Meanwhile, the WNDU-TV News Departmentwas about to convert entirely to electronic news gathering - 3/4" videotapecassettes would replace 16mm film, and the station's film processor was destined for salvage.This meant that BOC could no longer steal film from News forour trusty Bolex and piggy back the exposed film onto WNDU news film forprocessing.But BOC managed to con the news department out of an old field camera,a portable VTR and some batteries and so formed a summer company. Our Bolex - which had produced some of the most memorable productions in the show's history - was history itself, but the portable electronic equipment had given us another shot.
The show, it seemed, would go on.
It wouldn't be easy. As the old facility in the shadow of the Notre Dame library was packing up and station personel anticipated the move to the brand-new studio complex across campus, department heads from the station met and decided that BOC would not be allowed to do anyproduction in the new building. The station's investment in new equipment needed to be protected, itwas argued. The transition to the new studios would be difficult enough, andBOC's possible disruptions to those operations was not worth the risk. The show itself was not cancelled;we just had no way to produce it anymore. It was suggested we do something else with our airtime: "...like a sort of current events program; your single set of field equipment could still produce a "nice" show about what's going on in area schools."
Sure.
From the ashes
No Bolex - but we built a solution with a used field camera, recorder, and batteries.
No studio - but could we build our own?
Equipment that was obsolete for WNDU came together to build something that just might work: a Control Room with switcher/keyer, an audio console, preview and air monitors, a VTR, a time basecorrector and a b&w title camera. A studio with two video cameras,two tripods with dollies, 3 choker mics, 2 desk mics, a boom mic, floormonitor, a communication system, studio lights with stands and an assortmentof flats. For Editing - two video tape machines,two monitors and a controller.For Location shooting - the originalfield camera, two portable VTRs, field monitor, battery packs and a batterycharger.
On paper, it could work.
In the midstof our summer projects, we took a handfull of veterans into the JA centeron South Michigan and, with the help of an engineer from WNDU, put togethera control room and studio. We performed and recorded a practice bit andit did work - so we recruited the '82-'83 company that September.
Our first year was entirely producedin that horrible little building with glass walls, low ceilings and anugly, shag carpeted floor that made trucking and dollying impossible. Theonly plus was a variety of rooms and offices that we used without benefitof permission. (This worked fine until someone discovered the JA director'sliquor cabinet and I noticed that some props were looking too real.)
During our second season on our own,JA sold the Michigan Street building and moved to the second floor of theSouth Bend YMCA. This was great for us because the social hall made fora large studio with a good floor, high ceilings and far better accoustics.An adjacent storage room made an adequate control room, our weekly meetingroom became a green room and prop storage center and we were given a small,private room that would be our editing room. We worked here for the remaninigseason and for the '85 and '86 seasons.
JA pulls the plug
In 1986, Junior Achievement abandonedits high school, junior company program in favor of a middle school, inclassroom approach to teaching busines and this was all WNDU managementneeded to bail out of its sponsorship of a TV company. And it was over. As to field production versus film- well, we certainly missed the beauty of film but there are obvious benefitsto video field recording. Being able to preview what you were shootingso that "what you see is what you get" was a big plus. Being able to practicallyrecord a scene in a variety of ways was another. There were no more sessionsgoing down the tube because film was messed up in a vat of bad chemicals.And, of course, being able to record sound on location eliminated longand sometimes horrendous sound-tracking sessions. We did several largescale on location bits, Robin Hood being the most ambitious. Shot oversix months in literally dozens of locations ranging from a complete villageconstructed on a huge Grape Road farm to a sword fight on the grand staircaseof the Morris Civic Auditorium, it was an elaborate, well costumed spectacularthat could hold its own against Hercules and Tarzan. And it was a lot offun.
