Opening Exercises

The Princeton Broadcast Center completed another successful Opening Exercise ceremony for the incoming Class of 2028! The ceremony began in front of the iconic Nassau Hall building, and students walked through Fitz Randolph gate for the first time in their Princeton careers. The broadcast team had two videographers operating cameras on location and an operator controlling two additional remote cameras to capture the event from all angles. The occasion was also livestreamed for family members and Princeton Community members worldwide to enjoy. The staff enjoy supporting this event each year.

After the opening exercises commenced, students joined President Eisgruber and Princeton Alum Fei-Fei Li at Jadwin Gym for the pre-read. Here, we operated two cameras to capture the event, which we live-streamed to Media Central Live. It was a successful day to ensure incoming students and families had the best video experience possible. 

Commencement Production

Each year, the Broadcast Center is responsible for recording and live streaming all major end-of-year events such as Commencement, Baccalaureate, Class Day, and Hooding. This is the busiest and most exciting time of the year as it requires weeks of testing fiber connections, setting up and breaking down camera equipment, configuring captioning devices, etc., in multiple locations on campus. For the largest commencement event, we rented two long lense broadcast cameras and several robotic cameras to achieve a seamless look for the screens in the stadium. 

We also had a shift in location for the hooding ceremony due to inclement weather. The team quickly adjusted to this last-minute change and moved down to Jadwin Gym to continue the livestream of the event. Each member of the Broadcast Center operates efficiently and professionally behind the scenes to ensure that each event runs smoothly, allowing parents and students to celebrate their accomplishments in person and remotely.

We look forward to another successful commencement season next year.

PIIRS

The PIIRS department approached the Broadcast Center to create a promotional video for their new undergraduate fellowship program. We interviewed Professor Rory Truex to discuss his experience with PIIRS with the aim of providing information to future students.

For this shoot, we prepared questions for Rory and storyboarded the entire video in the week before the shoot. The production day required two cinema cameras, two LED lights, and both boom and lavalier mics. Following the interview, we shot b-roll of Rory In the Julis Romo Rabinowitz building using a camera on a stabilizer. It took our crew of four roughly two hours to shoot the entire project. The post-production for the video took about a month in total, and the video is set to be posted on the PIIRS website.
 

Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowships

Every year, the Broadcast Center records interviews for the recipients of the Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowships, the University's top honor granted to one PhD student in each of the following categories:  Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Engineering. Prior to its annual Alumni Day début, the project goes through several months of planning, shooting, and editing. This year, the Broadcast Center team was able to shoot in several iconic University locations, such as Firestone Library, Hoyt Hall, Frist Campus Center, and Fine Hall. 

For the production of this video, the team spent roughly two months storyboarding and location scouting. Each shoot required a different production setup. However, a typical setup looked like two cinema cameras, two or three LED lights, various boom and lavalier microphones, and a crew of four to five. The team shot the interviews and the B-roll on separate days and in separate locations. In total, there were about 7 days of shooting and two months of editing before the project was finalized. Through creative technical production and storytelling from the team, the final video bridges together the unique experiences of all four recipients into one cohesive story. It’s an exciting and rewarding project that we look forward to collaborating on again next year.

World Quantum Day

To celebrate World Quantum Day 2024, the Broadcast Center was tasked with creating a series of promotional videos highlighting the innovative, groundbreaking work being done by the Princeton Quantum Initiative (PQI). We had the opportunity to interview its Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Natalie de Lyon, as well as Dr. Andrew Houck and Dr. Sanfeng Wu, Co-Directors of the PQI, who are all at the forefront of the quantum industry. While in the labs, the Broadcast Center team used creative lighting techniques to capture the excitement and innovation of the Princeton Quantum Initiative in a visually captivating way. This shoot took place over multiple days in various locations in the E-quad. 

To achieve the look for the video, our crew of four created a two-camera setup for the interviews, followed by a one-camera gimble setup for the b-roll. In addition to the two 4k cinema cameras, the team used various LED lights to bring color into the shots. Because the labs are often loud, our audio technician put extra effort into setting up sound blankets and various types of microphones to capture clean audio. The team consisted of two videographers, one producer, and one audio technician. Post-production for this project took about two months of back and forth before the video was posted to the Princeton communications website and social media. The video also premiered at World Quantum Day on April 14, 2024, and was received with overwhelming positivity from the scientific communities.