UVU Studios & Broadcast Services. Video Production in a University Environment

Will McKinnon, the speaker of a reviewed presentation, has a huge experience in the field of sound and video engineering. His previous workplaces included such well-known TV channels as ESPN, ABS, FOX Sports and others. Currently, he occupies the position of director of Studios & Broadcast Services (SBS) at Utah Valley University that produces various documentary and entertainment content as well as the news stories. Therefore, the fact that McKinnon teaches about video production at the university presents him as a direct participant of this process. The lecture material touches on the relations between the video production and university environment. Moreover, the speaker professionally explains the position of broadcast services in terms of educational process and students’ environment.

Summary

The lecture starts with the brief history of UVU TV team. According to the speaker, the team of broadcasting service consists of eight employees and produces nearly two hundred hours of content each year. Such a high productivity with a small number of employees is possible because of the well-organized structure. According to McKinnon, the studio contains three departments. The first is live broadcasting service that covers live shows, sports events and different concerts. The second one is video production house that serves for shooting commercial and marketing videos. Finally, the broadcast service includes the university channel named UVUTV. This television channel receives an engineering support and has a truly unique content. These departments are open communities accessible to all students and they form a complex system that uses such modern social media as Twitter and Facebook. Like any other workplace in university, the broadcasting service has its own advantages and shortcomings. McKinnon states that long working day, low salary, low budgets and a small amount of employees are the primary disadvantages of his profession. Moreover, there is a strong inconsistency between the number of employees and the variety of software and equipment. At the same time, the speaker skillfully turns all disadvantages into such positive concepts as high stability, diversity between the teammates, freedom of creativity and greater efficiency due to a small team size.

After a thorough analysis of the peculiarities related to his workplace, the lecturer decides to elaborate on the topic and focuses on the understanding of video as an essential instrument of broadcasting department’s work. The presentation of videos and other technological concepts can interest someone from the audience to start the career in this field. Thus, the speaker describes the qualities needed for any video production employee.  Furthermore, McKinnon clearly states his motivation that keeps him in this field for nearly twenty years. Video broadcasting service provides the diversity of projects and sufficient degree of creative freedom. Moreover, the combination of teamwork and true passion ensures the satisfaction of having the work done.   

Reflection

While the result of broadcasting department’s work is very demonstrative and easily accessible, the significant part of the working process remains unnoticed. The lecture was extremely interesting to me because the speaker provided a rare opportunity to look behind the curtains and see how such departments function from the inside. The speaker hints at the important things by stating that every video is the complex result of implementation of such technologies as audio, photography, illustration and different types of graphics . However, I was surprised to know that UVU video broadcasting department consists of only eight members. Thus, each day those people solve an extremely complicated task of performing an enormous amount of work with a minimum number of employees. In fact, broadcasting service departments represent a remarkable example of the implementation of teamwork concepts. In this context, the speaker’s claim that every potential employee should, first of all, be able to work in every team is understandable. Therefore, I believe that such information can significantly improve my managerial skills.

Another interesting point of the presentation is the McKinnon’s ability to transform the shortcomings of his work into advantages. Where one can see numerous projects done by a few workers, the speaker sees the diversity that develops creativity. Where one complains of small budgets and salaries, McKinnon sees an inspiring challenge. It is an outstanding example of true passion and dedication to the chosen activity. While the presentation is dedicated to the IT technologies, I also received crucial information about management and leadership that will be helpful for any job. Moreover, while the work performed by video broadcasting department often remains unnoticed, its value can hardly be overestimated. The production of media content involves students in the education process and removes the element of routine that is always present to a certain extent. The primary function of every media is an establishment of the connection between different people regardless of sex, age, social and economic status. I feel that this aspect provides a constant motivation to all members of broadcasting service studio.  

Conclusion

In his lecture the speaker provided an extremely interesting information related to the process of video production in a context of the university environment. The presentation covered two crucial aspects. The first of them was a thorough description of department’s work with all pros and cons. The second aspect revealed the list of qualities and motivators that are important for every future employee. McKinnon’s presentation is a great example of true dedication and passion to work that are the primary reasons for such impressive quality of a produced content.

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