Offering students a semester-long opportunity to explore the world of film and media, RedAlert provides a pathway for those aspiring to a future in media.
Television production is the course that produces RedAlert, a collection of videos and live events aired each Friday around the school at 10:49 a.m.
This class provides students with the basic knowledge to create and edit their videos how they want to.
Former television production student Kieran Lucas is an example of what can come from this class.
Lucas was a producer on RedAlert in 2022 and is currently a film major student at Temple University.
Lucas said he enjoyed his time with the class.
“I liked it. It was a lot more fun with friends because the people I was around didn’t take it as seriously as others. I mean it’s kind of like there are a lot of different people in the class making their kind of things,” Lucas said.
For students already thinking about a future in film, the program can benefit them.
According to Classrooms.com, “The best way to prepare for film school is by taking a film class in high school.”
Lucas also found this statement to be true.
“Everyone I’ve known that’s been in it and has done film after in college have said that it helped,” said Lucas.
Television production teacher Brian Ruth outlined the structure of television production classes.
“There are four television production classes that you can take; level one is a prerequisite course and then television production two, where you’re a staffer. In television production three, you’re a producer, and then television production four is for the very exclusive student; there’s one or two who get executive producer,” Ruth said.
With each of these levels room for more responsibility and growth is available as students progress through their high school careers.
When planning each RedAlert show, the team has a weekly schedule.
“On Monday, we usually watch the previous episode, and the students give feedback to each other. We pick jobs for the following week and the students pitch their ideas. Once they write their script, they share it with me making sure that everything looks good school appropriate. And then they can start filming and editing” Ruth said.
RedAlert staffer Sahana George said that this is a very collaborative process. “Sometimes your filming for other people and sometimes other people are filming for you” George said.
The moving parts and different aspects that go into the course allow students to learn different roles in media creation.
For RedAlert staffer Zoe Bass, being floor manager is her favorite part of the experience.
The main aspects she enjoyed were “positioning camera shots” and “counting down for the anchors.”
“We have somebody that runs the teleprompter. We also have a script editor that might have to change something live on the show,” Ruth said.
According to Ruth, some jobs entail more duties than others. “Switching is probably one of the most stressful jobs, because you’re cutting all the live cameras. They edit the show live,” Ruth said.