There are countless ways in which CCTV production services can match your needs in the greater Cambridge community. Whether you want to make your own program for free, have a community event videotaped and cablecast, rent equipment, or get connected with some producers' resources for a commercial production, we can probably meet your needs. Please take a moment and read these sections and you will find the answers to your questions.

Become a Television Producer

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Our primary service is to teach you how to make your own shows and then put the equipment in your hands so you can do it yourself. It's a real 'do it yourself' environment, which means that you are the camera operator, the sound recordist, the editor, the director, and the talent. We give you free access to the equipment and in return you give us the right to play your program on our three cable channels. The quick and dirty guide to producing programs that will be cablecast on CCTV is as follows:

1. Come to an Orientation.
2. Become a Member.
3. Take classes to learn how to use equipment.
4. Sign a Production Contract.
5. Schedule the use of cameras, edit suites, etc.
6. Submit your finished tape to be cablecast.

Orientation:
Once per month we have an Orientation for new members who are interested in getting involved with CCTV. Orientations are mandatory for anyone who wants to use our cameras and equipment or be on our live programs. This meeting covers our history and mission, rules and policies, classes and schedules, and gives you a clear idea of how to get started here. You are not allowed to use our equipment or take equipment classes until you have attended an orientation. See the dates.

Membership:
In order to have a show on CCTV's channels, or use equipment and cameras to make shows, you must be a member. We have a membership called Access, which is mostly for Cambridge residents, that is the only kind of membership that lets you use our equipment for free. If you are making shows elsewhere and want to play them on our channels, you can become an Affiliate Member. More info.

Classes: For every piece of equipment or type of show you want to make, there is a class that you must take first. We require that you take out classes so that you can learn both how to use the equipment well and how not to break it when you use it. Only after you have taken the right classes can you then get equipment use from CCTV. More info.

Production Contract :
The key piece of community production at CCTV is this Production Contract. This is an agreement between you and us that clearly states, you get to use our cameras, lights, mics, editors, and live studio facilities, but only with the understanding that anything you produce must be cablecast on CCTV's channels. That is how you get free stuff and how we get our channels filled up with shows. If you are producing shows that are not going to be seen on CCTV, then you cannot get free use. Also, if you are profiting from producing programs you cannot get free use. For further information about contracting please read our contract policies. Download the Production Contract now.

Equipment:
Here is a quick overview of the equipment we have available in our facilities.

BeLive: your own LIVE show!
The BeLive studio is a literal interpretation of Public Access as "electronic soapbox," an open forum for the expression of ideas and personal views, politics, culture, news, etc. This low-tech, single-camera studio enables any Cambridge resident or organization to have their own 27-minute live program on Channel 9, without needing to go through any elaborate equipment training.

A telephone hook-up enables users to talk directly with viewers and an overhead camera for displaying images from paper or other materials. BeLive also is equipped with a roll-in VCR to play video clips and a computer with internet access for displaying websites.Any Cambridge residents may have a one-time live show without a membership. To have a regular weekly or monthly show you will have to attend an Orientation and become an Access Member. Slots are available on a first come, first served basis, and there is usually a short waiting list of people looking for a regular time. To get your own BeLive you should pick up a request form or download it here. Cablecast Forms.

CCR: Cambridge Community Radio
CCR is our cable "radio" station which cablecasts live in the mornings on Channel 10. As a member you can sign up and reserve weekly slots to do your own 2 hour block of audio programming after a short training session. For more information about producing a CCR program, contact Eli at 617-661-6900 x122, or download the application form

Digital Television Studio Facilities:
We have a 25' x 25', four camera, fully lit, digital video studio lined into our master control room. A six member crew can operate the master studio with our Echolab digital switcher, 24 channel digital audio mixer, Inscriber CG system and record on multiple tape formats (SVHS - VHS - Mini-DV - DVCPRO). This studio has been used for film, photo, video, and audio productions. We have the ability to record to tape or go LIVE to Cambridge cable subscribers.

Also in our capacity is a portable studio kit. This is a Videonics digital video switcher with the options for 4 cameras to shoot on location, accompanied by a 4 channel audio mixer, SVHS/Mini-DV record deck, and several case mounted field program/preview monitors.

