Orientation Class

The Basic Class is set up over three nights. The first class is three hours long. The second and third are two hours each for a total of seven hours.

The first night begins with getting to know the members: why they came here and will they be behind the scenes, producers, or hosts. All of the information about the station is given including a quick introduction of staff, why we’re here, what HCTV can and can’t be used for. A tour of the building is also given.

After the first night, many potential members are a little nervous. There are a lot of buttons, lights and equipment shown during the tour. To take away the worry or feeling of, “I might not be able to do this”, the second night is designed to show:

1) That by watching television and movies the eye has already become accustomed to what is good editing vs. bad editing.
2) That we know they are new at this endeavor and there are no mistakes they could bring us that we haven’t seen.
3) We are here to help them when mistakes are made.

On this night, a tape is shown with pretty much every possible problem you can run into. Included are badly framed shots, bad panning, auto focus blurriness, bad lighting, backlighting problems, bad audio, jump cuts, bad graphics set-up, etc. The class gets the opportunity to shout out what the problems are and then we go over how to rectify them.

This is followed with video shot by HCTV staff and members, done non-linearly, to show what they could accomplish if they decide to put the time in.

Of all of the classes, this second night is, without a doubt, the most fun and I believe everyone learns a lot while laughing a lot.

While the first night is devoted to the senses of hearing/speaking and the second is visual the third is all about touch. In this “hands-on” class, we use the night to get everyone acquainted with the control room and studio equipment. This not only teaches the new member about the studio cameras, audio and the flow of a show but also helps the station when a new member is asked to help out on a shoot. Having focused, framed and fretted in class, they already have some knowledge and aren’t helping out on their first show blind.

At the completion of the third night, we have new HCTV members.