University of Houston Student Video Network
Encyclopedia
The Student Video Network or SVN is a Student television station
at the University of Houston
. Founded in 1974, it is one of several fee-funded organizations on campus, and broadcasts through Channel
6 on the University of Houston's Cougar Vision cable network.
. In 1985, KUHT reclaimed the building and the student operated television station was shut down. Several members of that organization decided to pull resources together and create their own student operated video network on campus. They decided to work under Campus Activities to increase the chance of survival. In the early 1990s students were able to come to the Student Video Network and create their own productions that were then aired on a closed-circuit television
station that students who lived on campus could watch.
Student Video Network started to come to prominence on campus during the mid 90's, beginning under the leadership of Eden S. Blair who served as Chair from 1993 - 1995. Purchasing an AVID editing machine before the Communications Department meant SVN became a training ground for students who wanted to learn how to edit using industry standard equipment.
Blair opted not to go for a third year as Chair and was followed by Nicole Redo for the 1995 - 1996 school year. Redo continued the relationship with the Dean of Students office maintaining the UH News program. She also expanded SVN's community involvement by televising a live debate between candidates for Student Association President and allowing parties to air commercials.
In 2001, Tropical Storm Allison
flooded out the entire studio, damaging equipment, software, and SVN's facilities beyond repair. In 2003, University of Houston's Campus Activities decided to restart the program, only playing new video releases with the future intent of bringing back student productions.
In 2006, Gus Forward, a Business Administration undergrad, worked with Campus Activities advisor's as the first President of the organization to allow students to work on original productions and increase the amount of equipment used.
In the summer of 2007, Gus Forward stepped down and Tommy Lee Kirby, a Media Productions undergrad, took over and worked on increasing operating space and obtaining new video equipment. Also during Tommy’s time came the Outdoor Movie Festival started by commercial director Jeremy Malhotra. This event showcased recent and new movies and was run annually during the school year.
At the beginning of the 2008, Luis Gonzales assumed the position of President of SVN after being the Vice President under Tommy Lee Kirby. Under Luis’ tenure as President, he started up a production checklist for producers. His Vice President, Cole Calza, worked with the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication. This strengthened the relationship between SVN and the school.
Then in October of 2009, when Luis resigned from his post, Viral Bhakta became the new President of SVN. He increased the educational and production aspect of the organization for members and University of Houston students. For example he established weekly production classes along with various production form and pre production to post production guidelines. With this came the opportunity for producers to attain marketing and props for their show. Viral also came up with the idea for an application process if students or members wanted to become part of the SVN executive board.
In 2010, Viral was reselected to serve as the SVN President for another year. Also joining the SVN team was Ali Iqbal, who is an owner and photographer at his company (Color Digital Studios), as SVNs Production Manager. Viral established a relationship with movie marketing companies such as Allied Integrated Marketing and Moroch Marketing. Recently, SVN became part of the social media world with a new Facebook
and a Twitter
account. Our Vice President, Roman Perez, has fully established an Internship program for members and students that will be in use at the end of the Spring 2010 semester.
Student Video Network continues with its annual Outdoor Movie Festival which two showings yearly.
SVN offers various production forms to help students have a guideline from the very beginning of production to broadcasting the final product.
Once the taping and editing is done for the show, it will be put in the line up and is ready to be shown. (In Spring 2010, SVN has added three shows to its lineup.)
The SVN Studio contains
Equipment List
Control Room (Post Production)
The SVN Control Room contains
Imacs Contain multiple editing software including Final Cut Pro
and Adobe Production Premier CS5
“This IS” is a free-style movie special, where the two hosts (and an occasional guest host) break down their opinions of the movie undergoing a review. The two hosts will introduce themselves and begin the review with a quick synopsis of the film, not including spoilers. After the synopsis, the film will be broken down in the different categories it will be graded on (direction, acting, cinematography, plot/screenwriting, presentation) and every host will be given the "spotlight" where they will each provide their opinions and input with no interruptions from the other hosts.
In the Game (NEW)
“In the Game” is a 30 minute sports news show that goes beyond the stands and gives cougar sport fans everything they want to know about their favorite cougar athletes. We highlight the most talked about games on campus, and obtain up close and personal interviews with U of H‘s favorite athletes. Coogs, don’t just sit there, Get IN THE GAME!
For The Love of Food (NEW)
“For The Love of Food” brings cougars an overview of famous restaurants and good dining places in town. It is shot entirely on location and includes reviews of the items on the menu, interviews with the chefs, and a little behind the scenes sneak peek of the restaurant.
The Underground
Unique and new artists are interviewed and perform their original music on a candid set. The show allows open discussion. Hosted by seasoned radio talent & promotions manager, Sid Simone, who is emerged into all genres of music, "The Underground" is a rising artist's dream. Sid coaches the interviewee, and highlights the artists while maintaining entertainment and professionalism. Watch your head - follow me to "The Underground."
