CTV 21 Newsletter
What's New! By Beth Shriro

Recycle Wrap-Up

If you have visited our studio lately, you may have noticed that it’s a little crowded in there. That’s because we’ve been housing all the items brought in from people in the community for our Videotape Recycling campaign. In this year’s successful effort to be green, CTV-21 has collected well over 3,000 videotapes! In addition to videotapes, other media has been brought in which can be recycled: DVDs; audio cassette tapes; even 8-track tapes (can’t hear enough of Air Supply!) All this recyclable ‘techno trash’ will soon be sent out to GreenDisk, a recycling company, to be bulk erased, broken down and reused for other consumer goods. All in all, our 3 month long recycling campaign has been good for the environment, good for your spring cleaning and a good way for CTV-21 to help its community. Thanks to all of you who brought us your unwanted videotapes.

New Editing Equipment

To best address the needs of our producers, we have decided to replace our Final Cut Pro Studio edit bay with 2, yes 2, Final Cut Pro Express bays! FCPE all has the tools an access producer could want to make a great looking project. When starting to edit a project, a producer will be assigned a removable hard drive, which will be kept in our studio cabinet where projects will be stored. This will be a great way to keep projects safe and have enough hard drive space for multiple users. We will be keeping our Solitaire editor as well. Those of you who have used Solitaire know that it is a reliable, easy-to-use system. We have recently aired many programs that were edited on Solitaire and hope new and experienced access producers will continue to enjoy using it. If you have need for a linear editing system, that is available as well through our control room.

New NECTA Award

Reminder
It is important for the CTV-21 staff to be able to keep track of studio and edit time. Each time you come in for a studio shoot or edit session, please sign in/out of the log book that is kept on the coffee table in the access office. You do not have to sign in if you are picking up equipment or dropping off shows.

Also important - all interns - please remember to log your time on the monthly sheets on the intern board in the studio. It is your responsibility to keep us informed of your up-to-date hours spent here or out working on projects. If you have any questions on these procedures, please ask a staff member. 

New Awards

Local Edition– our public affairs series with be recieving the attention it deserves! This year we will receive a public service award from the New England Cable and Telecommunications Association (NECTA) for an entry in the category “Individual Achievement – Cable Television Program Host”. We knew that the host of our public affairs program Local Edition, Phyllis Cortese, is terrific and should be recognized for what she brings to the community via CTV-21 and submitted an entry that showed the judges just that. Phyllis volunteers her scant free time to host Local Edition and interview local non-profit organizations, bringing interesting subjects to air. Thanks aplenty go to Phyllis – we are happy to be able to bring back this award honoring you!

Just a quick, fun, informative fact: Did you know that you can choose a topic for an upcoming episode of "Local Edition"? You can, and all you need to do is call and let us know more about your idea. The programs are taped approximately once each month and normally air within a few weeks of taping.


 

Local Edition Host Phyllis Cortese reviews the topics of discussion with a guest at a recent taping .

 

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Why Produce Your Own Program? [For Video Interns and Area Citizens] By Mark Ingram


Even though public access has existed for a number of years now, the idea that someone can create his own TV program and put it on a legitimate channel still carries, perhaps, less weight than it should.  Something like TV can’t possibly be so simple, right?  To put something on the tube means you must make it perfect, right? Creating a television program is often thought of as being the privilege of wealthy individuals, companies and organizations. Of course these notions come from comparing too much to what we see on network television and other highly produced channels. Such high minded notions distort what diversity on television should mean. 

Here at CommuniTyVision 21 we have an internship program that trains residents of our 14 town area in all the aspects of video production.  Many of our interns delight in the aspect of using all the expensive and fancy equipment that we have.  With the pervasiveness of digital technology always becoming more easy to use, still most prefer to just help out others than to create a program of their own making. 

Over the years I have had interns as well as access producers say that after months and years of helping others make TV shows that making a show themselves gave them such a poignant and inspiring kind of satisfaction that they wished they had done it much sooner.  Indeed there is something to be gained beyond the technology and beyond the cablecast of making a program yourself.  From what so many have experienced and learned lets take some time to go over these related points

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Why do we do it?  We create local access television for the sake of creation itself – to express- which is an American freedom, and to master a medium of motion video unlike any other which can communicate to many households with a voice that is truly ours.
Curiosity is the best teacher.  Special thanks to design, automation, software and your imagination, learning is simple.  Especially, along with your friendly neiborhood access coordinator you can start with what you like, learn at your own pace and progress by your own actions.What can I create?  How about this answer, what do you like?  What are your hobbies? Where do you like to go?  What do you like to talk about, think about?  What are you good at?  Who would you like to help out?  What kind of difference would you like to make around you?


Do I have to be artistic? No.  What is art, anyway? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!  Where you may be weak another may be skilled and can help.  The modern technology and training alone can make artistic tasks easy.


