College is Video Vanguard
By Carly Harrington, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.
Apr. 9–Ron Bellamy has a confession.
The technology in the high-definition video and sound studio at Pellissippi State Technical Community College is so new even the instructors are having to learn some of it.
But in the ever-changing world of video production, Bellamy, associate professor and program coordinator for Video Production Technology at Pellissippi, said it’s necessary to stay at the forefront of industry technology.
Students will get to see some of the equipment they’re using and more at an upcoming trade show hosted by the East Tennessee Television and Film Commission later this month.
“We’re fortunate we have stuff so new they’ll probably see it there,” Bellamy said. “It’s an opportunity that’s pretty rare.”
The East Tennessee TV and Film Trade Show and Workshops will be held April 29, drawing such national media vendors such as Avid, Sony, Yamaha and Panasonic.
The event is being dubbed a “mini” version of the National Association of Broadcasters annual electronic media show, which will be held this year April 11-17 in Las Vegas.
“These are national companies drawn here because of the presence of Scripps Networks and others,” ETTFC Executive Director Michael Barnes said. “The way technology is slamming into us, we risk not educating everybody who wants to get educated. Not everyone can afford to go to Las Vegas to go to NAB. This is a way of bringing the same material, though obviously not on the same scale, to our production community.”
The deadline for early registration is April 15.
“Producing for the Web and Beyond” is the topic of the lunch keynote speaker, Peter Clem, vice president broadband programming and production for Scripps Networks.
There will be four workshops: “Camera Lenses,” led by Larry Thorpe, marketing executive of Canon U.S.A. Inc.’s Broadcast and Communications division; “Digital Audio,” led by Chris Hinson, district manager for Yamaha Southeast; “In Search of Other Markets,” led by Cobblestone Entertainment President Tom Baker and Digital Media One President Mark Larsen; and “Funding Your Idea,” led by filmmakers Brooks Benjamin, Keith McDaniel, Russell Hooper and a “surprise” director from Los Angeles.
A producers representative from Atlanta is also expected to attend to discuss various projects with participants.
Barnes said he hopes high school and college students will attend the workshops because “they are the future users and buyers of this equipment.”
The show could become an annual event, though it would likely move to the fall so it wouldn’t coincide with NAB.
“Some vendors have expressed an interest being here but because of the turnaround time they can’t,” Barnes said. “If we can put together a true regional event, we can get people to travel here from other states. We’d love to make Knoxville the center of that.”
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