[STN-Affiliates] Shooting school board pt 2

[Ryan Bandy]

Hi Pam,
 
I dealt with the same issue a few years ago when our board wanted all of our meetings put online.  They also asked if this is something the students would be able to do.  I told them flat out no.  I require all of my students to be involved with one or two out-of-class productions each semester.  Since we tape all home football games and most boys and girls basketball games, along with numerous other productions,  my students already are under a lot of pressure to cover many events.  Also, students can be unreliable sometimes, as we all know.  If a student who was asked to cover the meeting did not show up then there would be no coverage of it unless you required more than one to go to it.  Finally, and the most important reason I think, is that I have requested students to cover the meetings and usually after doing one, they refuse to do another since, and I quote, "That was the boringest thing I have ever done."  I would caution about volunteering your students to do it since it could have a negative effect on your program as a whole.
 
What I worked out with my superintendent is that I receive a fixed stipend for each meeting.  I go to every regular school board meeting and tape them along with encode them and post them online.  I add title graphics in to match up with the agenda and name title graphics.  It has worked out pretty well so far, even though I've sat through countless meetings ;-)  Sometimes students help and serve as the camera operator for the meeting so they can get their out-of-class credit.
 
The number one thing I would say about equipment is to make sure you get good audio.  I think that's what people care about most in the meetings.  We purchased about 7 choral mics that hang from the ceiling and pick each board member.  We also have a podium that has a mic hanging from it.  Even with all of this, sometimes people talk from the "gallery" so I also have our camera's external mic hooked into the mixer board and it captures it decent enough.  Also, position your camera in a spot where you can zoom in and get anything running on a screen like a PowerPoint or something.
 
All of our equipment stays in the meeting room.  I just use a little mini-dv camera that runs into a DVD recorder and a VCR for a backup.  I also send the signal over to my computer so I can already have it on there when I edit and encode the video.  I run the audio from the mixer board directly into the DVD recorder.
 
Good luck with this...hope I helped!
 
Ryan Bandy

________________________________

From: affiliates-bounces at studenttelevision.com on behalf of Dixon-Gayle, Pam
Sent: Sat 2/14/2009 8:25 PM
To: affiliates at studenttelevision.com
Cc: RTNDFTEACHER at LISTSERV.KENT.EDU
Subject: [STN-Affiliates] Shooting school board pt 2


I have another question about shooting school board meetings in the evening.
 
If you have to attend school board meetings in the evening so that they get videotaped by your students, how are you compensated for your extra time, if at all?
 
Pam Dixon Gayle
Academy TV
Lake Charles-Boston Academy of Learning
Lake Charles, LA
(337) 217-4390 ext. 5328
pam.dixon-gayle at cpsb.org
 
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