PBS Supports RTA’s Hands-on Learning with Giving Tuesday
RTA Media Production and Sport Media students, undergraduate program director Karen Sebesta, PBS production crew and senior production and programming specialist Brian Withers gather for a photo to wrap the PBS Giving Tuesday broadcast on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
RTA School of Media third- and fourth-year Media Production (external link) and Sport Media (external link) students worked on Buffalo Toronto Public Media PBS (external link) (BTPM PBS)’s Giving Tuesday broadcast on Dec. 2.
PBS approached RTA undergraduate program director, Karen Sebesta, about setting up a partnership with Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) to provide internships and other potential opportunities for young people.
During the discussion, the possibility of using RTA’s facilities for live locations came up.
Sebesta said, “if we can provide…a network broadcasting opportunity and our students can be a part of this real situation, that’s a good deal.”
After just under a year of discussing what the partnership would look like, Sebesta started recruiting students and segment guests for the broadcast.
PBS' Giving Tuesday broadcast used the Arthur Smith Virtual Production Studio as their Toronto live hit location. This gave RTA students a chance to put their skills learned in class into action for a live, international broadcast.
Sebesta said that as a professor, they can show students what the real world looks through classroom simulations, but “there’s always this one per cent doubt in their eye, like, they don’t believe you.”
“Then, when you can do something like this…they realize, hear and see things that we’re teaching them and go, ‘oh, that is real.’”
Students, faculty and the PBS team working in the Studio A control room.
Nadya Hall (external link) , a third-year Media Production student, applied to gain real world experience outside of her classroom.
"I love the live environment, and I hope to one day go into multi-cam production, and because of that, I feel like this is going to give me such a great experience being in a live production studio for a real network.
Hall was the assistant director in the control room, communicating directly with the PBS team in Buffalo, and worked with Joe Cannizzaro, the producer/director from PBS, during the show.
Down on the Arthur Smith Virtual Production Studio floor, Media Production and Sport Media students operated cameras and floor directed PBS host Marty Wimmer and guests from TMU throughout the broadcast.
The camera crew of RTA students filming RTA Associate professor Rick Grunberg and PBS host Marty Wimmer.
Sports Media student Anjali Singh operating a camera during PBS Giving Tuesday.
Camera operator and third-year Sport Media student Anjali Singh (external link) joined the broadcast because of her love for the space and working in the studio.
She learned how consistent the director of the broadcast was with the shots and, "how precise every shot has to be on camera."
In her classroom assignments, she found there was more leniency as they were learning the technology.
Singh said she learned from the broadcast that, "what makes live TV great is the precision."
The five-hour broadcast was an opportunity for the students that will stand out when they look back on their time as an RTA student.