Go Blue Raiders
Students from MTSU’s College of Mass Communication continue to benefit from experience that few media professionals ever realize. As an estimated 20,000 fans filled Lower Broadway in downtown Nashville to enjoy the music of Capitol Records artists Luke Bryan, Jon Pardi and Kelleigh Bannen, 53 MTSU students modulated audio, staffing HD cameras, conducted interviews and recorded the concerts for the label. You can read more about the event at mtsunews.com/capitol-street-party-2012.
Representatives from the Academy of International Business and Communications at Hillsboro High School accept a $1,000 check from MTSU for winning "Best in Show" at the April 21 Academies of Nashville Video Awards. From left are Hillsboro High Executive Principal Terry Shrader; Doug Williams of MTSU's Office of Marketing and Communications; Billy Pittard, chair of MTSU's Department of Electronic Media Communication; Dr. James Bailey, principal of Hillsboro's Academy of International Business and Communications; and IBC team members. (MTSU photos by Andy Heidt)
NASHVILLE—The Academy of International Business and Communications at Hillsboro High School received “Best in Show” honors, as well as four other top awards, on April 21 in a Metro Nashville Public Schools video-awards competition sponsored by MTSU.
Students from Metro Schools and MTSU directed, produced and performed in the inaugural “Academies of Nashville Video Awards” show before a capacity crowd at the Belcourt Theatre.
The districtwide video competition was created to tell the stories of the 40 different Academies of Nashville offerings in Metro’s 12 zoned high schools.
“This awards show gave our students a hands-on learning experience, a platform to share how their Academy of Nashville experiences are preparing them for college and careers—and a chance to knock the socks off the audience,” said Metro Schools Director Jesse Register. “Our students are talented!”
Student teams received “statuettes” for their winning video entries in 14 categories, including Best in Show. Metro high-school students completely produced each video, and MTSU College of Mass Communication students mentored several teams.
Jay Steele, associate superintendent of high schools for Metro Nashville Public Schools, welcomes the audience to The Academies of Nashville Video Awards as MTSU student host Megan Brantley, center, and Gerald Harris of Metro's Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School look on. The show, sponsored and produced by MTSU, was taped on April 21 at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville.
Hillsboro’s IBC academy also won the “Best Business, Marketing and IT Video” and “Best Presentation (Creativity)” categories and tied for first place for “Best Script” and “Best Content.”
The Academy of Design and Technology at Hunters Lane took home three awards, winning the “Best Arts, Media and Communications Video” and “Best Video Personality” and tying with Hillsboro for “Best Script.”
Nine other academies earned first-place honors for their videos, including the:
The unique partnership between Metro Schools and MTSU began in fall 2011, when the University agreed to be the title sponsor for the show.
MTSU student Jordan Hall, left, and McGavock High School student Kristen Bowman present an awards during The Academies of Nashville Video Awards.
“We are pleased to partner with Metro Schools because we see the great things happening in their schools and the caliber of students they are sending to college,” said MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee.
“What makes this project so perfect is that it unites their talented students with our exceptional students from the Department of Electronic Media Communication.”
Alex Gibson, a junior EMC major at MTSU, produced the show with the help of almost 30 of his fellow MTSU students and a handful of Metro students.
The entire student-run production used MTSU’s $1.4 million Mobile Production Lab, which has been used for events ranging from Music Row’s “Capitol Street Party” to ESPN coverage of Blue Raider athletic contests.
The hourlong MNPS video awards production will be aired on tape delay on Nashville’s NECAT, Channel 10.
Though the awards show was totally produced by students, two adult mentors played a major role in the production.
Chelsea Parker, program manager for small learning communities for Metro Schools, and Bob 
Gordon, an EMC assistant professor at MTSU, both made sure the partnership got off the ground. Billy Pittard, EMC department chair, also was instrumental in providing the resources for the production of the event.
Gordon also served as executive producer for the show.
In addition to Gibson, the MTSU student crew included: Matt Binford, director; Haley Burnett, assistant director; Megan Brantley, graphics producer; Clay Tipton, graphics editor; James Stevens, graphics designer; Mika Gray and Katie Myers, scriptwriters; Josh Lockhart, technical director; Michelle Potts, stage manager; Jackson Miller, assistant stage manager; Josh Moore and T.J. Black, tape operators; Kourtney Hannah, graphics operator; Andrew Huether, audio engineer; Marc Parrish, chief engineer; Mike Forbes, video engineer; camera operators Witt Hullander, Colton Carroll, Zach Eagles and Patrick Wilson; Jonathan Prichard and Topher Davison, grips; Thomas Robinson, production assistant; Mary Craighead and Beth Gibson, hair and make-up; Steven Hays, booth PA; Cortney Frierson, live announcer; Mel Milligan and Amanda Gary, trophy presenters; and MTSU hosts Megan Brantley, Tyann Nelson, Jordan Hall and Devin Fletcher.
