The growth and success over the years of student-produced programming at ACMi — especially the longstanding and popular O.N.N. (Ottoson News Network) TV series — has led to the opening this year of a production studio at the Ottoson.
ACMi Youth Coordinator, Daniel Black, in collaboration with Ottoson Media Librarian Edith Moisand, came up with a solution to the growing demand for studio space at the school and the desire to eliminate the commute to and from ACMi. Ottoson’s new Principal, Timothy Ruggere, with his own background in media production, agreed to support the endeavor. As it turned out, this summer’s renovation of the library yielded an underutilized room which Moisand and Ruggere agreed would serve well as a TV studio.
Ottoson and ACMi staff, along with ACMi member volunteers, then went to work to clear, clean, and paint the entire space. Two of the walls were painted bright green as a background for special visual effects. The rest, including the ceiling, was painted black-box black, as are most professional studios. Town maintenance director John Flood, and town electricians Mike McCarthy and Jim Largenton, provided advice and solutions for the installation of electrical wiring and lighting. ACMi provided cameras, an audio mixer, a computer, editing software, and other production equipment.
Plans for the studio include its ongoing use by ONN and AEC, as well as by teachers who are trained in the Media Center. This will allow those teachers to produce video materials for classroom use and to train interested students to help with such video production. All completed videos will be shown on Ottoson’s closed circuit TV system and cablecast via ACMi’s Education channel.
For more information, please contact Dan@acmi.tv or EMoisand@arlington.k12.ma.us.
