The Falcon football team played four home games this past season, and at three of them, a live broadcast was done by a small group of student volunteers working for a new organization called TogaVision. Most were from the school’s Media Arts Program (MAP).
The team aired live SHS game broadcasts on YouTube for the games on Sept. 27 against Mills High, Oct. 11 against Lynbrook High and Nov. 1 against Gunn High.
Acting as expert commentators in the 2-3 hour broadcasts were seniors Saatvik Kommareddi and Gautham Jasti.
Freshman camera operator Hritish Rai controls a camera at the top of the bleachers.
TogaVision is a community organization working with Saratoga’s Community Access Television station KSAR15. The broadcasts were organized by senior Tanuj Siripurapu in collaboration with station manager John Dietrich. TogaVision intends to provide projects, like coverage of local events, for students to take part in, Siripurapu said.
Over the summer, Siripurapu reached out to Tina Walia, a member of Saratoga’s city council, wanting to help out the city. From there, he was referred to work with station manager Dietrich to find student volunteers, so that the station could cover more local events.
The station covers various topics about the city, ranging from businesses in Saratoga Village to Saratoga’s Blossom Festival. However, according to Siripurapu, the station does not receive enough funding to cover as many topics as they would like to, so they rely heavily on student volunteers to take on roles like editors, videographers and writers.
While Siripurapu assisted Dietrich in finding student volunteers for KSAR15, Dietrich showed Siripurapu clips of Adrian Wilcox High’s football games he had filmed over the past few years. From there, Siripurapu found the inspiration to expand the station’s reach and engage SHS parents and students with the school football team, through an effort he called TogaVision.
“The goal for the broadcast is to get the community excited about both the TV station and SHS football [team],” Siripurapu said. “And most of all, get SHS students with an interest in TV some hands-on experience.”
Siripurapu was the manager of the TogaVision, and senior Rylee Stanton was the director.
Nine other students worked as recurring volunteers:
- Camera: Rai, freshmen Rohan Iyer, Tigris Chen, Agustya Vangala, Connor Chiang, Gauri Vaidya, Nellai Ramaswamy, Annabelle Co and sophomore Aakarsh Ekollu.
- Audio: Iyer and Ramaswamy.
- Graphics: Chen, Vangala, Rai and Ekollu.
As manager, Siripurapu first coordinated with the school district to introduce his idea and get permission to film the football games. Then, he got in touch with the school’s tech department to access power and internet in the stadium in order to broadcast the recordings live. Afterwards, Siripurapu contacted head football coach Archie Ljepava to advertise the project on the team’s Instagram account and gain an audience to watch the broadcasts.
The final step was recruiting student volunteers from the MAP classes by presenting the idea to all the classes. With around 15 SHS student volunteers from the MAP program, Siripurapu held four teaching sessions with Dietrich on how sports directing operates from a professional standpoint and to show the volunteers how to use the cameras and equipment.
“Feedback has been great from teachers and students. Football players have been posting clips from the broadcast of their touchdowns,” Siripurapu said. “The most rewarding part is seeing people shocked at how professional the coverage is with the truck, cameras and announcers.”
Courtesy of TogaVision
Video clip of a touchdown during the Sept. 27 football game against Mills High.
For each football game, KSAR15 parked a white video truck, connected to the cameras and audio equipment, near the tennis courts. Inside, Stanton oversaw which camera angle would work best for each play, told the videographers on the field what to do and decided when to switch between the angles.
“Most of the normal film-related things I do is pre-recording and editing. I’ve never done any sort of live broadcast or worked with [live broadcasting] equipment before,” Stanton said. “In the future, if I’m ever offered another opportunity like this, I’ll be able to do it because I already have this prior experience.”
Stanton also guided student videographers on the field on camera movements, like zooming or panning to a specific direction.
Stanton, along with a mentor from KSAR15, wears a headset to give orders to the student volunteers recording the game.
“I think it’s really cool to be able to have this broadcast and have families watch their children play football,” Stanton said. “It’s an awesome opportunity that not a lot of people have access to.”
Additionally, a graphics director, either Siripurapu or another volunteer, controlled the broadcast’s scoreboard and graphics, capturing key moments such as touchdowns.
A touchdown graphic displays on the TogaVision live broadcast of the Oct. 11 homecoming football game.
Siripurapu hopes future students will do the same broadcasts of football games again next year, and he hopes to provide live broadcasts for the boys’ and girls’ basketball and the boys’ volleyball team in their upcoming seasons as well.
“Engaging with the community and revitalizing this channel was important to me,” Siripurapu said. “I think local news is a dying medium that should be brought into the 21st century. It’s becoming harder and harder to compete with the big media networks but I thought this was a great way to provide experience for students and help the station and the community.”
More information about the TogaVision organization can be found on @togavision.club on Instagram or on the TogaVision website, where broadcasts and project opportunities can be found.
