Week 1 & 2

Week 1

My first encounter at GCPS was the intern interview with Greg LaHatte and Glenn Ballard, respectively Department Head and Production Manager of B&DL. The basic philosophy of GCPS is there are two types of employees: those who teach and those who support teaching. B&DL is support, and their primary support effort is to produce multimedia for all groups in the county school system. Generically they are known as GCPS TV. Video is a big part of their work, but they also shoot stills, design layouts for print materials, and consult on project planning. Regularly scheduled programming about the schools includes In5ive, ParenTVision, and GCPS Focus. The studio re-broadcasts satellite feeds from the US Department of Education, NASA, Annenberg, Fairfax TV, and other sources. The capabilities and services include field, studio, and live video production, videoconferencing, and closed circuit television.

My reaction was to feel a bit overwhelmed by the scope of responsibilities. For example, every school has a closed circuit broadcast studio, every classroom in GCPS has video projectors (thousands), and many have “smart boards”. B&DL supports it all. The professional experience of Greg’s employees range from intern to 30 year veterans, from the esoteric details of digital vs. analog broadcast to the creative use of images, sound, color and motion.

The purpose is simple: create viewer interest and deliver a message for a diverse group of clients. Project requests come from many different parts of the school system, and as a general policy Greg and Glenn don’t turn down anything. They manage this policy by enforcing strict time limits and requiring the “customer” to define goals and purpose. Often they act as enablers that get the client started on a suitable path, such as local production on a Casablanca system. More general interest topics are scheduled into regular programming.

Week 2

My job was to assist taping a segment of ParenTVision scheduled by Glenn Ballard and Bruce Lennox. Jason Silling and I set up the studio set and checked white balance. Bruce and I created a short slide show in iPhoto that would run on a large screen in the set during the show. Glenda, the producer of the show, discussed her objectives for the segment. The tape we were shooting would be unusually long, perhaps 40 minutes. This live discussion would be mixed with an investigative video from another source.

I met the MC, Margaret Cheely, and the guests, Chris and Nick. Margaret’s day job is guidance counselor at Collins Hills HS, and she is a frequent MC for the studio. This segment was titled “Just One Time” and it addressed the abuse of methamphetamine by teens. Nick is a recovering addict and Chris is an identical twin whose brother is in recovery. Both are recent GCPS students. It was a riveting experience to hear the guys describe their introduction, downfall, and recovery from the grip of additive drugs. Margaret guided the discussion with questions about the social aspects of drug addition and how parents can positively confront the problem. 

After taping I moved to an editing suite to observe the work flow of Final Cut Pro, an Apple video editing program . I am proficient in Premier Pro by Adobe but I will be learning Final Cut for most of the work here.