By Kim Siebert MacPhail
Ron Cordes, President of the board of Bedford Community Access Television, Inc., addressed the Selectmen on Monday evening regarding the long-planned wiring of the Selectmen’s Meeting Room. The project would enable Bedford TV to broadcast meetings held in that location.
Saying that BCAT Board member John Premack—a professional in the field of video production—had researched and recommended possible courses of action, Cordes presented two options to the Selectmen:
- A single, steady, un-staffed camera that would feed video back to the Bedford TV studio or
- Three cameras in stationary positions in the front and back of the room using field-switches monitored from the studio that would allow for a more varied visual appearance.
Describing how the details of the two options and end products would differ, Cordes said, “With the operator not here and with only one camera to look at, if – let’s say for example that the camera is focused on Mr. Rosenberg—and Mr. Moonan starts talking, the operator in the studio has to guess who’s talking. Where does he go with the camera? Either you hunt around to find out who’s talking or you [keep the same shot]. It’s terrible….Either the viewer gets seasick or you lock it into a wide shot [with only one frame.]”
“That’s why some of these that we can watch from other towns, all you get is this one view of the whole table all night long?” asked Selectman Mike Rosenberg.
“Exactly,” replied Cordes. “It’s awful and it looks terrible. Our production standards are higher than that at BCAT and we’d like to maintain them. We don’t recommend [going the single camera route] but we put it in here because it was an option and because Selectman Moonan asked for a couple of options.”
Cordes added that the microphones would be of the desk-type, “low-profile” variety as opposed to the lapel style ones used by the School Committee.
“Sound in television production is more important than the video,” he said. “People will watch something with lousy video and good sound. If you have good video but lousy sound, they’re going to turn it off.”
Money has been earmarked for this project from Comcast’s payments to the town so no additional funding would be necessary. Cordes estimated that it would cost between $30,000 and $35,000 to accomplish the more elaborate, three-camera option.
Asked how the Cable Television Committee sees this initiative, chair Jim Shea said that the Committee had not weighed in on the matter. However, as an individual, he applauded the move in this direction.
The Selectmen endorsed the plan, saying that Bedford is the last town in the area to broadcast Selectmen’s meetings. Facilities Director Richard Jones has indicated that his staff would do much of the wiring needed in the Town Hall. When asked how long the project would take to complete, Cordes estimated that it could be accomplished in a couple of months.
Loading ...
