[Editors] MIT Editors' Club Minutes, 10/29/03

[Elizabeth Thomson]

MIT EDITORS' CLUB

*Meeting Notes from October 29, 2003*

Did *you* know that we have a broadcast-quality TV studio right here 
on campus? Or that MIT has an in-house video crew that can produce 
broadcast-quality video about neat research in your department? Last 
Wednesday, Editors' Club members learned about these and other 
communications resources available through MIT Video Productions. 
Read on for more about some of these resources.

*Video News Releases*

The News Office has had GREAT success with research videos  produced 
by the MVP. Specifically, these are video news releases that begin 
with a 2-3 minute story about a given piece of research, followed by 
~25 minutes of b-roll, or unedited, footage. That way TV stations can 
cut and paste the b-roll into their "own" stories. Editors' Club 
member Larry Gallagher, head of MVP, mentioned that the VNRs have a 
variety of uses in addition to use by TV. "You  can get a lot of bang 
for your buck with them," he said.

For example, the 2-3 minute stories have been run on the outdoors 
screen before MIT'S graduation ceremony while parents wait for the 
graduates to file in. The footage has also been used by the 
researchers themselves in technical presentations. Send me a note if 
you'd like me to send you a CASE Currents story about how MIT and 
other universities produce and use these video news releases 
(thomson at mit.edu).

Videos created by the MVP have also been used as training videos for 
lab procedures, overviews of a given department as a way to greet 
visitors, and as research documentation.

*In-House TV Studio*

When NBC or another major network calls to arrange an interview with 
one of your experts, that expert is often asked to travel to a studio 
in Watertown where the interview can be conducted and beamed live to 
the network in question. Now you can simply direct the expert down 
the hall (specifically, to the in-house studio in Building 9).

Gallagher noted that the convenience of the facility has persuaded 
several faculty to give interviews that they otherwise might not have 
had the time for (factoring in the drive to Watertown).

Many times, Gallagher said, the MIT studio has been booked on an 
hour's notice (though longer notice is always appreciated!). The man 
to call for using the studio and/or creating video news releases is 
Craig Milanesi. He can be reached at  email: craze at MIT.EDU
      phone: (617) 253-7435.

*Is it Free?*

I'm guessing that by this time the subhead of this section has 
occurred to many of you. And the answer is: of course not, silly 
goose! Seriously, there are fees for these services, but Gallagher 
works hard to keep them reasonable. For example, the MVP charges the 
same rate as the Watertown facility for use of their on-campus 
studio. Further, he's interested in increasing the use of the 
facility, so it's always worth calling him for an estimate. If you 
have any further questions about these and other MVP resources, call 
Larry at email: ldg at MIT.EDU, phone: (617) 253-0544, or visit the MVP 
web site through http://web.mit.edu/amps/about/units.html.

*Thanks Gayle!*
Many thanks to Editors' Club member Gayle Willman, Communications 
Liaison for Academic Media Production Services (AMPS), who organized 
this meeting. The MVP is part of AMPS.


Cheers!

Elizabeth
-- 

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Elizabeth A. Thomson
Assistant Director, Science & Engineering News
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
News Office, Room 11-400
77 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307
617-258-5402 (ph); 617-258-8762 (fax)
<thomson at mit.edu>

<http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www>
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