A look behind the scenes of the Pennridge Daily Ramble

The Daily Ramble appears to be a simple five-minute video for students to receive announcements, but there are hours of work that go into each episode. The students enrolled in this course are determined to work hard to include creative features and guests, making every episode fun. The process of filming and editing does not happen in one school period, as one may think. Students must come prepared, whether they are on the cast or in the booth, and all editing takes place outside of the classroom. 

Before any of the behind the scenes magic can take place, students must learn how to operate the technology used to film and edit. In the beginning of the year, students are taught how to control the cameras, software, teleprompter, soundboard, graphics computer, and tricaster. It is important that students feel comfortable with the equipment; as the responsibility of each person, cast member or in the booth, contributes to the final product of the Daily Ramble. While most of the equipment is manageable to learn, students claim that the tricaster is the most stressful position to be in while filming. The tricaster controls which cameras are seen, and it tends to take students several class periods to learn how to operate it. Even after months of filming, the students are still learning and will continue to grow throughout the year; as there is always something new to learn in this course. 

The production of the show begins a day in advance as Mr. Friedman, the Media Production teacher, assigns students roles and writes the script. Students spend time prior to class looking over their script and preparing to film. The script contains announcements from the main office, and an introduction which is composed of weather and the lunch of the day. Students are encouraged to let their creativity flow as they write their own introduction! This creates variation among the normal announcements. 

The next step is to physically prepare for filming. Mr. Friedman spends time during his preparation periods to set up cameras and other technical equipment. Once the students get to their class, they begin putting microphones on one another. Each student in the cast has their own microphone which gets cleaned after each use. Once all students are in their positions, a sound check takes place. Filming is not a fast process, and the majority of the time, it takes multiple runs to ensure everything is perfect. As the students in the cast are working on their presentation skills and reading from the teleprompter, the students in the booth are allowing for everything to run smoothly. 

It takes about nine people to produce each episode; this is composed of roughly four cast members, four booth members, and one studio director. In the booth, there is a student on the teleprompter, soundboard, graphics computer, and tricaster. At the end of filming, the group takes a photo to be used as the thumbnail which is posted to the team’s YouTube and Instagram.  Mr. Friedman and Tim Grindle, the head student producer, are responsible for breaking down the set. This consists of turning off cameras, lights, and cleaning materials and microphones. Lastly, students will work on editing at home, which can also be a timely procedure. During special episodes when features or guests take place, Tim Grindle explained that editing can take up to three to four hours. 

The final product which is presented to students, staff, and others in the Pennridge community is well worth the effort put into the production. The detailed graphics and smooth transitions do not come as easy as they appear to on screen. Tim Grindle emphasized the importance of switching scenes up for originality and stated, “A lot of kids see it as the same thing over and over, but the editing aspect of it gets overlooked, along with the creativity put into intros.” The students involved in this course are doing far more than most would expect and Maya Valletta, senior in Media Production, claimed, “I didn’t realize how many steps and people need to be working to get an episode out.” Next time you’re watching the Daily Ramble, be on the lookout for skilled editing techniques and appreciate the smiling students on the screen for all that they do to reach the community!