Videography students tour KARE, Twin Cities facilities

Central Lakes College first-year Videography Production students recently spent a day in the Twin Cities visiting television production facilities and meeting professionals who work in the field.
Mark Ambroz, instructor, said the metropolitan area has a robust production industry.
“The goal of this trip is to introduce students to the career potential in that market,” he said.
The group visited KARE 11 in Golden Valley, an NBC affiliate that has a major news market share in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area as well as across the state. Students received a tour from KARE News Director Jane Helmke, who is a member of the CLC Videography Production Advisory Board.
The students watched the morning show from inside the studio and met producers, photographers, and editors in the newsroom.
“Most of the jobs are behind the scenes,” Ambroz said. “Seeing people actually engaged in their daily tasks helps our students set their own career goals.”
Jeff Kracker, KARE director of online news, discussed a number of staff positions and how they all work as a team to produce a number of programs at the station.
At Cinequipt in Minneapolis, a 25,000-square-foot motion picture equipment rental house catering to feature film and video production companies, Chris Beales, rental manager, showed students a high-end digital video camera. The students also observed other departments and learned about the types of products and services that are sources for film, video, lighting, and grip equipment users.
They toured the expanding facility that includes a studio with an area set aside for a second, plus a showroom and camera department that have made Cinequipt the No. 1 supplier of gear for producers and directors.
The day concluded at Tremendous! Entertainment in Eden Prairie, a state-of-the-art production company best known for its flagship program “Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern” airing on the Travel Channel. The company has a history of gaining access to exclusive events, impossible locations, and elusive creatures.
Students met some of the producers, writers, researchers, editors, videographers and support personnel who help create the programming for award-winning broadcast and cable networks.
The facility includes seven offline and online Avid edit suites and three Final Cut Pro edit suites as well as an in-house studio with wrap-around green screen cyclorama, sound-proof voiceover booth, and music recording studio.
Students noticed that many of these features are also in place at the college in Staples, where they are learning to use the same equipment. Students met with internship coordinators at all three facilities.