Many Lawrence students and their parents enjoyed the Kaleidoscope concert on Oct. 18, which showcased the immense talent that the Conservatory of Music fosters. But what about the students who missed the performance and have only heard about it? Fear not. There will soon be a way for those who missed out to see some of this amazing concert.
Students from the Film Production Club, in association with Brian Pertl, Dean of the Conservatory, are working to make a montage of the concert. Lawrence students, juniors Stephen Anunson, Nico Benson and Molly Preston, took a video recording of the Kaleidoscope concert and are working to edit the footage to make a short video that will highlight the concert and be used to promote Lawrence University at an upcoming conference in Washington.
When I spoke to Anunson, he told me about the editing process. He and the other editors are using the program Final Cut, which is available in Science Hall. “We deleted the sound from our video and are dubbing with the professional sound recording from the conservatory. That way we can use footage from all three cameras and have one sound source.” He explained that he was participating in “making an exciting video to show what Kaleidoscope is.” Anunson added that the approximately three-minute video “will be available on the Lawrence website and YouTube, probably.”
Dean Pertl says that he wants to collaborate with the Film Production Club because the first and only other Kaleidoscope concert “had never been documented or recorded” which he thinks is “crazy because it showcases what the conservatory does. We needed to capture it to show what we do. to give the whole picture.”
Pertl added that it was difficult to get a good recording of the concert since the performers were dispersed throughout the Chapel, but in the end it all worked out. He also said that due to the success of this past year’s “Light, More Light!” competition, he decided it would be beneficial to have a few student videographers record the concert.
While keeping in mind that it could not be a completely professional recording, he figured that by utilizing the natural lighting and by having three cameras capture whatever footage they could, Lawrence could use the material to nationally publicize the conservatory.
But it couldn’t all be good news. Pertl has said that, sadly, there will not be a full length DVD available for purchase. However, the video montage will be fully available to the general public online.
This entire project was handled by Lawrence students — they shot the footage and are now in the process of editing it. The hope is that in the upcoming years, Lawrence will become a much more media-savvy college and will employ its talented students to help advertise the school in new and exciting ways.