“Zoom in on Montague.”
“He’s too bright.”
Someone leaps up to make the proper adjustments.
“Better.”
“Is it in focus?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s in focus.”
The first episode this semester of Tiger TV debuts two days later during lunch, displayed on the screen above the PAC doors.
Over the course of their show, the staff of Tiger TV broadcasts the latest news, up-and-coming athletes and seniors Hayden Murray and Michael Kreamer jumping over fences dressed as Mexicans.
The staff comes up with ideas during their brainstorming sessions at the beginning of each cycle with the help of adviser Denny Brand.
“We all get in a circle — it’s called a campfire — and suggest stories,” senior Patrick Lewis said. “Mr. Brand either says ‘yay’ or ‘nay.’ He approves them or not.”
After sharing ideas, each story is assigned two staff members — one reporter and one photographer.
The reporter is in charge of voiceovers and covering the story. They schedule and do interviews while the photographers shoot the footage, Lewis said.
“We have a lot of time, but if you don’t get any footage or get any clips, it’s kind of hard to write your story,” he said. “You have to kind of get those and get your interviews in quick.”
He said shooting footage right the first time is important. Redoing the interviews takes up time that the staff needs for editing and putting it all together.
“Setting up interviews? It’s hard,” Lewis said. “You have to find time to do it because people are busy so when you do it, you want to get it right.”
Lewis said one of the most difficult parts of putting together an episode is effective collaboration.
“It’s hard when everyone has their creative differences and when everyone wants to do things their way,” Lewis said. “Someone has to give in at some point and compromise is really important. I’d rather have a good show that’s not my idea than no show at all.”
Lewis said Tiger TV is at its best when the staff members represent a diverse group of students.
“That’s a wide variety of people who know different things going on in the school,” he said. “You see different people in interviews rather than the same people over and over again.”
The staff considers many different types of entertainment and students when producing an episode of Tiger TV, Lewis said.
“I feel like having a good high school journalism program incorporates two things,” he said. “There’s the actual news that contests like, but not that much happens, and it’s not that big of a deal sometimes. But there’s also the comedy and entertaining people. That’s really important.”
Brand said he looks forward to seeing the recognition his students receive after each episode.
“I like to see the kids get complimented on their work,” he said. “The biggest pay-off for me is that I’ve trained someone to go out and make a living off this stuff.”
