MANSFIELD: Kids hit the small screen with self-produced videos

By Stephanie Prokop, Staff Writer
MANSFIELD — For today’s Internet savvy kids, posting a quick video on YouTube is relatively simple.
    But posting a video on YouTube that is skillfully edited and designed, is something students at Northern Burlington County Regional High School can now do, thanks to a state-of-the art video production curriculum.
    “The focus of the program is really to offer our students experience in effective communication,” said Assistant Principal Matthew Konowicz, who also heads the applied technology curriculum.
    The program, which is entering its second year at NBC, teaches students how to film, edit, produce and apply film skills on the newest technology engineered toward the industry.
    One of the goals of the program is to make the school district’s cable information channel — locally Channel 19 — a resource for school news, sporting events and programming.
    James Dowd, a teacher in the video production department, said that the first step is for students to shoot footage around campus.
    They download the raw footage into the Apple Final Cut Studio program, and students work to piece together their footage into clips, and add what Mr. Dowd refers to as “movie-type magic” to the piece.
    He said he regularly receives feedback from students that they enjoy the elective course, and that their goals for filmmaking soar much higher than simply uploading videos online.
    Prior to teaching at NBC, Mr. Dowd said he taught video production at the college level at William Paterson University in Wayne.
    “Before I was teaching these skills to 20 and 21 year olds, and now I’m teaching these same skills to 13 and 14 year olds, and they’re getting it just the same,” he said.
    In the production classroom, 11 Apple computers are set up with video technology programs installed. On the right wall a large blue tarp is hung, serving as a neutral backdrop for student broadcasts.
    Being in front of the camera is something that sophomore Teddy Malison, 15, thinks is one of the most worthwhile aspects of the program.
    “You just get to do a little bit of everything with this program, you get to edit scripts, you get to read them in front of the camera, and you get to film your own material,” she said.
    The program has inspired her, she said, to take an interest in video broadcasting. She said she is still undecided if she wants to end up in front of the camera or behind it, editing film and scripts.
    Mr. Dowd played a clip in which Teddy, clutching a microphone with a logo of the school’s television station right behind her right shoulder.
    Her segment segues into a special message from Superintendent James Sarruda, whom Mr. Konowicz said has been incredibly supportive of the entire curriculum from the start.
    Branching out the district’s television program is a goal for the students and for the applied technology department, said Mr. Konowicz, and the focus will be on content.
    Next year, NBC hopes to bring the third level of video production courses to the school’s applied technology curriculum, which will feature a video production III class. This year, video production I and II are offered.
    The cable channel can also be viewed on the NBC Web site, at www.nburlington.com.