Fade in: FOCUS
Michie Alvaro
December 16, 2009
Filed under Fine Arts, Fine Arts Feature, Top Stories
Throughout the school year, CCA students are often busy with myriad things that fill their daily lives. Things like schoolwork, extra-curricular activities, and other fun stuff. Sometimes those things take their focus away from what’s happening around campus.
FADE In: FOCUS.
FOCUS is a monthly show provided by the Digital Video Production classes here at CCA, which are taught by Secondary Media teacher, Rick Negron. The show spotlights five areas of the school each month, allowing us to experience those things the student body missed or didn’t even know about. Each episode is composed of short video clips, outlining the five major stories, including special reports and interviews.
Negron oversees the production, but it is the students that run the show from pre-production to post production. A lot of work goes into an actual episode, and Negron makes sure his class is equipped with all the basics, teaching them all the production elements: lights, cameras, pictures, reporting, interviewing, and editing.
Each story is developed by three or four students, and they’re given a package with most of the things they’ll need to cover each segment or story. On an average, it takes about four to eight hours to produce a segment, which is equivalent to about two weeks in class. Post production comes next, and according to Negron, they spend about four hours editing and slicing the stories, completing the whole picture or episode.
Each package has its own system, and the three to four students take on different roles. There is the producer, who is the organizer in the group that arranges the interviews, comes up with pictures, and provides any extra information to the story, sometimes even acting as the reporter. There is also the camera person, who does the entire camera work for the story, taping the reporter as he or she narrates the pre-written story. Then there is the editor, who puts the whole story together with any effects that are needed. With everyone’s roles filled out, the segment is done and perfected long before it airs.
It’s not only the digital video production class that makes an episode though—anyone else can get involved. The show needs hosts to name the top stories that are going to be shown in the episode, or help out in any way they can. But they will need to be shown how to do things before they can get involved and get some experience before they get in front of the camera.
This will be the second year of FOCUS, and the first year of it standing alone. FOCUS grew out of the CCA show E.T.V, which was an all-school show for grades K-12. E.T.V went on for three years, and excited the younger kids at CCA.
“It was quite funny having E.T.V when the smaller grades were put in because they would come home and tell their parents, thinking they were on live broadcasted television,” adds Rick Negron.
E.T.V’s last production was last year alongside FOCUS, making FOCUS now the main show of secondary CCA, only broadcasting and spotlighting on the high school. According to Rick Negron, it has become a lot more organized since last year, with less chaos involved and a more evenly-spaced pace and system.
FOCUS is a great way to update the CCA high school, and is shown once a month during Friday Chapel. It can also be viewed on Facebook, along with all the previous episodes on the CCA FOCUS page.
Don’t forget to check out this amazing show and to keep yourself updated with your school!