Using Wirecast For High School News and Live Productions
By Jamie G
Schools were forced to close their doors in March until the end of the school year due to the pandemic and questions are still up in the air of what the upcoming school year will be like. Rocklin, California’s Whitney High School’s broadcast media class faced new challenges during these times of remote learning. With remote learning in place, Ben Barnholdt’s broadcast media class at Whitney had to find a way to still communicate with their classmates.
The broadcast media team at Whitney is preparing for the upcoming fall school year and preparing for any challenges they might be facing. Even if school is open, there will be staggered schedules, which will make it hard to produce their daily show, Unleashed. School sports games might be taking place but will an audience be allowed to sit and watch? The broadcast team has to deliver the best possible experience for their remote viewers.
The broadcast media team uses a variety of equipment to produce their award-winning daily show. Telestream Wirecast has been a key factor in their studio.
“The studio cameras are switched by a Black Magic ATEM switcher, while NewBlue Titler Live is used to supply lower thirds and other title sequences. Telestream’s ScreenFlow software is used to capture social media contributions from students which feature prominently in the program. All of these sources are fed into Telestream Wirecast, some of it live over the network via NDI, where it is then recorded to disk for a slightly delayed broadcast. Wirecast is also used to key green screen content for the weather segment.”
eSchool News
“Wirecast is the hub of the operation. The school’s Broadcast Media teacher. “Not only does it bring all the elements together, it also encodes the final output and delivers it to ESE Networks, our hosting service provider.”
Ben Barnholdt
Whitney’s broadcast media class tried to make the Unleashed show look and feel live during their first remote show. Students were faced with a new challenge of broadcasting from their room. With preparation for the fall semester, students will be able to do the whole show live remotely, according to Barnholdt. He has confidence in his students.
“I have no doubt that the students will rise to the challenge of remote production should the need arrive again. They’re very ambitious and they genuinely like knocking down roadblocks as they appear. For them, Zoom will just be an additional camera input. They’ll concentrate on getting a consistent look and feel with the equipment they have available at home while also confronting issues with camera position, lighting, color balance, and more.”
Ben Barnholdt
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