Field Production Equipment
CCTV owns a number of digital video cameras, including 4 Sony VX-2000 Mini-DV cameras, 2 VX-1000's, and a few consumer grade palmcorders. We have accessories for each model of camera.

Our audio equipment is specialized for video recordings, and we have a variety of microphone types (omni, cardiod, directional, lav), with any of the chords or adapters you may need. We have field audio mixers as well. CCTV recently added two sony Minidisc recorders to our fleet for use in field recording.

Editing Facilities:
Currently we are running four Macintosh G4 dual processor editing suites, with Final Cut Pro 4.0, Adobe Premiere 6.5, and iMovie 3. Both stations are able to digitize media from SVHS, VHS, Mini-DV tape formats or any camera/tape device with a Firewire/iLink port. We have one analog editing suites for SVHS/VHS and Mini-DV formats. CCTV will also lend you temporary use of a portable firewire hard drive in order to store your video media while you are editing.

Playing your show on the air:

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When your program is ready to go on television, we will schedule it on one of our three channels in Cambridge. Our channel time is given on a first come, first served basis. We cannot guarantee you program will be scheduled at the exact time you request, but we will consider your request when making time. Prime time slots are in high demand! More info. Once your tape has been submitted to CCTV, your Production Contract is considered completed. You are then free to produce more programs by starting this whole process over again. You are already a member and have taken classes, so you have all the tools you need to continue producing shows on a regular basis.

Get CCTV to Shoot Your Event

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So you want someone to videotape your community event and put it on TV? As we already explained, CCTV is a 'do it yourself' kind of place and we provide you with training and free equipment for that purpose. Under very specific circumstances, we can make trained crew members available to work with community organizations to provide production support for special events. The following rules apply to organizations requesting these services:

• The organization holding the event must be or become a member of CCTV before the event takes place. More info...
• Members must submit an Event of the Week request form, with a $35 fee, at least two weeks in advance of the event.
• CCTV expects that the requesting organization will make every effort possible to publicize the rebroadcast of the finished program. If there is no publicity done, then there was no point in spending the hours to get the program on the air!
• We ask that the requesting organization announce at the event that Cambridge Community Television is recording the day's event. This helps drive viewers to out channels to watch your program again and is a way to recognize CCTV for providing this low cost service to the community.
• Production crew are recruited from our internal training program. While our intent is to produce professional programming of community events, and we do our best to arrange for the most skilled individuals to do the production work, we cannot guarantee 100% results.
• CCTV will send a single camera and operator for a maximum of 4 hours of production time, including setup/breakdown. Additional time will will incur extra costs.
• CCTV will do simple postproduction to clean up footage and add head/tail credits, not to exceed 5 hours. Additional time will incur extra costs.
• One copy of the finished program will be available for pickup within reasonable time. Additional copies can be made at extra cost.
• CCTV with retain co-ownership of all materials and will reserve the right to run programming on our channels at any time. Your organization also has the right to use the finished program for any purpose (except commercial sale.)
• If you would like your event recorded, but specifically NOT cablecast, please refer to the Rental section for professional rates.

Producer's Resources

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Posted here you will find a few resources and links that can help you in your own productions. If you have anything to contribute to this list, please email Sean@cctvcambridge.org

• Video and Copyrights: Here is an Adobe Acrobat text file with some information about what music and samples you can and cannot use in your programs. This information was prepared by our member Jim Youll.
• Creative Commons: This is a resource for producers seeking music, samples, text, audio, etc, by independent artists or musicians in their own productions and is quickly becoming a solution to copyright ownership and issues. These artists want you to use their material, under simple license agreements.
• Producer's Guide: This is a Blue Sky website with some helpful information on producing in the "industry." Though it deals with selling your programs or working under a commercial contract, the processes are still the same for a CCTV production.
• newenglandfilm.com: This is a database of student, amatuer, and professional film and video productions.
• boston.craiglist.org: This guy named Craig started a little website in San Francisco, and now it has snowballed into a free national classified ad database. You can use this network to buy, tell, trade, barter, find jobs, get married, and its an especially good place to connect with other people in the area who are interested in video production.
• FlickTips: newvenue.com has a "how to" guide for making web movies. A pretty neat looking web page too.
• Visit the CCTV Message Board's "Member Network Area" and find crew, talent, etc, for your production.