specifically River Dell’s long-standing comedy sketch show: This Week in River Dell, more commonly known as TWIRD.
This channel is run and produced by the students in the media department. But how do they do this?
For each video and segment made, they complete the pre-production phase. This is the organizational phase, in which the students plan out their entire process before they even pick up a camera.
During pre-production, the students will come up with their video ideas, create a plot for their segments, storyboard, make a shot list, and a schedule to ensure that their project is on the right track.
Once the pre-production phase is completed, the students can move onto production which is when the project is filmed. Students film both in school and out of school depending on their project. Furthermore, they use high-quality equipment, like DSLR T5i-Canon, ring lights, tripods, the studio and even a green screen if needed.
After they collect their clips, they use Adobe’s editing software Premier Pro, an industry standard, to edit. Using several special skills, tricks, and even more advanced software, the students are often able to put special effects into the videos, truly enhancing their projects. Ava Gutierrez-Biggar, a current TWIRD student, says that her favorite phase is editing in post-production “Pre-production and production are super important, but I would rather edit. When you do the other two well, editing truly brings your project together and it is amazing to see the project in its entirety.”
This school year, our students have already posted nine videos. In addition to TWIRD many of these videos have been part of a new series called Roaming River Dell which began two years ago by River Dell alum, Ian Kaplan.
The students also post special episodes for holidays, like the Halloween and Thanksgiving specials. This program is very memorable, with many former students coming back to help occasionally and give advice, like Netflix star Trey Plutnicki.
Currently, the television students are working on the Halloween special which is always one of the most viewed segments of the year. The 2018 Halloween special has been watched over a thousand times. With each new iteration, the students attempt to outdo the last year’s entry. Last year TWIRD produced the nineteen-long minute who-dunnit “Dinner Will be Served Shortly.”
Regarding the Halloween special, Gutierrez-Biggar announced “It’s going to be insane, trust me. There will be a few different segments this time around, so it will never have been done before.”
