TVP/TDMP Emeriti Scholarship Video

Over the past few weeks it has been my honor to work alongside former colleague Fred Wyman in fundraising efforts for a new scholarship named in honor of faculty who taught in the TV Production/Television and Digital Media Production program at Ferris State University.

The opening image of our TVP/TDMP Emeriti Scholarship webpage

In January, I began research into the possibility of forming an endowed scholarship that would be given to TDMP students based on need and their academic success. Eventually, with consultation with many people at the university, we decided that the best course of action was to “aim for the sky” and create an endowed scholarship. This would require us to raise $12,500 which the university would then match.

As part of the fundraising campaign, I bought a domain name tdmpscholarship.com and forwarded it to the university’s fundraising website. I also redesigned that page to include a number of pictures, html formatted information, and embedded videos.

A screenshot from the TVP/TDMP Emeriti Scholarship Campaign Fundraiser launch video featuring the founders of our TVP program.

I also wrote a screenplay that would serve as a 1 minute campaign launch video. After reaching out to a good friend from college (also a TDMP graduate) Dave Bisson, we worked together to create the voice over for the commercial. He also recorded a short on-camera piece that would be used in the finish video to showcase our graduates’ successes.

With a few days of editing, I was able to launch the video on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok and we will continue to post videos from alumni to create interest in donating to the scholarship…did I mention you can donate now? Just go to tdmpscholarship.com. You can also watch the fundraising campaign video below.

The Aputure MC

This tiny light is the size of a credit card and as thick as a YA book but it packs a punch for its miniature scale. The MC has an onboard battery and can be charged either by USB-C or by wireless charging (any charger should work, but my Samsung wireless charger worked well). It also outputs around 1100 lux, enough to serve as a key light in a small room. You’ll get about 2 hours on a full charge at max brightness.

Not only is it bright at the max brightness, but the light can be adjusted down to 100lux as a minimum brightness. This allows you to get the light close to your subject and provide a kicker in a three-point lighting setup.

The RGB light allows you to change color based either on your selection with the jog wheel, or by pairing the light with Aputure’s Sidus Link App. From there you can adjust saturation, intensity and hue (360 degrees of it) and even match the light to a specific color in your room. In fact, if you have other newer Aputure lights, you will be able to pair all those lights and control them from the app via Bluetooth.

The Aputure MC has a CRI (color rendering index: basically the color reproduction of the light is nearly perfect) of 96+ and SSI (spectral similarity index: meaning the score based on the camera’s ability to reproduce colors) scores of 84 in tungsten and 74 in daylight.

Did I mention that it’s magnetic? Pretty sweet. I tried it on my fridge and oven and it latched on perfectly.

I’m excited to try these lights out in a Zoom meeting setup currently but plan to use them in the field as well.