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A "NORTHERN
LIGHTS" MAGAZINE ARTICLE
(from Issue #499)
TRIBAL TRAILS TECH
TALK
In the fall of 1981 the
Lord had led Blaine Witherow to serve with NCEM. His first assignment at
Headquarters included filling mail orders for Bibles, and duplicating
audio-cassettes.
Even though he wasn't
involved in the beginnings of Tribal Trails, he's now looking back on
almost 25 years of television ministry.
By early 1982, with his
office just across the hall from the Tribal Trails' studio, it wasn't long
before he was also duplicating video-tapes, then helping maintain video
cameras and machines. He must have kept the fact that he was a DeVry
Institute of Technology graduate somewhat quiet, because he was much more
qualified for Tribal Trails technical tasks than our Mission leaders knew.
Even so, Blaine points out
that neither he nor any of our other present Tribal Trails staff have
trained specifically for video production. "That the Lord has enabled
this ministry to happen is amazing," says Blaine. "Back then
video cameras and players were not household items. It was (and still is)
a very specialized field."
Tribal Trails first used a
commercial video format called U-matic. Editing was all
"straight-cut," with nothing fancy like a "fade." Text
for credits had to be printed on paper and then panned with a camera for a
"scrolling" effect.
U-matic later gave way to
Betacam format, and that's still what is sent to the various TV stations.
Most of the recording is now done in MiniDV (a digital format), explains
Blaine. Program editing is done with a computer.
Closed-captioning is a time
consuming task, but is required by most stations. "One station said,
'Add "cc" or we'll do it for you for $300 per program,' "
he remembers, "which is as much as the weekly cost of broadcasting on
that station!"
The Lord has supplied
sufficient equipment over the years, and given wisdom when repairs were
needed, Blaine acknowledges. But technology moves on, and so will our need
to upgrade.
"High Definition (HD)
is coming," he notes, "we're just not sure when. That will
mean changing, well, basically everything ... cameras, tape decks,
switching and editing equipment, monitors ... everything except the
lights."
"It's something that needs to be
planned for," he says in a calm sort of way. Blaine knows firsthand
the technical challenges in this ministry, and is trusting the Lord.
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