Varsity
July 23, 2013

By Imaad Isaacs

The UCT TV Studio, a facility housed in the Department of Film and Media Studies, recently had the opportunity to shoot the South African leg of Higher Education Today, an American Talk Show that deals with issues of education and learning.

The five 27-minute-long episodes, which were produced at the UCT TV Studio, welcomed guests such as Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University Dr. Saleem Badat, Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, the Honourable Justice Albie Sachs and Professor Zubeida Desai of the University of the Western Cape.

The guests addressed topics and expressed convincing views on the roles of the law, the Constitution, multilingualism, student life and politics in education.

The UCT TV Studio utilised this unique opportunity to film segments covering higher education in South Africa. This was the first shoot outside of the United States. The final shoot took place during the June vacation from July 9th to 12th.

A team consisting of twelve students, four of whom attend UCT, underwent a rigorous two week-long training programme conducted by the UCT TV Studio’s Chief Technical Officer Alan Johannes, Dr Liani Maasdorp, and Ms. Lisa Drennan.

While the programme was open to anyone, the crew members were primarily sourced from a pool of film production students and other participants who have completed similar courses at Cape Town TV.

The training sessions, conducted from June 10th to 21st, focused on equipping the students with the necessary skills needed to film a multi-camera-setup talk show.

The entire programme formed part of the studio’s Stepping Stones outreach initiative.

“Stepping Stones provides aspiring film students an opportunity to gain practical experience and also develop their portfolios, which are required for admission into specific production courses,” said UCT TV Studio’s Producer Lisa Drennan.

Higher Education Today is a cable television series produced by the University of the District of Columbia in Washington, DC.

The show’s host, educational consultant and author Steven Roy Goodman said that the talk show “aims to present serious discussions about significant topics while allowing guests the latitude to express their views [on issues affecting education].”

The show was commissioned in 2010 and is presently in its fourth season. Episodes of the talk show may be viewed online at: http://www.youtube.com/user/gotouniversity.

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