TA teens run the show at public access station (Printed Feb. 8, 2008)
By Stowell P. Watters
Staff Writer
While most public access stations are run by professionals, in Saco it’s teens that are running the show. Students at Thornton Academy have the opportunity to take television production classes and work on the school’s television program – Thornton Academy Television (TATV) – as part of their curriculum.
Ray Lund’s television production classes and TATV program at Thornton Academy give students a chance to learn, hands on, what the television and news media industry is all about by exposing them to equipment used by professionals while simultaneously allowing them to run their own programming on Saco’s Time Warner Cable channel three.
“My curriculum parallels the industry,” Lund said. “These students are receiving a unique, hands on learning experience where they actually get to take part in and produce a part of what they are learning about.”
Thornton Academy Television currently provides 99 percent of the programming for Saco’s Time Warner Cable channel three, with the remainder of airtime reserved for Saco City Council and school board meetings. The extra-curricular group produces five shows: the Final Score; Thornton’s sports program which sometimes broadcasts live sporting events, The Issue; a political discussion and informational piece that has featured guests such as Congressman Tom Allen, Sen. Susan Collins and Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron, Red Carpet Report; an entertainment industry show, Academy Connections; Thornton’s own school-oriented program and Insert Title Here; a multifarious bunch of media taped by TATV staff that Lund likened to “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
The dichotomy of the TATV club mimics that of a real television production team; this, Lund said, is out of pure necessity. There is a group tasked with graphic production, a group responsible for camera work and lighting, a group that focuses on managing the other groups and more. Students, like junior Fletcher Ramsey, are given titles indicative of their responsibilities. Ramsey is the software specialist with the creative services team and spends much of his time with his hands whirring away at a keyboard and mouse.
“Each ENG (electronic news gathering package), or assigned story, needs a logo. That’s what I do,” Ramsey said. For this work he learned to use a heap of software programs including DVD Studio Pro, Flash, Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Sound Track Pro and Photoshop CS.
Lund said he teaches two classes, a beginning television production class and an advanced class. Members of the TATV production team meet after school and during the advanced class to put together ENGs to be broadcast on TATV.
“Students do research, interviews, record actual events, write scripts and do everything involved in the real-life production of news-media,” Lund said. “These ENGs are the result of their work.”
The ENGs, once edited and reviewed, are aired using the school’s new Leightronix Nexus broadcasting system. When Lund began teaching videography in 1987 all of the equipment he used was analog, meaning it had to be manually fast forwarded and rewound. The cornerstone of this analog technology was the VHS tape but soon, he said, technology began to make large strides.
“When I first started it was a slow and tedious process. Even last year we could only air hour and a half segments on loop on TATV,” Lund said. “Nexus allows us to not only increase the number of shows we air but also air programs at specific times. The loop days are over.”
Last April Thornton Academy students Sean Campbell (graduated 2007), senior Luke Nielson and William S. Kany – who is on the Thornton Academy Board of Trustees – asked the Saco City Council to use a portion of the Time Warner Cable fees to enhance TATV’s broadcasting capabilities, according to a TATV press release.
A recent decision by the Saco City Council provided TATV with about $25,000. These funds were used to purchase the Nexus system as well as new switchboard and audio mixing systems.
“Not only does this upgrade allow us to improve our program it also brings us one step closer to HD (high definition) capabilities,” Lund said. In 2009 all public access television will be broadcast using the high definition frequency.
New equipment aside, Lund said TATV is all about experience and opportunity. In January he and a group of five TATV members attended a student television network convention in Anaheim, Calif. There they met with 1,400 other new-media students, industry professionals and were tasked with producing a segment of video in a single day as a part of the conference’s main competition.
“We did very well, finished 10 minutes before the deadline,” Lund said. “The TATV kids rose to the occasion. Here you have a team, working 16 hours together hands on. You can’t get that in a classroom.”
Nielson – the creative director at TATV – said he is not without empirical motivation. His brother Andrew, who graduated from Thornton Academy in 2003 and was also a part of TATV, is now an industry professional.
“He now works in Hollywood as a production assistant for the Jim Henson Company,” said Nielson.
Executive Producer for TATV Justin Chenette estimated his out-of-school contribution to the project to be about 15 hours. His job, he said, is unending.
“Every week we are trying to produce five new episodes,” Chenette said. “We have a lot of talented workers who have a substantial workload outside of school. But we have fun, and we work as a team for the benefit of the community.”
Thornton Academy Television has been on air since 2000 and currently Lund is looking to expand their program-base. His preliminary ideas include a daily morning show where announcements would be aired to both the community and those rooms with televisions in the school. He is currently in the process of running a cable through pre-established underground pipes from the TATV control room to the gymnasium so that sporting events can be more easily recorded.
To contact Stowell P. Watters, call 282-4337 ext. 219 or email news@inthecourier.com.
