On a normal day in room 145, SHS students produce news videos for Southport Television.
Script-writing, interviewing and controlling sound quality behind the scenes were a consistent routine since 1991 until the pandemic struck.
Due to the pandemic and its lasting effects, production has slowed down to creating videos a few times a week. Having hybrid days and enforcing social distancing left a strong impact on how videos would be created in the coming years.
This has led Sara Berghoff, executive producer of SPTV, to the decision of rolling back to their 2019, pre-pandemic video-creating format.
“I’m trying to sort of find that happy spot of the things that we have done well, and put them together,” Berghoff said.
Her plan is to create a video every class period instead of only creating one video throughout the week, as they did in the past.
Berghoff believes that changing their routine will help students better gain skills needed for the Pathways Program SHS has, and it will also give them the sense of urgency to be more efficient with meeting deadlines.
Senior Kenneth Foxworthy appreciates Berghoff’s efforts in creating a fun atmosphere but also maintaining seriousness.
“I like to have people enjoy watching the announcements instead of it just being boring stuff,” Foxworthy said.
However, he feels that he got distracted while trying to have fun and lost a lot of responsibility before.
Not only has Berghoff made efforts into emphasizing responsibility, but she’s also decided to change up their production routine.
They’ve begun this transition by producing shows on Wednesdays and Fridays.“On Mondays, we go back and watch the previous week’s show and critique it and then (we) figure out what needs to happen to take it up a notch next week,” Berghoff said.
While restoring old ideas, they also want to incorporate new ones.
Berghoff mentioned that she would like to put together a Monday show where her second year students can film newsmagazine-styled segments.
With this new style, videos will contain fewer announcements and more stories.
“The goal is to be able to do some more in-depth stuff and fun stuff in addition to the regular announcements, which is the role of the show,” Berghoff said.