Do I have to know about music?  No.  Although music is integral to good video production, you are here to learn.  So while you’re learning video you’ll learn a little about music too!  To be a musician can help but no music knowledge is required.
All interests can be worthy of video.  Remember this more than anything else!  With video there is an infinite number of ways to tell a story.  In this director’s medium, you as director can easily pick a technique that is natural to your own video style. Any interest you have is a story that can be told.
The social and community aspect.  You will meet other people in this activity that you can help and that will help you.  The program you create can assist others in ways you could not predict.  So many have said this!

What do I get out of this?  The sum total of learning the devices and learning how to produce do not equal this measure of satisfaction and unexplainable pleasure that can only come from reaching out to

 

Truckshoot Corner by Barbi Knapper

The Mobile Production Truck was on the road for our first May shoot. We loaded up the truck, packed our raincoats and hit the road to shoot the Trumbull Spring Choir. This was a concert that we had also taped last year. We like being asked to return because this means we can do it even better! We had 5 interns with us that started as intern pilgrims and finished as veterans; footage shows the hard work. The skies let loose just after we finished setting up. Thankfully our cameras were already inside the auditorium and only the truck got soaked. 
Access Coordinator, Mark Ingram, worked with our interns on bringing the sound quality up to the level of a CD recording.  The shoot both looked and sounded great. 
Next up we went to Graduation! 
We did something a little extra for the Masuk Graduation. We cablecast it live to the High School auditorium. This was so that if it rained or someone could not get down to the football fields, graduation could still be seen.  While we were in the truck shooting the graduation for air the next day, a big crowd gathered in the auditorium and sat in comfort watching.  It was a tremendous hit! But, this was also a shoot fraught with rain. Several times while we were setting up, the skies opened. Still, the show went on. Just as graduation was about to begin, the rain threatened once more. And again the show went on. 

The rain did get us however. It waited until we were finished shooting and then all bets were off. The skies poured. The graduation however looked great and we vowed not to travel without more rain gear. 
On June 7th we went to the Relay for Life in Newtown. We took two interns and Local Edition host, (Phyllis, of course,) with us. Both interns were brand new, but their “can do” spirit was inspiring. It was a very hot day. At 6:30pm, when the Relay started, it was still 98 degrees out. We shot the event and then put it together for an episode of Local Edition. The footage looked great and I think if you weren’t in attendance you can still see and feel what the Relay looked like.The interns also went out and shot some B-roll footage of an event in New Fairfield called Summerstock. 
The reason I bring this up is to mention that this group of interns has a real “can do” attitude and we expect great things from them. This brings me to my next subject: our new editing systems.  You were waiting for me to mention Macs in my article weren’t you?
I am proud to announce an edition to our family at CommuniTyVision21.  We have two brand spanking new Mac editing systems.  Both with Final Cut Express installed on them.  All I can say is that they are gorgeous and we will have a debut for them in July.  Look forward to a focus group on editing in August.  We would like all of our interns (both past and present) to attend as well as the community at large, this will be a meet and greet with our new Macs.  We will go over their strengths.  Final Cut Express is a powerful yet easy-to-use video editing solution. 

Video Tips by Greg Van Antwerp "Edit-quette"

I want to bring to the attention of CTV-21 participants that there is a level of concern for your ability to interact with each other in a way that is truly productive.  I may be stating the obvious, or preaching to the choir here, but we feel it is important that anyone who wishes to produce or volunteer can do so without any concern.

During Intern orientation, we state clearly that this channel is a forum for the 1st Amendment.  The views of one producer may be categorically different from the views of the producer who may follow in the next edit/studio sign out.  If you are Republican, and the next producer to walk in is a Democrat, or maybe you are the butter-side up type and the editor that follows you is the butter-side down kind, you need to know that both are welcome and can co-exist peacefully while they create using CTV-21 equipment.  They have to, or this will all go up in flames. 

I suppose in any “community” setting there is going to be situations that arise between members that require the need for an intervener.  We can not be the police, but we will do our best to make sure we don’t turn all the lights “green” at the intersection.  What we do need is for anyone in a situation where they feel uncomfortable or awkward to step forward and communicate to a staff member that they are concerned.  Our approach will be proactive and private to ensure that what is occurring can be handled so that things may go forward.

 

That being said there are a few pointers I can add that will make those transitions between users’ session go more smoothly:

  1. Please clean up after yourself and/or your crew.  We often see cups in the studio which still contain water or soda.  This can get sticky and certainly annoy the next producer or staff member to follow you.
  2. If you or your production team has signed out mics, cables, headphones or other gear, please return them to a staff member or their proper location.
  3. If you arrive early for your edit session please wait in the office or cafeteria until your start time.  You, like the person before you, may need every last minute of edit time without a tapping foot behind them.
  4. Be cognizant of the people who may be working near you that may be disturbed by your conversation with another producer or cell phone caller.
  5. When editing, use headphones where possible.  As in the last tip it isn’t always possible to block out all noise but if we can reduce it some every one can work together.

 

We are very fortunate to have a group of producers that have these basic skills of civility and community down pat.  With new producers walking in the door each week we hope to continue to keep it that way.