Local cable station MSU TV-11 is home to Roundabout U, a half-hour-long magazine television show for Murray State’s campus.
Chris Bryant, senior from La Center, Ky., is one of the 11 students and five professional staff who produce Roundabout U.
“I work as a motion designer and videographer,” Bryant said. “Motion design is any moving graphics – intro, outro, transitions between packages. Videographers film and edit the packages, which are basically each segment of Roundabout U.”
Bryant became involved with Roundabout U during his sophomore year, after making graphics for his church.
“I had done some work with the Journey, and two of the guys involved with Roundabout U, Jeremy McKeel and Chris Haynes, saw the work and wanted to know if I would like to be a part of the team,” Bryant said. “I’ve been a part of the staff for two years now.”
Roundabout U features stories focusing on people and events on campus. The show is produced weekly.
“Really, we only work when we shoot,” Bryant said. “I spent two to three months one summer making the show open, which is just twenty five seconds. Sarah Clark, one of the co-hosts, gives us all the information. She sets up our shoots, gets set lists, and rundowns at the start of the week. We find out how many packages there are going to be, who’s going to shoot, and who’s going to edit. We film, dump, edit, we do the lead ins and the close.”
For Bryant, the experience of working with Roundabout U has helped him prepare for the future.
“I don’t like the fact that college students have to take classes we need in order to graduate, rather than take classes that will help us for the future,” Bryant said. “It’s a better experience for me to be working with Roundabout U, because it’s teaching me things I’m going to use later in life. If it was up to me, I’d have spent all four years doing this. It’s practical work and it’s more valuable to me time-wise than a class.”
Bryant said anyone interested in working for Roundabout U should contact Digital Media Services.
“Last semester we held an open casting call to writers, operators and TV talent and we hired about seven people from that,” Bryant said. “We probably won’t do that again for a while until some of us graduate. But if people are interested, they need to contact Jeremy (McKeel) on the eighth floor of Fine Arts or Sarah Clark on the fourth floor of Sparks.”
Digital Media Services is located at 804 Price Doyle Fine Arts Center and can be reached at 270-809-5358.