Practicum 2010

On April 28, 2010, in Other BCIT Broadcast Programs, Television & Video Production, by Television Faculty

The regular semester has finished, and our Broadcast students are current involved in Practicum, where the Broadcast Center turns into a leaving, breathing Television station.

Television & Video Production students perform the roles of:

  • News Camera (aka “Shooters”)
  • News Editors
  • Graphics and Animation production
  • Newscast production (Director, Assistant Director, Technical Director, Audio, Floor Director, etc.)

Our Broadcast Journalism students are responsible for the stories and interviews that make up the content of our weekly BCIT Magazine production.

Practicum is an intensive 4-week process that ensures that all students get exposure to all aspects of Television & Video Production in a live environment, with the challenges and deadlines that exists in a real station.

Practicum begins another first this year, as BCIT Broadcast has installed two video servers as we move closer to gracefully retiring our tape infrastructure.

servers2

Our Facilis server is an 18 terrabyte storage server that provides us with almost 1400 hours of storage for our edit bays.  The Omneon server is a play-to-air server which takes the final edited stories and allows playback through our control rooms.

Most of our aquisition and editing facilities are currently using digital tape formats, however we’re moving towards a totally tapeless workflow that allows us to go from acquisition to broadcast without any physical media (aside from memory cards) involved in the process.

Tape, old and busted…

Our Television & Video Production advisory committee, composed of broadcast and film professionals from Western Canada are very supportive of us making these changes.

memory cards2

Employers demand students and alumni trained in digital and tapeless production technology.  BCIT delivers.

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Second Year Features – Zut Alors

On April 22, 2010, in Television & Video Production, by Television Faculty

One of our second-year production companies, Zut Alors, has uploaded two major projects for the year on Vimeo. Check out the links below!

It’s worth noting that their second production, Complicity, was shot in HD on the Canon 7D, our first production to use a digital SLR for a major project. Very cool!

Shadow Hands: A Mockumentary from Zut Alors on Vimeo.

Complicity from Zut Alors on Vimeo.

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More HD production this week!

First up was a commercial for Gold’s Gym – the “under glass” part comes from the location – in the racquetball courts at BCIT (the gym was busy).  Inner (and outer) strength can show itself in many ways, and a bench full of cheerleaders (who are eyeing the athletic hero) feel the earth move from an unlikely source.

Shooting on-location offers some unique learning experiences.  Shooting on location in poor weather offers additional learning experiences…  While we didn’t get much in the way of snow for our Olympic experience, mother nature is making up for lost time with rain.  And a lot of it…

Today we ventured forth with a production for “The Running Room”, which illustrates a strong motivational factor for a lonely athlete to encourage him to do more running.  Extra points if you can guess the concept!

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Caged Children

On March 19, 2010, in Television & Video Production, by Television Faculty

Well, we don’t usually treat our own students this way, however we have no problems putting other kids in cages.  Particularly if we’re working to create a Public Service Announcement!

First up this week, and a first for our new P2-HD production cameras is a PSA for the Delta Community Animal Shelter.

Some people are unwilling or unable to deal with troublesome pets, and their first choice is to get rid of them – but you wouldn’t do that to your own children… Would you?

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More commercials this week – our last batch before we move on to our second set of commercial spots for real clients (and shot in P2-HD on our new HPX-300 cameras).

First up this week was the classic story of a poor guy that gives his girl an “unfortunate” gift on a special day.  The end result is that he ended up in the doghouse.  Check the image gallery to see if you can spot the ill-advised gift…

Our second commercial of the week was actually a public service announcement to try and encourage people not to drink and drive.  Although you won’t see it on the gallery photos, the idea is that everyone has a “life clock” that shows how much time they have left before death.

Of course, drinking and driving would cause that number to be shortened rather quickly…

If you look carefully at some of the photos, you’ll see CG tracking dots on some of the actors where the students will be using After Effects to composite-in tracked countdown clocks.  Should be interesting!

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