By CONOR SHEA
Features Editor
If you’re a communications major (regardless of concentration) chances are you’ve now entered the unofficial “filming season.” Courses such as COM 217, 420, 319, and 417 all have assignments in their curriculum that require students to complete a project using specific technical equipment. The most common of those assignments is to film video project, and those generally fall into the same period of time across all of the courses.
While for students that might mean hours of shooting, editing, and rendering footage, what often goes overlooked is the process of getting the equipment to the students in order to complete such assignments. And there we find the unsung hero of the whole process, senior communications major Brendan Tenan. His official title is the video production and TV studio assistant, and he’s the man behind the curtain working hard to make sure students are receiving the equipment they requested.
The College of Saint Rose’s communications program is ahead of many others in their availability of technical equipment for student rental. Materials available for rental include HD video cameras, tripods, microphones, batteries, and cables. Such equipment can only be used for 24 hours at a time (except in special cases with prior approval granted by the respective professor). Few colleges have the quality of equipment that Saint Rose does, and even fewer let students rent the gear whenever it’s available. This is something that communications students are reminded of on the gear reservation website. On the site prices of each item rentable are listed to give an idea of what it would cost for students to replace them. The JVC 100 (an HD video camera) is currently listed as $3200 on site and that isn’t even the highest quality camera available.
However, while Saint Rose may have a considerable amount of equipment, they do not have enough for every single student in the communications program.
“Between the three sections of COM 217 and the Broadcast Journalism class (COM 420) I easily have about sixty students who could be sending in a gear request to use one of the twenty-two JVC 100 or 150’s at any time,” says Tenan who bears the sole responsibility of juggling all of those requests. For that reason students are encouraged not to “wing it” on the day of filming, and rather have a plan to stick to. Allowing enough time to shoot footage, review for errors, and re-shoot can ease stress on the students, as well as Tenan.
“The last two or three weeks have been especially busy. I’ve easily logged about 12-15 hours per week during that time, maybe even more,” he says. While 12 to 15 hours might seem manageable, what is often overlooked is the varying nature of Tenan’s position. Unlike a traditional part time job, his position is entirely dependent on the whims and schedules of others. When a student has to reshoot footage a few days before it the assignment is due Tenan now has work to do as well, getting that gear available regardless of prior commitments.
“It was a little hectic, we didn’t have much time to get the work done so there was a big push to reserve cameras,” said John Lantz, a junior communications major currently enrolled in COM 217. “It was tough because after sending an email with no response I didn’t know if I had sent it to the wrong address, or they had just forgot about me” he said. Lantz was submitting a request for a JVC 100 video camera a few days before the footage was due to his instructor Professor Paul Conti. He did eventually receive his requested gear despite the initial doubts, and was able to film for the assignment.
While requests do not typically fall by the wayside, the time between a submission and a response may vary depending on the number of total requests, and how soon the equipment is needed.
“It’s important for students to remember that just because they send in a gear request form, it does not guarantee that they will get the camera. There are certain criteria that must be met…for one thing, students should give me at least 48 hours advance notice when they’re submitting the requests.” said Tenan.
It’s easy to become frustrated with the individual behind the curtain, especially when it might appear as though they are the reason for being unable to complete an assignment. However, it is important to remember that any stress that falls on a student, falls on Tenan as well, and as such it is in his best interest to get your requested equipment to you as soon as possible.
It’s easy to distance yourself when all you have is an email from an unknown student, and a package ready for pickup in the TV studio. So the next time you get your equipment in a timely manner, consider thinking of or thanking Tenan. It’s quite possible that because so much of his work occurs behind the scenes students might begin to feel they are guaranteed the equipment. In the future if a communications student is having difficulty acquiring requested equipment, try to remember the process that goes into that rental and understand that Tenan, as well as the entire communications department, is on your side.
