Description
Becoming a member of Valley Media Works/Chippewa Valley Community Television is a great way to be part of the local discussion, be part of a creative community, and connect with people who are doing the things you want to do. Whether you’re interested in television, film, radio, or web publishing we’re here to support community producers with education, production equipment, and expertise. Members enjoy year round benefits to resources, discounts on classes and career development activities, and consulting on production, marketing, festivals, and distribution.
We rely on the support of members, volunteers, and donors to advance the work of media design communities of the Chippewa Valley. You can support us by becoming a member and enjoy the discounts on classes, access to equipment, and studio, all while supporting the work of Valley Media Works/Chippewa Valley Community Television.
Membership is valid for One (1) Year. Please note that we have kept the basic membership dues at the same level they have been for many years; however, we have increased the kinds of membership options available.
INFORMATION FOR PRODUCERS
We request at least 3-5 shows completed before we will air a program, this allows for a buffer of time for you to create new programs (see program levels below for more details).
PROGRAM TIME LIMITS
New programming has a limit of 58:30 for a 1-hour program, or 28:30 for a 30-minute program. We have a station tag and promo piece that runs 1:30 before each program in our lineup. It is perfectly fine if a program runs shorter than the time limit for the designated time slot, we can fill the space with promos for upcoming shows. However, if a program runs over the time limit, it will be cut off when the time limit runs out.
Staff programmers will decide upon the time slot in which a program will play, typically a 1-hour program will get 1 play in a week during “prime time” and a 30-minute program will get 2 plays in a week during “prime time”. There is time outside of the prime time slots (11pm – 6am) in which a program of any length can be played as a repeat for that day.
The producer of the program does get some choices in where their time slot will be on a given day. Once your membership is paid, we will be in touch to let you know where slots are currently available and then you can either choose where you would like your program to play, or we can find a time slot that is suitable for you.
PROGRAM PLAY LEVELS
Programs have two levels in which they can play: (a) Monthly play, one episode plays each month in its time slot within the weeks of that month. We request at least 3 episodes up front for the monthly play. And (b) Weekly play, a new episode plays each week. We request at least 5 episodes up front for the weekly play. For both methods of play levels, we require New episodes (once the initial set has played) to be made available to our staff programmers at least 96 hours before the scheduled “new play” for that week or month.
PROGRAM FORMAT
Programs can be delivered to the station either on DVD-R, no menus, straight play DVD. Or as a digital file, MPG-2 format, 720×540 pixel dimension Standard Definition, Mono Audio on both left and right channels. If your program is in 16×9 format, HD, or anything outside of the 720×540 pixel dimension play area, the video will be shrunk by our playback system to fit the dimensions that it requires. This can cause black bars to be on the top and bottom of the picture, and/or stretch and squishing of the video to affect your video picture. Any titles, CG, and graphics on the screen must be inside of the safe frame of 640×480 pixels, otherwise they will be shown cut off by our playback system.
If you have shot in 16×9 format, HD, or any pixel dimension larger than Standard Definition, and have access to editing software, we have found that as long as the main interest of the video has been center cut to the frame, that a scale modifier can be added to the video. You can scale the video down to 44.5% of its normal size and it will fit nicely within the standard definition frames of 720×540. This also allows for a “pan and scan” method of editing if your video interest is outside of the frame.