Billy Pittard

billy.pittard@mtsu.edu

Billy Pittard

Electronic Media Communication

Discipline specific equipment

Mass Communication

N/A

N/A

This proposal provides critical improvements for all EMC programs to service our 750 majors as well as many minors from other departments. Most of our request relates to adapting to changes such as HDTV, digital photography, and online video. TAF is currently our only source of funding for technological updates. Half of our request relates to updating our media servers. The switch to HDTV and an increase in video production has rendered our current server system completely inadequate. We will replace our outdated server with three dedicated-purpose servers. A new set of HDTV recorders is necessary for our studio and mobile video productions. Without this upgrade we are not able to record HD video in our main studio. Two high-end video editing systems will enable students to better complete large-scale, high-profile projects. A set of ten digital cameras will enable animation students to learn more fundamental and traditional animation techniques beyond strict computer graphics. A set of five light kits will improve our broadcast journalism students' ability to cover on-location news stories. A complement of digital scanners, cameras, and associated gear will help our photography program make critical progress toward digital photography. Five video camera kits plus a variety of lighting gear will help us service 12-13 video & film classes per semester with an average of 18 students. A video video streaming encoding system will give our students experience with the latest form of video distribution.