Concordia Journal Home > Archives > May 29, 2008 issue >

Telling stories on the tube 

By Karen Herland

It used to be that just the really artsy students picked up a camera and tried to express themselves with moving pictures.

However, over the last few years CUTV (slogan: “Enabling media education”) has become a hub, resource and support network for anyone with a story to tell, a cause to promote or an interest in broadcasting.

Anyone who mouses over to cutv.concordia.ca can find a treasure trove of opportunities to record their thoughts and then distribute them. For the last two years, Makealottamovies invites CUTV members to meet up monthly, rotate production roles and produce short films based on a common theme. Some 30 shorts have been produced since the program’s inception.

The station is also responsible for CUTVNooze, which their site describes as “Montreal’s only alternative English TV news program.” Reports are posted at www.youtube.com/user/CUTVNOOZE. Those familiar with the equipment and editing techniques help out those with an idea, but little TV production experience.

CUTV offers regular 20-hour internships over six-week periods through the academic year. Students are able to participate in this program for credit, if they can find a professor willing to endorse the project and review their final reports as a faculty advisor. Station manager Jason Gondziola said that students from the undergraduate and graduate diploma in communications, as well as film production and film studies, have all participated in the program.

Skills are also offered through community outreach. CUTV has worked on projects with Santropol roulant, the Atwater Library Digital Literacy Project and various art projects. CUTV will be starting a second program with members of the Native Friendship Centre this July.

Since last year, they have been working with the Tyndale St. George community centre in Little Burgundy. Last year, a group of counsellors in training at their summer camp put together a documentary about what their community centre does.

This year, members will be invited to join CUTV’s summer internship program – a 30-hour immersion in TV production and editing. Several representatives from CUTV attended a recruitment session at the centre on May 21. They showed a clip from a previous project and spoke with those who attended about the kinds of films and TV they enjoyed. “I was really enthusiastic about their reaction,” Gondziola said. In exchange, the centre offers CUTV space and certain facilities that they have available.