Eastipedia: The Video Announcements

The video announcements team for East consists of a group of 13 friends who decided to help deliver the news for this school. Starting from the beginning of the week long process, with planning or brainstorming. This happens at the beginning of almost every month. The staff gathers, lounging around the back room in the library, just conversing about new ideas for sections while the teacher, Mrs. Hunter jots them down.

First off, the schedule for the announcements is not very strict at all. To finish the announcements they have to plan, film and edit. Although the deadline for the announcements is on Thursday. Instead of spreading it out throughout the week most of the time they wait until Thursday, and rush to finish it. As Nick Miriani puts it, “we just do what we can and if its long enough, its fine.”

The filming aspect is what gives the kids the freedom to film what they want. “We take a lot from other things, like Jimmy Fallon, but we put our own twists on it and thats what makes it funny,” explained Lizzie Hall. There aren also groups that go out to film, usually just a group of two or three that film their own segment. For example, the Lancer of the Day segment is filmed by Annie Savage and Catherine Sabates, but a cameraman also tags along too. They come up ideas for the rest of the semester in a planning session and then film and edit in about an hour for one week’s announcements. Although they are very quick with their filming, others take longer, such as Sports Cycle with Josh and Michael. In this segment, they have to talk to various sports teams depending on the seasons.

Some kids edit their own videos, but usually the editing team, Lizzie Hall, Matthew Bruyere, and Nick Miriani, take care of it. They upload all of the film to their computer and then they cut out all of the mess-ups and miss-shoots, although they do sometimes keep them for bloopers. Then they have to put pictures over the green screen, if they use one. The editing team also sometimes puts intros leading into segments, where they add music. If they don’t use intros, the editors put fades or small transitions to make it smooth and easier to watch. To finish the entire announcements the editing team takes most of the school day on Thursday and then stay after school if necessary. However they have only had to stay after once or twice.

The atmosphere in the humble room in the back of the library, where the video announcements team headquarters is, is very laid back and upbeat. The kids are all friends and are the reason you get to enjoy the video announcements every week.