Cougar Comedy is the only program of its kind on SVN. The program showcases the performances of the professional comedians Student Program Board invites to perform at the university every semester. Along with footage of the live shows, Cougar Comedy includes on-screen comedian interviews conducted by Edward Garza.
The Good Stuff
Good Stuff is a variety cooking show hosted by Shon Mondragon. It includes creative but simple cooking recipes by Shon to cook delicious meals fast. It is a must watch for cougars living on campus or independently off-campus who have to get hands on in the amazing and diverse world of cooking on a daily basis. So, buckle up and follow us on a creative route to deliciousness!
Intuition
“Intuition” is a talk and variety show modeled very much after the popular morning show, “The View.” A cast of four hosts discuss/debate an array of relevant topics ranging from pop culture to politics to issues around the University of Houston campus. Perhaps what makes “Intuition” unique is the enormous potential for UH students to interact with show through segments that specifically seek out the opinions of random students/faculty around campus and organizations as well.
Other Programs
SVN has an exclusive contract with SWANK Motion Pictures, Inc., which allows use to show new and old movies on our station.
Marketing/Props Request Form
This form allows producer to receive marketing or props for their show, but can only be utilized after specific requirements are met.
Commercial Request Form
Allows student organizations to request a commercial. Has example of storyboards and scripts attached that should help students significantly. Primarily handled by the by the Commercial Producer and overseen by Production Manager
Event Coverage Form
Allows student organizations to get events filmed or photographed by SVN. Primarily handled by the Special Events Director and overseen by Production Manager.
SVN has had the opportunity to interview different celebrities. Recently SVN held a Terriers (TV series)
viewing event which was hosted by stars of the show Donal Logue
and Michael Raymond-James
.
Student television station
A student television station is a television station run by university, high or middle school students that primarily airs school/university news and in many cases, student-produced soap operas, entertainment shows, and other programming....
at the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
. Founded in 1974, it is one of several fee-funded organizations on campus, and broadcasts through Channel
Television channel
A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...
6 on the University of Houston's Cougar Vision cable network.
Station History
SVN began broadcasting in 1974 from one of the former facilities for Houston PBS member station KUHTKUHT
-Technical firsts:The station is also noted in Houston for many technical firsts at the local level. In 1981, KUHT became Houston's first closed captioned television station, and ten years later, in 1991, it became the first station in Houston to offer Descriptive Video Service , and other services...
. In 1985, KUHT reclaimed the building and the student operated television station was shut down. Several members of that organization decided to pull resources together and create their own student operated video network on campus. They decided to work under Campus Activities to increase the chance of survival. In the early 1990s students were able to come to the Student Video Network and create their own productions that were then aired on a closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television
Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....
station that students who lived on campus could watch.
Student Video Network started to come to prominence on campus during the mid 90's, beginning under the leadership of Eden S. Blair who served as Chair from 1993 - 1995. Purchasing an AVID editing machine before the Communications Department meant SVN became a training ground for students who wanted to learn how to edit using industry standard equipment.
Blair opted not to go for a third year as Chair and was followed by Nicole Redo for the 1995 - 1996 school year. Redo continued the relationship with the Dean of Students office maintaining the UH News program. She also expanded SVN's community involvement by televising a live debate between candidates for Student Association President and allowing parties to air commercials.
In 2001, Tropical Storm Allison
Tropical Storm Allison
Tropical Storm Allison was a tropical storm that devastated southeast Texas in June of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. The first storm of the season, Allison lasted an unusually long period of time for a June storm, remaining tropical or subtropical for 15 days...
flooded out the entire studio, damaging equipment, software, and SVN's facilities beyond repair. In 2003, University of Houston's Campus Activities decided to restart the program, only playing new video releases with the future intent of bringing back student productions.
In 2006, Gus Forward, a Business Administration undergrad, worked with Campus Activities advisor's as the first President of the organization to allow students to work on original productions and increase the amount of equipment used.
In the summer of 2007, Gus Forward stepped down and Tommy Lee Kirby, a Media Productions undergrad, took over and worked on increasing operating space and obtaining new video equipment. Also during Tommy’s time came the Outdoor Movie Festival started by commercial director Jeremy Malhotra. This event showcased recent and new movies and was run annually during the school year.
At the beginning of the 2008, Luis Gonzales assumed the position of President of SVN after being the Vice President under Tommy Lee Kirby. Under Luis’ tenure as President, he started up a production checklist for producers. His Vice President, Cole Calza, worked with the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication. This strengthened the relationship between SVN and the school.
