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Keith Kyker and Christopher Curchy
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Our New Year's Video Resolutions |
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As the year comes to a gasping close, and the anticipation of the new year begins to build, we often challenge ourselves to make the New Year bigger, bolder, and brighter. It’s that time of year to find the resolve to make the resolutions that change our lives. They don’t have to be grandiose, just substantial. Well, maybe not even substantial, just noticeable. It’s with that frame of mind that we partake of the experience and create a list of our very own New Year’s Video Resolutions!
Resolution Number 1 – Make a “New” News Show Opening!
There have been 90 days (like a sentence) of school this semester, and 90 days of broadcasting our school news show, and nearly 90 times that we have shown the same opening at the beginning of the show. It was great when we made it, fun the first 10 times we watched it…but now we are hating it! We need something new, something cool, and something to grab everyone’s attention. Maybe a neat parody of a hit TV show (thinking That 70’s Show and putting the kids in the car), or some special effects (black and white, slow motion) with great music, or one of those jamming news show openings with shots of the crew getting ready to broadcast (like Dateline or something) and a DJ-like voiceover underneath the music. No matter what, we are making a “new” news show opening!
Resolution Number 2 – Create Some Great New Daily Segment Ideas!
Let’s see…we have Word of the Day, Today in History, Today in Black History, the Wise Guy Question, AR Stars, and of course the Ever Popular All Powerful Lunch Menu. I’m thinking we need something that is not “old-school” as the students say.
I was watching the local news the other day and saw a segment titled “E-News”. It was full of information and features about the Internet, electronic information, and gadgets. I think we might go there. The Winter Olympics are just around the corner. Does anyone really know that? Anyway, maybe some “Olympic Moments” or “Olympic Trivia Facts and Questions” would make an interesting weekly segment. Some of my production students could even learn how to do real research!
Resolution Number 3 – Use the Chroma Key More!
Let’s face it…the kids love to use it, and it does look cool. The down side is that it takes a while to set it up, you need to really plan ahead, and there should be some great background material to “key in” behind the talent to make it worthwhile. I solved the background problem by purchasing a product called Digital Hotcakes (TriLab Productions, www.animationsforvideo.com ) which provided me with numerous color-animated backgrounds for my chroma key projects on videotape. My chroma key screen is an old pull-down movie screen I painted green with some flat interior latex paint from the local hardware store. My Videonics MXPro switcher performs chroma key very well, so now I have no more excuses. Therefore, I resolve to teach the students how to use it more in our news show! Really, I do!
Resolution Number 4 – Keep
Enforcing the Dress Code!
Our first new show this year…the boy
had on a new shirt and tie. The girl was beautiful in her new dress, blazer, and
haircut. They looked absolutely “spiffy”. Lately, it’s been t-shirts,
sweatshirts, and college “Gameday” jerseys. What happened to our dress code on
the show? We are supposed to look “professional”, both in content and
appearance. I still wear my shirt and tie (3 days a week) and my school “spirit”
shirt on Fridays with my best jeans. Time to get cracking on those who are
slacking. If they come to school like they just woke up in their clothes, we
will have new anchors or no anchors! I think it is important that the students
realize that looking professional and acting professional go hand in hand. If
they were up on stage speaking in person to the entire school’s student body and
staff they would dress that way. It is the same for our news productions. It
really is!
Resolution Number 5 – No More
Music Headaches
For years we have been using a
wide variety of music selections during the news show. They have been used as
background audio for graphic pages, such as: club news, sports scores, lunch
menu, PTA notes and many more. Usually it is the job of the audio engineer
(student who operates the audio mixer and CD player) to pick out some
appropriate music for these selections. Many times there is “input” from
various other crewmembers about the choices for song titles and genres. Over the
years it has been getting increasingly difficult to differentiate what is
“appropriate” for school use, what is “offensive” (both musically and
professionally!) and frankly, what is actually considered as music. I’m tired of
refereeing the arguments, being the Solomon-like arbitrator, and getting a
headache trying to decipher the words of some of the students’ selections. So
this year, we are using Buy-Out music and nothing but Buy-Out music on our
shows. I have purchased several great compilations and they can choose from
those. I have also added to my collection a new and innovative product that
allows my students and I to actually create our own music using a computer,
Movie Maestro by Smartsound (www.smartsound.com).
With this software we can create hundreds of our own music selections in a wide
variety of genre. No words to worry about, no copyright issues to deal with, and
no arguing among the students about whose CDs we use on the show. Sounds like
music to my ears!
I think we are really going to enjoy this year. Of course, the hardest part of making New Year’s Resolutions is keeping them!
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