On March 17, 2020, we pulled the plug on in-person classes because of the COVID-19 threat. It was a weird feeling to say the least.
At the time, I was teaching two studio-based classes (Fresno State Focus Crew and Intro to Studio Production) and a field-based class (News Video Production). All three use equipment most students (or professors!) don't have readily available at home.
SIDE NOTE: I do know someone who has a switcher in his living room. While I consider myself a production geek, I am not quite that hardcore, although it would have been super handy for instructional purposes! But I digress.
About a week before we "pivoted" (to use an overused phrase), the rumblings that this might happen started. Me being me, I busted out my phone and started taking pictures and/or video of everything I could think of in the studio, with my fabulous students humoring me while still working on their projects, news stories and newscasts.
On March 17, I gathered up my office plants, snacks and a few research books I hadn't snagged yet and headed home for the rest of the semester. I had Zoom, Canvas, my social media network, a pile of pictures and some really awesome, albeit somewhat shell-shocked, students to get me through the rest of the semester.
The news video class adapted to the online format readily. We already had tutorials and examples on Canvas. We moved to phones from camcorders and from in-person interviews to Zooms and continued on our way. I kept a synchronous meeting once a week, conveniently held during the time the neighbors liked to mow their lawns. From my house and yard, I was able to show how not to frame a person with a palm tree coming out of her head, how to use natural light as a light source, and how to laugh when timing translated to lawn mowers and barking dogs.
The studio classes though - whoooo-boy. I still wanted to teach them the skills while allowing the creativity they enjoy from the class, so I took out my pictures and videos and went to work.
The first thing I did was reverse-engineer a few clips for directing practice. This means I had students "call" pretaped segments based on their respective class. Intro to studio directed rehearsal clips of the projects they were working on when we disbanded. Crew called news segments and promos we had already aired that term. We emphasized what needed to be said over perfection with production timing that had already happened. The awesome thing about this is students who were new to studio production had the opportunity to stretch their director wings along with those more seasoned in the chair. Plus we had some fun bloopers.
Here's an example I put together. This also gives you an idea of what directing calls sound like!
For other positions, I put together mock TD and audio sessions in Canvas through the quiz function. Here is an example of a multiple choice TD exercise question, using the above promo as the template.
Fun with virtual buttons!
To wrap up the term, the Intro to studio class pitched and put together a couple of fantastic (and often hilarious) virtually-distant group projects for their final: A pandemic reality show based on Zoom interactions among strangers and a horror show with the victims tied together by a Zoom meeting. While it may not have been 100% studio production, they learned a lot about what I call "rocking with what you've got" that term!
The Crew class finished the term with virtual guest appearances by live production professionals: Patrick Brown, director at Root Sports NW, and Bob Hannon, production manager, director and my former boss at WBBH and WZVN in Fort Myers, Florida. We also talked quite a bit about how the news business works (DMAs and duopolies and corporate owners, oh my!).
While it was not the semester we had planned, it was a lesson in creativity and resilience under pressure. These are skills needed in both news and production!
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