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When four Martinsville High School students decided to create a news show, they didn’t wait for help to do it.
WMHS8 is an online news channel created, funded and run entirely by three high school students in Martinsville, VA.
All they used when they began last year was a Smartphone and a room provided by the high school, but their program is growing thanks to their constant experiments with it, as well as good old fashioned fundraising.
The money will pay for the purchase of hand-held microphone, followed by a teleprompter and a mic flag (the little sign on the microphone stem which identifies the station).
Staples, the granson of Sandra Mattingly, is the meteorologist. Daniel Peay, 15, the son of Cliff Peay, is the sports announcer. Luis Romero, 18, the son of Sandra Romero, is the newscaster. Julian Vaughn, 15, the son of Debbie and Kenny Vaughn, is the producer.
Their 4-minute nightly program, MHS This Evening, is posted on YouTube, where anyone may watch it. Many teachers show their broadcasts in class on the SmartBoard, the boys said.
They also give news updates and weather reports throughout the day through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Early start on careers
“It all started with Mrs. (Helen) Howell,” Luis said. She taught a class in careers in the middle school. “She asked everyone what they wanted to do (as a future career). Dustin wanted weather.”
The amateur meteorologist already had been posting weather reports on Facebook. He knew that his friend Luis was interested in news and broadcast journalism.
At that, Dustin and Luis began giving the school’s announcements and weather report every day over the intercom at Martinsville Middle School.
They tried to do it through livestreaming (over the internet), but it didn’t come together, they said.
They spent the summer after their eighth grade year trying to work out a plan. They added in a friend of theirs, Julian, who is amazing with anything having to do with technology, Luis said: “If he doesn’t know how, he goes to study and learn how to do it.” They got Daniel on board for the sports.
Freshmen on a mission
When they hit the campus of Martinsville High School in the fall of 2014, they tried again. In just their second week as freshmen, they asked the principal for a room to use to operate WMHS8. The name comes from W, the starter for a television station name; MHS, for the high school; and 8, because they got started in eighth grade.
They were given a room, but had to change rooms a few times, they said. They also had “a lot of complications” on other matters – but it all eventually came together.
They chuckle over some of the mistakes they made in their first broadcasts. In one segment of Luis reading the news, not only did they accidentally put Daniel’s name under Luis’s image, but they even spelled Daniel’s name wrong.
They filmed their first broadcasts using a Smartphone. However, “we were yelling the announcements because the audio was so bad,” Luis recalled, as they laughed and mimicked that yelling.
The four-man crew started borrowing the school’s video camera, but that didn’t last long. Other students didn’t take good care of the camera, they said, so they realized they’d have to get their own.
However, they needed a way to pay for equipment. With the guidance of Helen Howell, retired county schools business and career teacher, they turned to the classic high school fundraiser: selling candy bars.
Now they have their own 10- by 20-foot green screen they bought for $31. With advice from their schools TV Production teacher, they bought a Nikon camera (which makes videos as well as photographs) for $360. It came with a lens and tripod.
Filming, mixing and broadcasting
They film their segments in the morning before classes start, between the time the bus drops them off at about 7:50 a.m. to 8:20 a.m., when they have to rush to the principal’s office to read the morning’s announcements. They work a bit more on it during lunch, and occasionally meet after school if needed.
Each announcer takes a turn to stand in front of a “green screen” to speak. A taped-off area on the floor shows him where to stand so he won’t accidentally walk out of range of the camera. That happened a few times when they were new at it, the boys chuckled.
As one steps in front of the camera, another one or two adjusts his tie. Then they step back and give the signal.
His segment over, the next steps in, then the next.
They also occasionally create features segments and spoofs. A three-minute segment can take four days to record and edit, they said: “People don’t realize,” Julian said. “It takes time to edit, get the spelling right and the lighting perfect.”
Later in the day, Julian puts the different segments together. He uses the programs Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro and Illustrator. He edits all the footage down to the four minutes or so the nightly broadcast will last.
Part of that preparation includes erasing the green background and put another background behind the figure. A particular shade of green is used as the filming background because it is the shade least likely to be used regularly, so it’s easy to erase, he said.
The boys laughed when they recalled the time Luis wore a green shirt for filming, almost the color of the screen. In order to edit the background, Julian used a computer program to change the color of his shirt to gray so that Luis’s body would not be erased when he took away the green parts.
During summer and Christmas breaks, they worked on creating new special effects and selling candy bars, they said. They started their second semester season incorporating those improvements, and with a shopping list.
The four look forward to continuing to develop their news program throughout high school. In college, Daniel plans to study criminal justice or national security; Julian, software development; Luis, broadcast journalism; and Dustin, meteorology.
WMHS8 broadcasts, updates and MHS This Evening can be seen here:
Facebook: http://goo.gl/q8tios
YouTube: http://goo.gl/dIaXqH
Article by Holly Kozelsky | Martinsville Bulletin
WMHS8 is an online news channel created, funded and run entirely by three high school students in Martinsville, VA.
