This is a contribution from a Swampscott High School student, as part of the Swampscott Tides Big Blue Student News selection.
By Jasper Kaiser
Big Blue News is a media art class where students collaborate in teams to create stories on topics like international and national news, local events, school updates, entertainment, weather and sports.
The first step in the production process is planning. Teams decide on their hosts, assign stories, and work with editors to organize their content. They use detailed spreadsheets to track what’s completed, what’s ready for review, and what’s still in progress.
During this stage, some students begin designing thumbnails, the main images that represent each story, while others create “roll-ins,” which are short video segments that can be with or without audio and introduce or support the stories being covered.
Once everything is prepared, students move into the studio and take on their assigned roles, using the skills they’ve been trained in to set up for the live broadcast.
These roles include technical director, video engineer, sound technician, host, floor director and camera operator.
Big Blue News broadcasts can be streamed each month on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUsYq-jR26VMDbhxz4sfpxQ.