Then in October of 2009, when Luis resigned from his post, Viral Bhakta became the new President of SVN. He increased the educational and production aspect of the organization for members and University of Houston students. For example he established weekly production classes along with various production form and pre production to post production guidelines. With this came the opportunity for producers to attain marketing and props for their show. Viral also came up with the idea for an application process if students or members wanted to become part of the SVN executive board.
In 2010, Viral was reselected to serve as the SVN President for another year. Also joining the SVN team was Ali Iqbal, who is an owner and photographer at his company (Color Digital Studios), as SVNs Production Manager. Viral established a relationship with movie marketing companies such as Allied Integrated Marketing and Moroch Marketing. Recently, SVN became part of the social media world with a new Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and a Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account. Our Vice President, Roman Perez, has fully established an Internship program for members and students that will be in use at the end of the Spring 2010 semester.
Student Video Network continues with its annual Outdoor Movie Festival which two showings yearly.
Productions
Students must submit a production proposal form for their idea to be reviewed. If approved, students utilize the SVN studio to tape their show or use the equipment to tape out of the studio. They use the Control room for the postproduction of their show or commercial to finish their project. Shows taped in studio are linearly taped to Final Cut Pro to be edited. Out of studio shows are non-linearly taped on to Mini DV tapes.SVN offers various production forms to help students have a guideline from the very beginning of production to broadcasting the final product.
Production Process
- Production Guidelines
- This guideline helps outline deadlines for specific for document, copyrights, censorship, producer policies, and management during pre-production to post-production. Simply a Producer’s Bible for productions. (add content- purpose, pp what is, how, why)
- Production Proposal
- This form will serve to help students propose a TV show (SVN Original Programming) that they would like to create on SVN. The document contains examples that should help students significantly. (formal proposal meeting, what happens)
- Production Packet
- This form helps producers stay organized during the creation of each episode. Includes forms such as:
-
-
- Photo Release Form – University required form, required when any digital photo or video media is taken.
-
-
-
- Location Release Form – Allows producer to secure a filming location.
-
-
-
- Studio Reservation Form - Allows producer to reserve the SVN studio.
-
-
-
- Equipment Check-Out Form - Allows producers and experienced members to check out equipment. Successfully completed production classes required.
-
-
-
- Broadcast Release Form – Allows producers to receive confirmation when show is being input into broadcasting software.
-
Once the taping and editing is done for the show, it will be put in the line up and is ready to be shown. (In Spring 2010, SVN has added three shows to its lineup.)
Facilities
SVN StudioThe SVN Studio contains
Equipment List
| 3x Canon XL-2 Cameras | Ix Canon D60 | Ix Sony HD Handy Cam |
| 1x Glide 4000 Pro | 2x Smith Victor (SV) Soft Boxes | 3x Smith Victor studio lights |
| 3x ARRI Fresnel 4-Piece Light Kit | 2x Kino Flo Lighting Systems | 4x Tripods |
| 4x Wireless Lavaliere Microphones | 3x Ambient Mics | 5x Shure Mics |
| 1x Boom mic | 2x colored gel kits |
Control Room (Post Production)
The SVN Control Room contains
- 3x Mac Pros
- 2x IMacs
- 1x Mackie 1402-VLZ Pro Mic/Line Mixer
- 2x Panasonic Digital Video Cassette Recorders
- 1x Panasonic Digital AV Mixer AG-MX70
Imacs Contain multiple editing software including Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors...
and Adobe Production Premier CS5
Current Programming
This IS (NEW)“This IS” is a free-style movie special, where the two hosts (and an occasional guest host) break down their opinions of the movie undergoing a review. The two hosts will introduce themselves and begin the review with a quick synopsis of the film, not including spoilers. After the synopsis, the film will be broken down in the different categories it will be graded on (direction, acting, cinematography, plot/screenwriting, presentation) and every host will be given the "spotlight" where they will each provide their opinions and input with no interruptions from the other hosts.
In the Game (NEW)
“In the Game” is a 30 minute sports news show that goes beyond the stands and gives cougar sport fans everything they want to know about their favorite cougar athletes. We highlight the most talked about games on campus, and obtain up close and personal interviews with U of H‘s favorite athletes. Coogs, don’t just sit there, Get IN THE GAME!
For The Love of Food (NEW)
“For The Love of Food” brings cougars an overview of famous restaurants and good dining places in town. It is shot entirely on location and includes reviews of the items on the menu, interviews with the chefs, and a little behind the scenes sneak peek of the restaurant.
The Underground
Unique and new artists are interviewed and perform their original music on a candid set. The show allows open discussion. Hosted by seasoned radio talent & promotions manager, Sid Simone, who is emerged into all genres of music, "The Underground" is a rising artist's dream. Sid coaches the interviewee, and highlights the artists while maintaining entertainment and professionalism. Watch your head - follow me to "The Underground."
