Branksome Hall Asia Partners with KCTV to Launch Broadcasting Channel

On the island of Jeju, South Korea, the Branksome Hall Asia (BHA) Film Department, in collaboration with Jeju’s KCTV station, is creating a student-led cable channel. A small, dedicated group of students has been producing a weekly news and variety show under my guidance for the past two years. The show was created from scratch as a vehicle to provide school bulletins and news. As the school has grown, so has the show. The school now produces a weekly 15- to 20-minute school news and variety show. Called BranksomeTV (BTV), the program is run by me, DP Film teacher at BHA, with the help of about twenty dedicated BHA students.

As Sueshin Moon, BTV’s first student Director and BHA student states, “BTV is an academic and delightful show that represents BHA. As the first BTV Director, I have noticed how BTV had grown for the past two years. Not only did it grow in numbers but it also flourished in content. BTV is unique because each segment is run by a group of students. We have both educational and entertaining segments, such as BHA Dialogue and Branksome Fun Facts, that are targeted to the whole BHA community.”

As the show has grown, so has our relationship with KCTV. We have been in talks with KCTV, Jeju’s local news channel, for the past two years and we now have the infrastructure in place to start a broadcasting channel. It will be called Branksome Network and will be braodcast on channel 567 on the KCTV Jeju cable network.

This new channel will create great learning opportunities in BHA’s afterschool CASE program (Creativity, Action, Service, & Enrichment). Within the framework of the CASE program, modeled after the DP CAS program, students produce segments for BTV, create their own moving titles using Adobe After Effects and edit their segments using Adobe Premiere.

Students such as BHA Dialogue producer, Linnea Bidder, drive show’s content. “I help brainstorm ideas for segments, organize interviews, and film new, engaging, and informative segments about the Branksome community.”

We also have a Film Academy group that will create short movies for the channel. Next year, the DP Film students will have the opportunity to broadcast their student films on the dedicated channel.

We are currently in Phase 1 of the project, setting up the basic infrastructure to broadcast from BHA. We use an HD SDI Optical Transmitter to send the signal to KCTV. For now, our transmission is limited to 1080P, but KCTV is planning to upgrade to 4K in a year or so, and when they do we will upgrade to 4K as well.

As the channel matures and our collaboration with KCTV grows, students will have the opportunity to intern at KCTV and shadow the channel’s producers and directors. Students will also have the opportunity to volunteer and help local communities that have their own broadcasting stations throughout Jeju island. Once these internship and educational programs are in place, BHA students can use them to meet the Creativity, Action, and Service requirements of the DP CAS program.

This fall, we will move into Phase 2 of the project, at which point we will live broadcast the events that take place in our auditorium. This includes assemblies, theater productions, concerts, graduations and the BHA Speaker Series. This is yet another great opportunity for students to learn about live broadcasting and provides training for any students interested in pursuing broadcasting at University. “Helping out with the livestream events is a great responsibility, since we are representing our school’s identity and we are responsible for showing every event our school does,” says Suhwoo Jung, student leader of Control Room Academy.

Under my supervision, BHA’s Control Room Academy will be in charge of broadcasting live events. It is exciting to see the students grow into their new leadership roles and take on more responsibility. As Yehsom Jung, a Grade 12 student in Control Room Academy puts it, “It is very exciting to be a part of live broadcasting. In the past, I have worked on live streaming school events, like graduation and assemblies. Being involved in live broadcasts will put more pressure on the Control Room Academy team, but I think we will be able to overcome that pressure and help each other to make the best live broadcasting possible!”

It is also exciting for me to put my knowledge of live broadcasting to use in a school setting. This reminds me of my university days when I used to work in the control room of Arizona State University, broadcasting the ASU Sun Devil and the Arizona Cardinals football games. l

Jose Zarate is a DP Film teacher at Branksome Hall Asia International School for Girls.

---

Please fill out the form below if you would like to post a comment on this article:

Nickname

(this will appear with your comments)

Email

Comments

---

Comments

There are currently no comments posted. Please post one via the form above.

MORE FROM

FEATURED ARTICLES