communication 175 They saw you when you were sleeping; they knew when you were awake and when you were finishing your homework — in chapel. Every day, someone sat in the TV-16 studio, located in the Reynolds Center, and controlled two cameras in the Benson Auditorium, one of which scanned the audience during the 9 and 10 a.m. chapels. Senior Joshua Morgan and junior Rachel Gardner, both electronic media production majors, were two students hired for this unusual on-campus job. Requirements that Morgan and Gardner had to meet for the position included experience with video and television production, dependability and the ability to handle all the tasks and equipment. From their seat in the studio, the chapel recorders had a view of everyone in the auditorium. “There are a few aisles hidden from the side camera, but other than that, we can see and zoom in on virtually everyone in chapel,” Morgan said. “So you can imagine the fun we have with that.” Morgan finished his third year as a chapel recorder working Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Gardner began in the fall 2008 semester and worked on Tuesday and Thursday. On the days that they did not work, both Morgan and Gardner attended chapel like everyone else. To learn the process of chapel recording, they had to watch an experienced student-worker who showed them how to run all of the equipment. Trainees were partnered up with current workers who walked them through the different procedures, explaining the equipment as they went along. “It was all on-the-job training, essentially watching and learning with a little bit of doing until you can do it all by yourself,” Morgan said. “The goal is for them to become more comfortable performing larger tasks on their own until they are ready to do it alone.” There was only so much to pick up from watching, though, and eventually the new chapel recorders had to learn by doing. “I shadowed someone who had been videotaping chapel for a while and then slowly began taking over a few of the jobs,” Gardner said. “Eventually, I was left on my own and started learning from my own mistakes.” And mistakes did happen. If there were ever any problems, the chapel recorders always tried to continue videotaping while they or their boss, production technician Mark Prior attempted to fix the problem, but if they could not, they cut to a black screen. Before chapel began each day, the student worker turned on the equipment and checked that it worked and that the settings were correct. They created the graphics that ran along the bottom of the TV screen with the names of every person involved in leading chapel, including the speaker and song leaders. Then they set up the cameras, switcher board, hard drive and audio. In addition, because chapel could be heard live online, they also ensured that the stream from the College of Communication over the Internet worked properly. After chapel, they burned both the 9 and 10 a.m. chapels to a DVD and programmed the 9 a.m. chapel to play on TV-16 at various times throughout the week. “The job is essentially a one-man band,” Gardner said. “I do graphics, audio, camera, technical direct and direct all at one time. If this was the news, each of those jobs would have one person working them instead of one person doing all five.” Although the students got paid for working in chapel — which Morgan said was his favorite part of the job — there was a lot of work involved. Chapel recorders were constantly busy and worked hard to produce a great chapel video. “There always seems to be at least one person ruining the shot by sleeping, doing homework or not singing,” Gardner said. So just remember, before you decide to take a nap during chapel, God is not the only one watching. Bethany Loftis Always Watching A behind the scenes look at chapel recorders
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