By Cathy Quaranta
The June 2, 2015 DACS General meeting presentation was a good example of the ‘revitalized’ DACS – increasing technical skills, building the DACS community and starting new workshops.
Tom Zarecki started the meeting with some DACS info about the new workshops and then introduced the feature presentation – ‘Video Production’ by the local Charter Community team – Greg Van Antwerp, Franny Hannigan, Mark Ingram and Lindsay Kelkres.
Just a minute for some background – to give you an idea of what goes into ‘revitalizing’ DACS – and prepping for this presentation –
- in April Franny came to video the April DACS Social presentation,
- in May some of the DACS Board members went over to the Charter Community Studio and offices in Newtown for a tour and quick training session,
- and now DACS Board member Lisa Leifels is taping and producing the June meeting.
The Charter Community team presented several things –
- – Greg introduced public/community television
- – Franny explained the training sessions
- – Mark demonstrated the equipment
- – Lindsay helped Lisa with the video recording and taking pictures
Greg Van Antwerp loves working with the community and promoting community television. The ‘C’ in CTV is for Communications and Community. This is a community project, bringing people together and getting people to work together. Greg explained that the Charter Community studio and offices are in Newtown, CT. The coverage area includes 14 local towns and arrangements can be made for others. Community Television is also known as ‘Public Television’ – sharing local events – public meetings like DACS meetings and workshops. It is for niche audiences – people’s opinions and hobbies, not mass communications. New producers are needed – to create and share things in their communities. The CTV online hours are from 9am to 10pm most days, and the Community Bulletin Board list of events runs when there are no shows. The Community Bulletin Board repeats numerous times throughout the days and weeks.
There was a dual purpose at tonight’s meeting – teaching and producing – learn some new skills and then watch the final product replay online. Three DACS Board members went to the Charter studios to learn about video production and prep for this meeting. A BIG THANK YOU to DACS Board member Lisa Leifels and Charter staffer Lindsay Kelkres, for videotaping the meeting. They will be editing it for broadcast on the Charter Community Channel 192. Stay tuned to DACS.ORG and COMMUNITYVISION21.COM for more information to watch the online replay!
Greg mentioned that the presentation started with a brainstorming session, to (re)start the Digital Imaging / Video Workshop / Special Interest Group. Tech and video are moving so fast these days. Charter CTV is now on television channel 192, transitioning from 21, and on Youtube as well. Another tech change is that Youtube and Facebook are now used to express community interests. Charter is expanding its Community outreach training. By the time this article hits the press, the Charter Community Summer Training classes will be in their second week of video production.
Franny Hannigan has been with Channel192 for 3 years now. He went through the training, his dream came through, and he became part of the team and now coordinates the video production training department. Franny came to video the April DACS meeting and tonight he gave some highlights of the training sessions and current programs. The ‘Studio 21’ music show passed the 50 shows mark – showcasing local musicians of all levels. There are many parts and roles in video productions – and there is a need for citizen volunteers. Last Thursday was the graduation celebration for the Winter/Spring training session. The new Summer training program is starting in two days – Thursday, 6/4/2015. Training sessions are FREE – 15 weeks of hands-on experience – fundamentals like editing, the rule of thirds, three point lighting, two studio and two truck shoots to create a show. The ‘Primitive Technology: Maple Sugaring’ video clip was the first made using a student’s iPhone. Other sample shows included ‘The Bee Show’ from Woodbridge Farm and Farmers Market, the Still River Ramblers from Brookfield, American Chopper, and Project Runway. The Charter Production Training class was awarded the 2014 Beacon Award for Excellence in Education.
Mark Ingram said that Video Production is THE BEST hobby you can ever do – you can use it to video all of your other interests. They are hooked for life. Mark demonstrated some of the portable equipment they brought to share. Three of the four primary pieces fit in one bag the size of a plane carryon. It includes a portable camcorder with an attached microphone, a wireless lavalier microphone and some cables. The fourth piece is an optional tripod that fits in another shoulder bag. The camera has automatic buttons and menus options. The studio has 3 cameras and a control room with monitors, a video switcher, graphics generator, audio mixer, and editing tools for video productions. Mark mentioned that there is no cooler feeling than being the director in the control room – or maybe using the 11,000 pound location truck and working other video crews like the WTMH HD Hummer crew at the Senate debate.
Greg showed some slides and pictures of previous training sessions – there has been a wide range of participants. The last class had 18 video production students. They produced 1 hour shows in 17 weeks for community access TV, Youtube and Facebook. There is no pressure and no money or equipment are required. Students are taught how to build audiences and how to be successful with content creating challenges. Video production is 50% art and 50% technology. Both are a process. Greg demonstrated Final Cut Pro v10 – the software tool they use for editing and producing the videos. There are three areas – a bin of clips on the left, the viewer window in the middle and a timeline section on the right. Final Cut Pro allows multiple users and producers to share files. Charter uses it on their Apple/Mac machines and he recommends getting extra RAM. Final Cut Pro costs about $300 and it has a free 30 day trial option package so you can try it before buying it. Greg mentioned the sharing (producing) options – to the cloud, DVD burners and Facebook and then he demonstrated the Youtube sharing option.
The meeting concluded with a question and answer session with the audience. Some answers to the audience questions included:
- There are no statistics (no Nielsens) for Community TV. People do call in asking for more, some for series produced by a trainee.
- The programs are shared with Frontier channel 99 and a Comcast channel.
- The Facebook 192 page ‘group’ has the schedule.
- The Community Bulletin Board plays when they are not on the air.
- Non-Profit Organizations (like DACS), can’t do ads, commercials or calls to action.
- The ‘People in Action’ show series is produced by one of the training session graduates.
- The equipment is HD, but the channel is not broadcasting in HD yet.
- All equipment is provided for the training sessions.
- You can bring your own equipment for additional training.
- Charter Community does not have a satellite or TriCaster equipment.
- Final Cut Pro is available on Mac and Windows machines.
- Other video editing programs are Sony Vegas Pro, Adobe Premier Pro CC and Windows Movie Maker.
- Add tags to your videos and clips to make them searchable.
- Vimeo can be used for larger files and Youtube expanded the length restrictions.
- The training sessions teach content management – how to size your new show – to get people engaged to watch a half hour or an hour.
- To increase interest, people can use Reverse Images or lighting options and/or add graphics.
- Different Resolution Formats effect the video quality – they use 1080x.
- Composition skills include camera angle, editing and graphics.
- PSAs (Public Service Announcements) are not usually done because they are too short (30 seconds), not enough air time or frequency. CTV is for more in depth, interview programs.
- New programs are shown four times – twice on prime time and daytime, over two weeks.