Lights, Camera, Action!

Television production class casts spotlight on students

Kevin Mathews, a student at Destrehan High School, Mason Vial, a student at Hahnville High School, work with state-of-the-art equipment in the Advanced Television Production Program at the Satellite Center.

At the Satellite Center, a handfull of students have the priviledge of participating in the Advanced Television Production Program which utilizes state-of-the-art filming equipment.

These lucky students learn under the tutelage of Albert Dupont, a veteran producer for several local television news stations, bringing with him valuable experience to the classroom.

"Several news stations in New Orleans had to relocate to other regions in an effort to stay on the air during the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In the event that should happen again, we have the capabilities here at the Satellite School to get those stations up and running without having to go a great distance. The equipment we have here is often times better than the equipment I used in the industry," said Dupont.

"The program here is first class. It's just awesome," says Kevin Mathews, a student at Destrehan High School. "For us as high schoolers to have equipment that is better than what the news stations are using is mind blowing. Even at the high schools they have production classes and when we toured I had to hold in my smiles because what we have at the Satellite School is just so much better. I look forward doing more projects in the community," said Mathews.

The Advanced Television Broadcasting Program at the Satellite Center is designed to prepare students for advanced television production and gain experience in conception of ideas, scripting, storyboarding, multi-camera production, editing, graphics, lighting, and audio.
Students enrolled in this class will develop the ability to facilitate meetings, be team leaders, manage project timelines and produce professional projects incorporating them into their video portfolios. "Anything that can be done in a news studio can be done right here at the Satellite Center," said Dupont.

"The students that come into this class have already had television production at Destrehan or Hahnville High Schools," said Dupont. “The class period runs for 2 and half hours allowing students to really dig into their projects,” he went on to say.

"Our first major project was for the St. Charles Humane Society. The students worked in groups and interviewed the workers at the animal shelter for a public service announcement. It was a good project because it gave the students a chance to use all the techniques they have learned in class," said Dupont.

"The students also recently did a project at Luling Elementary. Their science lab suffered damage during Katrina. The roof came off. We were approached by teacher, Craig Howard, who was trying kick off some fundraising and write a grant. He wanted the class to do a short video about the science lab and what they want to do in the future. The students interviewed teachers and students, filmed for a couple of days and turned into a past, present, future look at what the science lab provides for students," said Dupont.