Making waves on television
by Rodney Magazinovic
A
group of students has hit local television screens with a weekly show
funded, created and produced entirely by themselves.
The show entitled The Third Degree is a six episode series featuring segments that explore aspects of life in and around university.
Show segments vary from Tribal Tracker, which looks at various youth sub-cultures such as tattooing and DJ-ing to Ask Albert, a quirky puppet feature where the questions of students are answered by a pint-sized Albert. Even extreme sports such as waterskiing and indoor rock-climbing are explored in the adrenalin pumping Gravitysphere.
Production and filming of The Third Degree began in January after the University of South Australia Television Association (USATA) sourced segment ideas from students who had the desire to become involved in the development of their own television program.
USATA was formed in 2005 to give students extra media training and experience in the field of television media and has led to The Third Degree being broadcast on Channel 31 every Sunday at 9.30pm.
USATA President Alexia Salagaras (pictured centre couch) says it’s a great way for students to get involved in television, no matter what program they are studying at University.
"Anyone is welcome to come along and be a part of it," she said. "There is a wide range of roles in all aspects of production and management and even the day-to-day running of the club. It’s all a lot of fun and it’s totally up to you how much you want to put into it and what you want to get out of it."
The club also has a number of extracurricular events such as film screenings and quiz nights to help raise funds to cover production costs.
Future plans for the Association and The Third Degree involve continuing the development of new segments and the collaboration of new teams of technical and creative expertise for the second season of broadcasting. The Association also plans to continue supporting its members’ learning with workshops and forums led by industry professionals.
Students and members of the University community can become involved with USATA by contacting Andrei Gostin on (08) 8302 4185 or by e-mailing student.television@usasa.unisa.edu.au. You can also visit the website http://studenttv.usasa. unisa.edu.au