Past Programming
Cougar ComedyCougar Comedy is the only program of its kind on SVN. The program showcases the performances of the professional comedians Student Program Board invites to perform at the university every semester. Along with footage of the live shows, Cougar Comedy includes on-screen comedian interviews conducted by Edward Garza.
The Good Stuff
Good Stuff is a variety cooking show hosted by Shon Mondragon. It includes creative but simple cooking recipes by Shon to cook delicious meals fast. It is a must watch for cougars living on campus or independently off-campus who have to get hands on in the amazing and diverse world of cooking on a daily basis. So, buckle up and follow us on a creative route to deliciousness!
Intuition
“Intuition” is a talk and variety show modeled very much after the popular morning show, “The View.” A cast of four hosts discuss/debate an array of relevant topics ranging from pop culture to politics to issues around the University of Houston campus. Perhaps what makes “Intuition” unique is the enormous potential for UH students to interact with show through segments that specifically seek out the opinions of random students/faculty around campus and organizations as well.
Other Programs
| Working On My BS | Science Fiction Theater | PirateTV Live! |
| SVN News | Ham Whiz | Radio Free SVN |
| Today, Again | Stoat | Marbles |
| Student Union | Caveat Emptor | Grave Offerings |
| Young Pups | My Dead Friends | Laura's Lick House |
| All Around UH | A Day In The Life | Raw Flava |
Distribution
SWANKSVN has an exclusive contract with SWANK Motion Pictures, Inc., which allows use to show new and old movies on our station.
Services
SVN offers multiple Classes to students to attend and learn basic skills of Production. The classes are done weekly with members of the Executive Board for SVN. Through these classes, students can also earn the privilege to rent out the SVN equipment for school events such as sporting events. All classes are taught by the SVN Executive Board members.Production Classes
- Audio
-
- Video is nothing without a good audio. This workshop aims to familiarize members with the professional audio recording equipment and teach them how to record audio in professional video shoots.
- Editing
-
- Filming an event is more than just pointing the camera at the action and hitting record. Learn the techniques required to cover any event, whether social, ceremonial, or corporate, in its entirety with a nice aesthetic touch to your footage.
- Script Writing
-
- Everyone has a sudden burst of ideas at some point in their lives. This workshop aims to teach you how to transfer those ideas to paper in a professional way. Learn the technicalities and aesthetics of script and screenplay writing and when to use them.
- Studio Production
-
- Hearing is one thing, doing is another. Come to the studio and learn how a production at SVN is planned, shot and finished. Get your hands dirty as you learn about the production flow and how our studio full of specialized equipment can help you get the look that you want.
- Camera Composition
-
- The big difference between home movies and fine cinema is how you use your tools. The most important tool in the filmmaker’s arsenal is the camera. Learn the professional composition techniques that can turn your simple Handy Cam into a video paintbrush!
- Camera Operation
-
- Have you ever found yourself wondering how industry-leading cameramen get that beautiful glossy look to their footage? It is not the price of their cameras, but the value of their knowledge. Learn about the science behind a camera's inner workings and get a little closer to the professionals.
- Lighting
-
- All that we see and do would no doubt be impossible without light. That applies to the world of video in endless forms. Learn about one of the most powerful forces in the universe in a fun and interactive workshop where theory and practice are learned and then applied
Producer Benefits
SVN has created a form to help Producers market and use SVN props for their show.Marketing/Props Request Form
This form allows producer to receive marketing or props for their show, but can only be utilized after specific requirements are met.
Student Organization Benefits
SVN also allows members and students with the required experience to use the SVN equipment to shoot a commercial.Commercial Request Form
Allows student organizations to request a commercial. Has example of storyboards and scripts attached that should help students significantly. Primarily handled by the by the Commercial Producer and overseen by Production Manager
Event Coverage Form
Allows student organizations to get events filmed or photographed by SVN. Primarily handled by the Special Events Director and overseen by Production Manager.
Notable
InterviewsSVN has had the opportunity to interview different celebrities. Recently SVN held a Terriers (TV series)
Terriers (TV series)
Terriers is an American crime comedy-drama television series created by Ted Griffin for FX. It premiered on September 8, 2010. The show was canceled by FX on December 6, 2010 after the first season.-Premise:...
viewing event which was hosted by stars of the show Donal Logue
Donal Logue
Donal Francis Logue is an Canadian actor perhaps most famous for his role as Sean Finnerty in Grounded for Life.-Personal life:...
and Michael Raymond-James
Michael Raymond-James
Michael Raymond-James , is an American actor. He is best known for playing Rene Lenier in the first season of HBO's series True Blood and Britt Pollack on FX's series Terriers....
.