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Vol. 13, No.4. June 1997
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asstc Townsend Harris High School.at Queens College
149-11 Melbourne Avenue. Flushing, NY 11367
Broadcasting studio ready, waiting to go by Natalka Palczynski Lights! Cameras! But where's the Action! Everything needed to produce a television or radio broadcast lies within room 514 - a studio featuring more than $200,000 worth of top of the . line equipment. After a year of gradual installation, ACE Audio I Visual Company completed the studio on May 21. The studio features "the type [of equipment] you would encounter in · a small broadcasting studio. In fact if you learned how to use most of the equipment, the studio would be a good stepping stone for a career in radio and television production," said John Stevens of ·ACE Audio I Visual. The studio is divided into five basic rooms : the video control room, the audio control room, ~he simple edit room, the special edit room, and the broadcasting room . The Broadcasting .Room The broadcasting room is where an in-house production might take place. There are large powerful studio lights suspend.e d from the ceiling. Studio lights are similar to .stage lights except for the fact that they aren't as hot. They are specially designed to supplement natural light and get rid of shadows in order for the cameras to obtain a clear image~ They also help elimingte the two dimensionality that poor lighting produces on screen. Two Panasonic cam-
eras ranging from $6,000 to $10,000 apiece also occupy this room. During a live production the two cameras can be
can communicate with the camera operators by headsets. In this room one can 'perform special effects, wipes, and dis-
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The audie control room is located just to the right of the video control
The· studio's broadcasting equipment, all dressed up with no place to go, sits idly gathering dust_
used interchangeably s0 that different angle·s may be filmed. The Video Control Room The video· control roem controls the production occurring within the broadcasting room. People in the control room
age seems to "wipe" off the other from the screen" (634). There are two television monitors. One is the preview monitor. It enaqles you to see the effect before it is actually put on the air. The second is the program monitor which shows the final image. Arranged on a , desk in front of the window that looks into the broadcasting room is an audio - console. An audio console has a lot of _knobs and buttons that enable the user to control the volume and other tech- · nicalities of sound that arrive from the broadcasting room such as tone, pitch, and levels of sound. All the audio is fed into the console so that sounds can be mixed. In addition, there are four microphones attached and an outlet for an addition such as a tape deck. There are two CD players, one minidisk recorder I player, and one cassette tape player. Eight different tracks of audio can be played. The Audio Control R.oom
solves. In the Television Production Handbook, Herbert Zettl describes a dissolve as "a gradual transiti_on from shot to shot, in which the two images temporarily overlap" (618). He defines a wipe as "a transition in which one im-
room. It holds the. possibility for a live broadcast on a radio station. The room also allows you to do voice overs (the sound placed on tape after the desired image is selected). There is a program monitor in this room as well, along with -
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Link to Internet provided through-Queens College by Beth Citron The opportunity to create Internet home pages, do research, and send email will soon be available to students through a newly connected Internet cable. This cable links Townsend Harris' computer network to the Internet _through the New Science Building at Queens College. However, additional funds are necessary to purchase connector receivers, which are repeaters that allow you to use regular copper telephone wires to extend their distance limit. Without the repeaters, copper wires have a limit of 100 meters. Although the access to the Internet is not available yet, the cable had been installed previously for use by the School Construction Authority when the
new building was under construction. According to Richard Tiffen, Technology Coordinator, the cable was l!sed by the SCA office, so that the workers had access to telephone lines. They diconnected it when they left, but left it tied to a light pole, which meant it could be reconnected. When plans were being made for the new building, Harry Rattien, Assistant Principal of Mathematics, and Mr. Tlffen knew that the school would want to be connected to the Internet. However, Townsend Harris does not have a commercial account for Internet access .. "Since Queens College is connected through a commercial provider, we asked if we could be part of it," Mr. Tiffeh said. According to Mr. Tiffen, "The Col-
Chocolate: 'Food of gods' · Page 7 ·-
Once the money is raised, "the first lege Academic Computer Center staff has been very helpful and receptive to improvement will be to enable ourfuncour needs." Joseph Gong, parent of jun- tioning Pegasus mail system to send and ior Evelyn Gong, was also instrumental receive Internet mail," explained Mr. in connecting the cable. When Tiffen. At first, "staff will have access _Townsend Harris decided to put in a to it, and later students will also be able phone line to connect Townsend Harris' to use the Internet." However, "students computer network with Queens would have to be accountable for what College's, Mr. Gong realized that the they do online," he said, referring to the SCA's .cable was already in existence ease with which one can get access to and he strung it across to Townsend Har- inappropriate material. To prevent this, ns. the school will have to buy a Proxy _ Until $3,000 is raised to buy the con- server, which controls Internet access . nector receivers, the cable cannot be . I:Ie said that "students will have to .sign used. Malcolm Largmann, principal, a release of accountability" before' behas requested help from the alumni, ing allowed to go online. whose contributions have already had a "It's really exciting that afte~: over substantial impact on the school's com- two years in this building, our world can puter programs. "We're so close," added finally be connected to the outside Mr. Tiffen. world," Mr. Rattien said. '
· Sexual Activity of Harrisites Pages 8-9
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Equestrian looks ~awards Olympics Page 14
Girls' Soccer " Page 16