news crew that producing a daily program. I honestly wish I had started a student news team 2 years ago when my class dabbled in it for 3 short episodes.

So, what is cool and totally awesome about the news?

1. Engagement. From the director to the anchor to the camera operator, all have work to do, and these jobs are VERY interdependent. If one person doesn't come through then many are affected. If a reporter doesn't have a story ready for the news by 9:15am then the script writer has to rewrite the script, the audio engineer needs to know that they don't have a package to adjust, the technical director has to change the settings in BoinxTV, and the graphics creator needs to change the lower thirds on the news. I've started a wiki to help support the development of the news (thanks Kaminski for this idea!). Students will write their own job description and as time goes on and their role changes they will make changes to it on the wiki. It's going to be my first 100% open and editable wiki, which is a big step for me. I'm trying to get the students to accept the idea of leaving something behind to help the next group do a better job next semester.

2. Real Deadlines, real audience. Real feedback. We get the best kind of feedback there is: peer feedback! Everyday the news is watched on our youtube channel by our teacher advisory classes. If our audio levels suck or a transition between stories isn't smooth we hear it. In addition to this we have partnered with Jim Billings' North Little Rock High TV program and their students are giving us advice and mentorship with our fledgling program.

3. Capitalizing on the strengths of each student.

Right now I have placed each student based on what I see as a fit for their own abilities and interests. What has happened is that students who are behind the camera want to stay in front of the camera. Since the anchors get all the glory, I'm seeing many reporters wanting to have their own crack at it. We now have 6 students who anchor in pairs. Next semester we will have tryouts for anchors, and with the advice and work of this semesters students, we will have the set job descriptions available to help each student.

So far so good. Life is great at RTV News. I think that RTV is now going to be a staple of life at Cold Lake High School, and I'm happy to say its been because of the task put before the students to do each day.

And yes, we have our own coffee mugs!!