All they used when they began last year was a Smartphone and a room provided by the high school, but their program is growing thanks to their constant experiments with it, as well as good old fashioned fundraising.
The money will pay for the purchase of hand-held microphone, followed by a teleprompter and a mic flag (the little sign on the microphone stem which identifies the station).
Staples, the granson of Sandra Mattingly, is the meteorologist. Daniel Peay, 15, the son of Cliff Peay, is the sports announcer. Luis Romero, 18, the son of Sandra Romero, is the newscaster. Julian Vaughn, 15, the son of Debbie and Kenny Vaughn, is the producer.
Their 4-minute nightly program, MHS This Evening, is posted on YouTube, where anyone may watch it. Many teachers show their broadcasts in class on the SmartBoard, the boys said.
They also give news updates and weather reports throughout the day through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
Early start on careers
“It all started with Mrs. (Helen) Howell,” Luis said. She taught a class in careers in the middle school. “She asked everyone what they wanted to do (as a future career). Dustin wanted weather.”
The amateur meteorologist already had been posting weather reports on Facebook. He knew that his friend Luis was interested in news and broadcast journalism.
At that, Dustin and Luis began giving the school’s announcements and weather report every day over the intercom at Martinsville Middle School.
They tried to do it through livestreaming (over the internet), but it didn’t come together, they said.
They spent the summer after their eighth grade year trying to work out a plan. They added in a friend of theirs, Julian, who is amazing with anything having to do with technology, Luis said: “If he doesn’t know how, he goes to study and learn how to do it.” They got Daniel on board for the sports.
Freshmen on a mission
When they hit the campus of Martinsville High School in the fall of 2014, they tried again. In just their second week as freshmen, they asked the principal for a room to use to operate WMHS8. The name comes from W, the starter for a television station name; MHS, for the high school; and 8, because they got started in eighth grade.
They were given a room, but had to change rooms a few times, they said. They also had “a lot of complications” on other matters – but it all eventually came together.
They chuckle over some of the mistakes they made in their first broadcasts. In one segment of Luis reading the news, not only did they accidentally put Daniel’s name under Luis’s image, but they even spelled Daniel’s name wrong.
They filmed their first broadcasts using a Smartphone. However, “we were yelling the announcements because the audio was so bad,” Luis recalled, as they laughed and mimicked that yelling.
The four-man crew started borrowing the school’s video camera, but that didn’t last long. Other students didn’t take good care of the camera, they said, so they realized they’d have to get their own.
However, they needed a way to pay for equipment. With the guidance of Helen Howell, retired county schools business and career teacher, they turned to the classic high school fundraiser: selling candy bars.
Now they have their own 10- by 20-foot green screen they bought for $31. With advice from their schools TV Production teacher, they bought a Nikon camera (which makes videos as well as photographs) for $360. It came with a lens and tripod.
Filming, mixing and broadcasting
They film their segments in the morning before classes start, between the time the bus drops them off at about 7:50 a.m. to 8:20 a.m., when they have to rush to the principal’s office to read the morning’s announcements. They work a bit more on it during lunch, and occasionally meet after school if needed.
Each announcer takes a turn to stand in front of a “green screen” to speak. A taped-off area on the floor shows him where to stand so he won’t accidentally walk out of range of the camera. That happened a few times when they were new at it, the boys chuckled.
As one steps in front of the camera, another one or two adjusts his tie. Then they step back and give the signal.
His segment over, the next steps in, then the next.
They also occasionally create features segments and spoofs. A three-minute segment can take four days to record and edit, they said: “People don’t realize,” Julian said. “It takes time to edit, get the spelling right and the lighting perfect.”
Later in the day, Julian puts the different segments together. He uses the programs Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro and Illustrator. He edits all the footage down to the four minutes or so the nightly broadcast will last.
Part of that preparation includes erasing the green background and put another background behind the figure. A particular shade of green is used as the filming background because it is the shade least likely to be used regularly, so it’s easy to erase, he said.
The boys laughed when they recalled the time Luis wore a green shirt for filming, almost the color of the screen. In order to edit the background, Julian used a computer program to change the color of his shirt to gray so that Luis’s body would not be erased when he took away the green parts.
During summer and Christmas breaks, they worked on creating new special effects and selling candy bars, they said. They started their second semester season incorporating those improvements, and with a shopping list.
The four look forward to continuing to develop their news program throughout high school. In college, Daniel plans to study criminal justice or national security; Julian, software development; Luis, broadcast journalism; and Dustin, meteorology.
WMHS8 broadcasts, updates and MHS This Evening can be seen here:
Facebook: http://goo.gl/q8tios
YouTube: http://goo.gl/dIaXqH
Article by Holly Kozelsky | Martinsville Bulletin
Organizer
Luis Romero
Organizer
Martinsville, VA