Metro high-school student hosts were Gerald Harris, Chelsea Byrd, Kathy Fellman and Kristen Bowman.
– Doug Williams (Doug.Williams@mtsu.edu)
MTSU co-sponsored the fourth annual Capitol Street Party in Nashville Sept. 21, and students from the College of Mass Communication had a huge presence in the festivities.
MTSU students were a major part of the “show behind the show” as the University partnered with Capitol Records at the “Capitol Street Party” on Nashville’s Music Row Sept. 21.
Singer-songwriter Eric Paslay, an MTSU alumnus, is captured on the video board of the University's Mobile Production Lab during his headlining performance at the Capitol Street Party on Music Row Sept. 21.(MTSU photos by Doug Williams)
Eldridge Alexander and Sarah Fryar, seniors in the College of Mass Communication, were two of the 45 students handling TV production at the event, which drew a crowd estimated at 10,000 people on Demonbreun Street near the Music Row roundabout. (Watch video from the event here.)
The street show featured MTSU alumnus Eric Paslay (’05) headlining with Alan Jackson, Eric Church and Jon Pardi. Alexander and Fryar worked with Music Row professionals to produce the show in MTSU’s new $1.4 million Mobile Production Lab.
“Typically, we work on projects associated with college activities, but this is an opportunity to be around professionals at Capitol Records and network with MTSU alumni in the industry,” said Alexander, who served as assistant director for the production.
MTSU senior Eldridge Alexander turns to answer a question while working as assistant director for the Capitol Street Party inside the University's Mobile Production Lab on Music Row in Nashville Sept. 21.
“Curt Cassassa, an MTSU alum who is a well-known director in the business, is the lead director. To work shoulder-to-shoulder with him is a great opportunity.”
Alexander’s job as assistant director was to be prepared to help Cassassa follow the action on stage, so what was on screen would flow with the music. In the process, Alexander helped direct seven HD cameras that feed into the truck’s multiscreen video board.
Fryar was unit manager, or “mother hen” as she called it: organizing crew call, arranging crew credentials, parking, handling crew questions and finalizing the crew count for what would become a nonstop 16-hour day.
MTSU senior Sarah Fryar, unit manager for the University's crew during production of the Capitol Street Party, directs fellow mass-communications students on their next tasks.
“That might seem to some like a long day, but the experience is so worth it,” said Fryar, who aspires to be a broadcast sports journalist. “I went to another school for a year before MTSU, and I totally appreciate the experience that MTSU provides. It’s a big-time broadcast experience, and the new Mobile Lab just takes it over the top.”
MTSU students handled the HD cameras, boom mikes, street interviews and other duties. John Merchant, MTSU assistant professor of recording industry, said his department is “thrilled” at the opportunity to showcase the students, faculty and staff of North America’s largest collegiate recording-industry program. Bob Gordon and Dennis Oneal of Department of Electronic Media Communication also were instrumental in producing the event.
This was the Capitol Street Party’s fourth year. It originated as the “Capitol Pub Crawl” to allow the label to promote new talent. You can watch a slideshow of the night’s events here.
– Doug Williams (Doug.Williams@mtsu.edu)
MTSU’s Department of Electronic Media Communication is in the process of outfitting their new $1.4 million Mobile Production Lab with the latest in HD broadcasting technology. The preparations continue at a fervent pace to ready to the lab in time for the start of football season. EMC’s student production company, EMC Productions, will be producing game broadcasts for ESPN 3 from the new truck this fall. Read more here.
MTSU’s new 40-foot, $1.4 million Mobile Production Lab awaits installation of new electronic equipment and cable after its arrival on campus July 31 from Sunbury, Ohio, with Lab Director Marc Parrish behind the wheel.
Parrish and his assistants in the Department of Electronic Media Communication in MTSU’s College of Mass Communication aim to have the lab up and running in time for the start of football season. EMC’s student production company, EMC Productions, will be producing game broadcasts for ESPN 3 this fall. Parrish said the new lab will provide almost twice the workspace of the department’s old truck, now in use by alumnus Nic Dugger at his company, TNDV. It will house eight Sony HD cameras and a Sony MSV 8000G switcher and use more than 30,000 feet of audio-video cable when it’s fully outfitted, and LED lighting throughout will provide ample light while conserving energy. A wheelchair lift will make the new Mobile Production Lab fully accessible to people with disabilities as well, Parrish said.
View a short timelapse video from the first week of the ongoing equipment installations here.
Middle Tennessee State University photo by J. Intintoli
