C3 Studios Gives High School Students in Texas a Taste of Pro-Level Production at CCSID Challenger Columbia Stadium The five-year-old venue hosts the district's five football programs By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor Thursday, June 24, 2021 - 7:00 am
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High school athletics, especially football, are a totally different breed in Texas. With more than a thousand institutions competing for a championship, sports facilities in the Lone Star State rival some of the most technologically advanced in the country. In the Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD), about 25 minutes outside Houston, C3 Studios enlists the area's top AV students to drive live event production at Challenger Columbia Stadium and surrounding venues.
We built this stadium and control room [in 2016] to give these kids an opportunity to be hands-on, says Amber Pecsenye, program director, C3 Studios. I think the student interest has grown a lot, and the quality of kids that we're getting is amazing.
Humble Beginnings: Basic Equipment To Teach Fundamentals Inside the C3 Studios control room at Challenger Columbia Stadium
Now a formidable force in the Texas high school system, C3 Studios developed gradually over the past five years. Starting as a teacher in the district in 2010, Pecsenye had a background in production for local professional teams, such as the MLB's Astros, NFL's Texans, and MLS's Dynamo. After receiving the green light in 2013, the program reached out to BTS Houston, the company responsible for technological integration of control rooms for the Houston Rockets and other high-profile organizations. To start, the budget called for basic equipment that could teach students the fundamentals.
This was the first time [BTS Houston] had ever done a high school control room, Pecsenye says. We first had a NewTek TriCaster and 3Play, but we have definitely raised the bar and built this out.
As the program evolved, so did the structure of its staff. Since this facility is run by a district and not a single school, the interviewing and hiring process is quite extensive for a high school-run production. Working from teacher recommendations, stellar examples of work done in the classroom, and a submitted application, Pecsenye and her team choose the best 10-20 students. On any given show, 13 spots are filled from among those chosen. And, because the program is not considered part of an educational curriculum, the students selected are considered paid employees, their wages coming from marketing revenue for football broadcasts.
They apply as first-year AV students from our five high school programs, Pecsenye explains. Then we get everyone together for a preseason scrimmage. This year, we hosted a flag-football charity event to give them some training.
Behind the Control-Room Door: Sony, Ross Video Gear C3 Studios' Amber Pecsenye (left) and Harry So (center) pose with their team of students.
Five schools - Clear Creek, Clear Brook, Clear Lake, Clear Springs, and Clear Falls - call Challenger Columbia Stadium their football home, and C3 Studios covers some of the state's biggest high school bouts with high-end equipment and workflows.
At the heart of the SDI-based control room is Ross Video's Carbonite production switcher with ProPresenter software. An upgrade this past season added an Evertz DreamCatcher replay server. On the field, the four-camera (two high, one endzone, one wireless) live stream is anchored by three Sony a7's shaded by three Sony CCUs. A handful of Teradek Bolt transmitters send the signals to the production department up top. Although football is king, other live-streamed events are produced by all five schools: track and field, graduations, band performances, and even the opportunity to work with NASA's Space X Initiative.
Harry So (right) instructs a handheld-camera operator during a game.
With this much success, C3 Studios has expanded and established the C3 Mobile team to handle events outside of Challenger Columbia Stadium. As one of its main locations, from January to June, the new crew handled 15 events taking place at the nearby Robotics Event Center. Centered on competitive robotics, action at this venue is captured via six Marshall PTZ cameras per playing surface in a makeshift gymnasium. All the cameras can be operated by a single individual, but the department is upping the ante by pushing out three simultaneous live streams of the matches with a crew of 24 students.
We worked with BTS again [for that venue], says Pecsenye. We went to Blackmagic [Design] for our router and have two wireless cameras with that setup for a smaller footprint.
Gameday Experience: Videoboard Show, Live Stream in Educational Environment The C3 Studios crew works with a Ross Video Carbonite production switcher.
The students involved in C3 Studios practice their skills in a fast-paced setting. Along with Pecsenye, Assistant Director Harry So runs the show from field level. Besides making sure that the technology, especially the Teradek transmitters, are working properly, he's responsible for providing feedback and positive teaching moments for the students. In this unique setting, these adolescents are asked to adapt on the fly and learn from miscues as they go.
There are some mistakes that happen, says Ho, so we tell the kids that it's okay to mess up but to try to not make that same mistake again. I'm really looking for attitude: who can be a hard worker? Are they able to pick up things fast, take criticism, and learn from it? This is a high-pace and stressful environment.
The crews are at the reins of the digital live stream, but there's an additional production layer at Challenger Columbia Stadium: the in-venue videoboard show. The staff pushes visual content
