Schools
TV/Video Production Studio’s Equipment Brings Learning Into the 21st Century
The Valhalla-based TV studio has the equipment to match professional studios in the region
While students and teachers at the SWBOCES Center for Career Services were enjoying their summer vacation, TV/Video Production instructors Tony Ely and Sean Harty were busy adding more high-tech tools to an already state-of-the-art TV studio.
The classroom, which includes a TV studio complete with sound booth and control room, is getting very close to what students will find once they get jobs in the real world, said Sean Harty, who focuses on the sound production aspect of the two-year program.
In fact, the TV/Video Production Program on the Valhalla campus is the only one for high school students in the southern Westchester region that offers college-level courses in TV, sound and video production, said Mr. Ely, the program’s long-time instructor.
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The new equipment that students will have access to includes new Mac computers loaded with the latest digital editing tools Adobe Premiere Pro and Pro Tools, portable video cameras, studio microphones, keyboards and accompanying computers, as well as additional audio cables, light bulbs and more, which are all stored in a separate room across the hall from the studio.
Over the summer, acoustic panels were installed on the control room ceiling and walls to create a better acoustical environment and to keep any sounds that might travel from that room to the nearby studio, further enhancing the quality of the student-run productions, explained Mr. Harty.
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With all of this new equipment, both instructors said there’s now a real opportunity to give students the chance to try their hand at different aspects of TV and video production. One day, a student may serve as a director, while another day he or she will get the chance to get behind the camera.
“The idea is to get them involved in every single aspect of this industry so that we can properly hone their skills and prepare them for the workplace,” said Mr. Harty, a 2009 graduate of Manhattanville College, who was recently hired to assist Mr. Ely with the growing program.
