by Alua Noyan
Thursday, October 23
Along with teaching Digital Video, Television Production and Documentary Filmmaking classes, Krissie Fraser runs the Race Reels series and the Production House, a student business that does productions for teachers, school and community members. She is also a Newbury College professor and a full-time Brookline Interactive Group (BIG) employee. She spends most of her day in the BIG studio on the third floor of the UA building.
8:20 a.m. Fraser welcomes her Digital Video class in the Blue Lab of the BIG floor. She walks around and meets with students individually.
8:35 a.m. Students sit with headphones on, working on their videos in Adobe Premiere Pro. One student asks for more examples of their current assignment, visual interpretations of songs, or music videos, and Fraser opens the question up to the class. She asks the class if the rough cut deadline is feasible.
8:55 a.m. Fraser announces that she added lessons to Canvas about how to make everyday sounds while editing videos. These sound reproductions are called foley. As she talks to the class, students ask if they can come in on Saturday to work on their footage. BIG is open for students from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
8:59 a.m. Fraser leaves the classroom to help a student direct a mini shoot of other students greeting each other in the hallway.
9:20 a.m. Fraser sends her students off to their next classes. As they leave, she asks for students to come in next class with a plan for their music videos even if they cannot shoot until the weekend.
9:25 a.m. Fraser goes to the studio, or live room, to help students from her next class, Television Production, do a run through of the Breakfast of Champions video. Each episode has a theme; this week it is Halloween. Breakfast of Champions is produced every week and contains a teacher feature, two commercials, a creative segment and a “how-to” segment. Two teams switch off to produce the show and sign up for different roles every time.
9:35 a.m. As the students set up the cameras, Fraser goes into the control room to make sure they are showing up on all of the screens.
9:52 a.m. When she takes a seat at the control panel to direct the run-through, Fraser begins a countdown. When she reaches one, the cameras begin to roll. Fraser directs the run-through, serving as a substitute for an absent student.
10:08 a.m. The episode comes to a close. Fraser sits back and watches over a second run-through, now directed by a student. She is eager to prompt students about what to say to the camera people. While commercials play, Fraser sends out emails and necessary announcements to her class.
10:22 a.m. The students finish the second run-through and Fraser gives them feedback and breaks down the set. She checks up on the other group in the Blue Lab before they head out.
On to the next job: Fraser wraps up after her morning classes and does her work for BIG. She is their education coordinator, a liaison between schools and BIG. Currently she is working on hiring an assistant to work with K–8 schools for outreach. It is still up in the air as to what the relationship with K–8 schools will be like.
And the next: Ms. Fraser teaches a documentary class. It is similar to her other classes, since they learn how to use non-linear editing on Adobe Premiere Pro and how to use the cameras themselves. The class is working on a mini documentary about the high school.
After school, Ms. Fraser sometimes helps student work on projects. If not, she works for BIG.
Alua Noyan can be contacted at [email protected]