Staff Writer
While most public access stations are run by professionals, in Saco it’s teens that are running the show. Students at Thornton Academy have the opportunity to take television production classes and work on the school’s television program – Thornton Academy Television (TATV) – as part of their curriculum.
Ray Lund’s television production classes and TATV program at Thornton Academy give students a chance to learn, hands on, what the television and news media industry is all about by exposing them to equipment used by professionals while simultaneously allowing them to run their own programming on Saco’s Time Warner Cable channel three.
“My curriculum parallels the industry,” Lund said. “These students are receiving a unique, hands on learning experience where they actually get to take part in and produce a part of what they are learning about.”
Thornton Academy Television currently provides 99 percent of the programming for Saco’s Time Warner Cable channel three, with the remainder of airtime reserved for Saco City Council and school board meetings. The extra-curricular group produces five shows: the Final Score; Thornton’s sports program which sometimes broadcasts live sporting events, The Issue; a political discussion and informational piece that has featured guests such as Congressman Tom Allen, Sen. Susan Collins and Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron, Red Carpet Report; an entertainment industry show, Academy Connections; Thornton’s own school-oriented program and Insert Title Here; a multifarious bunch of media taped by TATV staff that Lund likened to “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
The dichotomy of the TATV club mimics that of a real television production team; this, Lund said, is out of pure necessity. There is a group tasked with graphic production, a group responsible for camera work and lighting, a group that focuses on managing the other groups and more. Students, like junior Fletcher Ramsey, are given titles indicative of their responsibilities. Ramsey is the software specialist with the creative services team and spends much of his time with his hands whirring away at a keyboard and mouse.
“Each ENG (electronic news gathering package), or assigned story, needs a logo. That’s what I do,” Ramsey said. For this work he learned to use a heap of software programs including DVD Studio Pro, Flash, Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Sound Track Pro and Photoshop CS.
Lund said he teaches two classes, a beginning television production class and an advanced class. Members of the TATV production team meet after school and during the advanced class to put together ENGs to be broadcast on TATV.
“Students do research, interviews, record actual events, write scripts and do everything involved in the real-life production of news-media,” Lund said. “These ENGs are the result of their work.”
The ENGs, once edited and reviewed, are aired using the school’s new Leightronix Nexus broadcasting system. When Lund began teaching videography in 1987 all of the equipment he used was analog, meaning it had to be manually fast forwarded and rewound. The cornerstone of this analog technology was the VHS tape but soon, he said, technology began to make large strides.
“When I first started it was a slow and tedious process. Even last year we could only air hour and a half segments on loop on TATV,” Lund said. “Nexus allows us to not only increase the number of shows we air but also air programs at specific times. The loop days are over.”
Last April Thornton Academy students Sean Campbell (graduated 2007), senior Luke Nielson and William S. Kany – who is on the Thornton Academy Board of Trustees – asked the Saco City Council to use a portion of the Time Warner Cable fees to enhance TATV’s broadcasting capabilities, according to a TATV press release.
A recent decision by the Saco City Council provided TATV with about $25,000. These funds were used to purchase the Nexus system as well as new switchboard and audio mixing systems.
“Not only does this upgrade allow us to improve our program it also brings us one step closer to HD (high definition) capabilities,” Lund said. In 2009 all public access television will be broadcast using the high definition frequency.
New equipment aside, Lund said TATV is all about experience and opportunity. In January he and a group of five TATV members attended a student television network convention in Anaheim, Calif. There they met with 1,400 other new-media students, industry professionals and were tasked with producing a segment of video in a single day as a part of the conference’s main competition.
“We did very well, finished 10 minutes before the deadline,” Lund said. “The TATV kids rose to the occasion. Here you have a team, working 16 hours together hands on. You can’t get that in a classroom.”
Nielson – the creative director at TATV – said he is not without empirical motivation. His brother Andrew, who graduated from Thornton Academy in 2003 and was also a part of TATV, is now an industry professional.
“He now works in Hollywood as a production assistant for the Jim Henson Company,” said Nielson.
Executive Producer for TATV Justin Chenette estimated his out-of-school contribution to the project to be about 15 hours. His job, he said, is unending.
“Every week we are trying to produce five new episodes,” Chenette said. “We have a lot of talented workers who have a substantial workload outside of school. But we have fun, and we work as a team for the benefit of the community.”
Thornton Academy Television has been on air since 2000 and currently Lund is looking to expand their program-base. His preliminary ideas include a daily morning show where announcements would be aired to both the community and those rooms with televisions in the school. He is currently in the process of running a cable through pre-established underground pipes from the TATV control room to the gymnasium so that sporting events can be more easily recorded.
To contact Stowell P. Watters, call 282-4337 ext. 219 or email news@inthecourier.com.
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