The digital video class recently started a first at Saratoga High, a regular half-hour show about the school on KSAR, the local cable channel. The program debuted Oct. 6.
“It advertises the school to the community,” said digital video teacher Tony Palma. “A lot of time our news stays in our walls.”
In order to make the school events more known, KSAR suggested that the digital video class make a show to publicize the school’s events.
“We really didn’t know how to make it, so we sat down in class and discussed what the show was going to be about,” said Palma. “We decided to make it a part ‘Regis and Kelly,’ part ‘Sesame Street’ and partly clips of things going on around campus.”
The first show features music teacher Michael Boitz teaching students how to use slang, an interview with the Benefit commission about its annual fashion show, as well as a music video produced by the students in the video class.
“It’s a huge mass effort,” said senior Michael Stek “We all work on our own individual clips and then transition it together.”
The students put a combined 200 hours into the project, including time after school.
“We can do most of it during class, but we only had three weeks to do a full half hour video so it was a lot of work,” said Stek. “People also spent hours here at school after school working on it.”
For future shows, Palma would like to have input from clubs and other organizations around campus that wish to have their efforts publicized.
“We want to be a service to the students,” said Palma. “If the students want to a part of the show, or if they have an idea, we want to encourage them to come and talk to us.”
Palma and the rest of the video class plan to broadcast two videos per semester for this year and plan to up the production to once a month for the following year when a new Media Arts building is complete. With the better equipment that will come with the new building, Palma hopes to broadcast the shows more often.
The process of the show started with a storyboard in which students brainstormed and got the basic idea for the telecast. Then they assigned groups of students to film their segments. Each group ended up with a final clip of two or three minutes that they all gave to one person who added transitions and final edits. Each group’s final project went to Palma, who put the whole thing together into one cohesive whole.
“You have about an hour of film, but you have to cut 90 percent out and you get the really good parts,” said Stek. “It’s a huge mass effort.”
Along with the huge amount of work Palma contributed to organizing the show, he guided the students to a successful product.
“He didn’t teach us anything about how to use any of the equipment, he just told us to kind of do it,” said Stek. “He taught along the way so it was a fast quick learning experience.”
In addition to weekly television broadcasts, Palma has plans to someday create live broadcast video announcements prepared on a daily basis, but for now Palma is happy to make the community more aware of the individuals of the school on KSAR.
“It’s not like we are those bookworms that people think we are,” said Palma. “We have these fun creative minds coming out of here that people need to know about.”
To see the show, go to www.ksar15.org