City of Boston TV is a local news programming station that has been partnering with the College of Arts, Media and Design (CAMD) for years. Currently, two CAMD students, Cole Albert and Guy Ovadia, are working on the City of Boston TV team as TV Production Co-op – and in just a few months, both of these students have diversified their skillsets and learned an impressive amount of information about the facets of the Boston television production landscape.

Cole is a third-year Journalism and Communications Studies student, and his responsibilities at City of Boston TV vary depending on the day; some days he will take equipment inventory and answer the phones, while on others, he might find himself immersed in the field, covering a city event. These events range from Department of Public Works hearings, EMT graduations, and Mayoral press briefings, which are examples of what he has covered during his time in this role so far.

Guy, who studies Journalism and International Affairs and is in his second year, explained that most days, he and a producer go off-site to film an event somewhere in Boston. For these trips to be successful, there is a lot of preparation and planning that goes into each one.

“Before we leave for an event, we prepare two cameras, one for A roll and another for B roll, and we haul them to the event in our van. We get to an event early and each set up a tripod and a camera and wait until the event starts,” Guy explained. “We shoot the entire event, usually including a speaking program featuring the mayor, and then we pack up and head back to the studio where we consolidate and edit the footage we captured that day.”

After editing, a promotional video of the footage is posted to the Boston City TV YouTube Channel, while the full version of the event is broadcasted to the network.

When is comes to which topics to cover, Guy explains he does not have a favorite, while Cole, on the other hand, prefers filming public affairs.

“Public affairs is by far my favorite to cover,” Cole said. “You get to see the nitty gritty of how a city runs, and meet the people who have the thankless job of getting into said nitty gritty on our behalf. Local news largely ignores these types of events because they aren’t particularly eye-catching or engaging, but it’s where the city grows and evolves. I feel like I’m doing a real service for people, even if it’s not always the most exciting thing.”

To film, edit, and broadcast material, City of Boston TV must have state of the art equipment and programs to ensure the best quality of footage. Learning how to use this equipment has proven to be both a challenge and a highlight for Cole and Guy. Avid is the editing software that the company uses for their videos, and the co-op is proving to be an opportunity for the students to strengthen their editing skills.

Being TV Production co-ops has been rewarding for these two CAMD students, and they have been able to familiarize themselves more with the City of Boston itself and take pride in their work when they see their name roll in the credits at the end of various videos.

“We have TV screens around the office showing all our channels, and there is nothing like passing by the screens and seeing my name roll by in the credits,” Guy pointed out. “It seems small and not many people watch it, but there is a sense of pride knowing you produced something.”

“Challenging as this co-op is, it’s allowed me to really get to know the city on a level that I never would have otherwise,” Cole added. “A lot of students will come to Boston and only ever see the two or three neighborhoods surrounding their school, but Boston has more than 20! I’m in my third year and I still haven’t fully explored them all. Getting to do it for work is just icing on the cake.”

Cole, a past NUTV member, feels that his experience in the on-campus organization helped to grow his shooting and editing skills, pushed him to get a summer internship at Channel 5, and ultimately led him to secure this co-op at City of Boston TV. He recommends Studio and Field Production classes to students looking to explore video journalism, as they provided him with practical experience applicable to his position now.

Guy credits his current knowledge of journalism video production to his time in Howlin’ Huskies, Northeastern’s athletic department’s video production team, and to his role as a writer for the Huntington News, the student-run newspaper on campus. He expressed that his involvement in these extracurricular activities produced the skills that he uses daily in his current co-op.

Thank you City of Boston TV for providing valuable co-op experiences to our students, and we look forward to seeing how the rest of Cole and Guy’s semester unfolds.