Students from the College of Communications will produce three webcasts in five days during Homecoming week, including their fifth consecutive webcast of Penn State's annual Homecoming parade -- the largest event of its kind in the nation.
Before the parade, though, students will produce back-to-back, live webcasts of outdoor productions of "Romeo and Juliet" at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, and Wednesday, Oct. 14. The play will be performed by the University Resident Theatre Company on the lawn of the Hintz Family Alumni Center. The webcasts will include interviews with the performers and live backstage footage before the performance.
Naomi McCormack, an assistant professor who leads a class specifically focused on the "Romeo and Juliet" webcast, has assisted with the students' production. Karen Mozley-Bryan, manager of facilities for the College of Communications, will provide technical support for the production.
"The group has attended rehearsals and are all excited about producing the webcast," said McCormack. "Our main challenges with this are the aesthetics and complications of live switching between three cameras in a dramatic production. And, the weather, which hopefully will be lovely but may be cold or wet."
The live webcast of the Homecoming parade will begin at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16. Students from two separate classes taught by Maria Cabrera-Baukus will handle the production. Students in COMM 498B Webcast Production will focus on the parade itself while students in COMM 383 Production Administration will produce a show that takes a behind-the-scenes look at activities in preparation for Homecoming.
"My students are very excited by the fact that their class work goes beyond the walls of the classroom," Cabrera-Baukus said. "This production gives them real-world experience that they really crave and enjoy."
Links to both webcasts may be found on the College of Communications blog (http://psucommblog.blogspot.com), and the parade webcast will be posted on the Homecoming site (http://homecoming.psu.edu) as well.
Other faculty and staff from the College of Communications involved in the parade webcast include: Matt Jackson, an associate professor and head of the Department of Telecommunications, and Chris Maurer, Mozley-Bryan and Mike Zelazny, who will provide technical support.
"The Homecoming parade and the production of 'Romeo and Juliet' both present exciting challenges for our students," Jackson said. "The production crews will have to deal with the added complications of setting up and producing a live event in unpredictable conditions far from the comfort of a control room and studio. This includes dealing with lighting and weather related issues as well as crowd control."
Along with the College of Communications and the Department of Telecommunications, the webcasts involve collaboration and coordination between several other Penn State units, including the School of Theatre, WPSU-TV, the Office of Physical Plant, and Information Technology Services.
"Students get to apply the skills they have learned in their telecommunications courses to produce live events that will be viewed all over the world," Jackson said. "We are happy to provide students with an opportunity to practice their skills and more importantly, to give something back to the community."