This summer, the Loyola Broadcasting Club purchased $25,000 worth of new audio and visual equipment to film and live stream all home football games this fall. The club plans to open up to broadcasting basketball games this winter and possibly other schoolwide events later in the year, according to club president junior Nick Kohler.
“The main piece of equipment we got is a Newtek TriCaster 410, which has a switcher that takes the video and audio feed from four different cameras and connects all of it to the internet,” said Mr. Lance Ochsner, the technical director of the club. Kohler added, “Anyone can stream the camera footage live online.”
Head cameraman junior John Lehne commented on some of the new equipment and its features: “We bought three new cameras, including one that rotates remotely around itself. The cameras have great zooming ability, and they pick up the same quality of sound as professional grade cameras.” The zooming ability shows the individual perspective and effort of each player on the field, according to Kohler.
At the first home football game of the year on Friday, Sept. 4, against Highland High School, the Broadcasting Club had four cameramen filming from four different places and were instructed by Mr. Ochsner and Kohler the exact angles to capture . Executive producer junior Chris Roy said, “The cameramen could coordinate with Nick [Kohler] and Mr. Ochsner, who were in the headquarters tent, through new headsets. All of the cameramen were told what they were supposed to shoot, so the online broadcast could be perfect.”
According to Mr. Ochsner, the club was supported financially through a grant by the Loyola Advancement Department. Lehne explained, “It’s a big step up from the iPads we used to film last year.” Mr. Andrew Uy, the club moderator, added, “We still use the system Livestream to broadcast, but we keep improving by using the new equipment. We hope to broadcast the daily announcements once to twice a week in the future.”
Mr. Uy and Mr. Ochsner plan to expand the usage of the TriCaster to the live broadcasting of basketball games in the winter. He would also like to use it for other school events such as the spirit week car bash as well as in-class projects that could all be streamed live on the Loyola website.
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