Saint Paul Neighborhood Network
Encyclopedia
Saint Paul Neighborhood Network, or SPNN is a non-profit community media
center and cable television
station located in downtown Saint Paul
, Minnesota
. Cable-casting on five channels, it reaches more than 52,000 cable households.
(KTCA), the Twin Cities non-profit broadcast television organization and its affiliated network, PBS
. These shows include Mental Engineering
, aired on PBS, and Kev Koom Siab
, aired on TPT. Currently, several programs on TPT's Minnesota Channel are produced at SPNN.
cable TV stations, offers the use of its equipment and programs to anyone who wishes to create media. By joining SPNN, members can sign up for instructional classes on studio or field production techniques and practices, become certified to use equipment and check out the equipment through its Access Department. Members can also take advantage of three, Mac-based editing suites, including Adobe After Effects
, Final Cut Pro
and Adobe Photoshop
. Members' finished programs air on one of several Public-access television channels.
We have 11 digital cameras, 3 edit rooms, one studio, several light kits and miscellaneous audio gear available to create a program. Once member media has been created using SPNN facilities, members must share their program on one of SPNN's channels.
account, uploading many of the tutorials offered as classes for viewers to watch at their convenience. Their YouTube channel also includes lessons on white balancing, using the studio's audio mixer, and operating the studio's light meter, all from SPNN's producers. In 2008, SPNN began uploading their in-house series, All Things Access. All Things Access continues the video tutorials while profiling SPNN's members and other non-profit groups operating in the Twin Cities. According to its description, SPNN's YouTube channel focuses on Public-access television and community television.
In addition to its public Public-access television network, SPNN facilitates a Community Productions Department that airs programming 16 hours a day. The downtown facility has a large production studio that features four cameras, a switcher, an audio board, two DV CAM decks, two super VHS
decks, two mini DV decks, 7 monitors (one for each camera plus a CG, Preview, and Program monitor), a Waveform
and Vectorscope
monitor for white balance and a graphics console computer capable of accessing the Internet
.
Both SPNN staff and SPNN members have access to the production truck is made of two parts, a storage compartment and a "control room." The storage compartment holds 4 cameras and a tripod for each, sandbags, camera cables, headphones for the camera operators, wheel bases to mobilize the cameras, viewfinder case, and mats to assist in holding the camera cables in place. The control room
contains a switcher
that can take a total of 12 camera outputs, two DV CAM decks, a DPS
replay deck, a DVD
deck, an audio board, a Waveform
and Vectorscope
monitor for white balancing, 7 monitors for the director
(4 cameras plus a CG, Program and VTR monitor), and a graphics console computer.
SPNN's Youth education programs give adolescents and teenagers the opportunity to produce their own television show, Set It Up, which is taped at the SPNN studio and aired on its youth education channel. The Youth Department offers access to MacBook
laptops, SD and HD prosumer camcorders, non-linear editing systems iMovie
and Final Cut Express
, as well as to the studio equipment itself. Those who are members of the Youth Department can also intern at SPNN, where they can take instructional courses offered by the Access Department free of charge and/or volunteer on Community Production cablecasts.
Community media
Community media is any form of media that is created and controlled by a community, either a geographic community or a community of identity or interest. Community media is separate from commercial media, state run media, or public broadcasting. The fundamental premise is to engage those groups...
center and cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
station located in downtown Saint Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. Cable-casting on five channels, it reaches more than 52,000 cable households.
History
SPNN was created in 1984 under the name "Cable Access St. Paul" when the city set up its first cable television franchise. In 1995, the station changed its name to "Saint Paul Neighborhood Network." SPNN's channel numbers were changed during St. Paul's switch to digital cable in 2003, and it currently operates non-commercial channels 14, 15, 16, 19 and 20 on the Saint Paul cable system.Credits
SPNN also has credit for producing and broadcasting programs that moved up the ladder to TPTTwin Cities Public Television
Twin Cities Public Television is a non-profit organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operates the Twin Cities' two Public Broadcasting Service member Public television stations, KTCA-TV and KTCI-TV...
(KTCA), the Twin Cities non-profit broadcast television organization and its affiliated network, PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
. These shows include Mental Engineering
Mental Engineering
Mental Engineering is a public television series where show creator and host John Forde leads a panel discussion featuring critical and humorous analysis of TV commercials. The show originated as a public-access television cable TV program on the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network in St...
, aired on PBS, and Kev Koom Siab
Kev Koom Siab
Kev Koom Siab was the first Hmong language public affairs television program on US television. The series was produced at Twin Cities Public Television and Saint Paul Neighborhood Network from 1992 to 2003. The programs are currently stored for historical and cultural reference at the Hmong...
, aired on TPT. Currently, several programs on TPT's Minnesota Channel are produced at SPNN.
Access
SPNN, as with most Public-access televisionPublic-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
cable TV stations, offers the use of its equipment and programs to anyone who wishes to create media. By joining SPNN, members can sign up for instructional classes on studio or field production techniques and practices, become certified to use equipment and check out the equipment through its Access Department. Members can also take advantage of three, Mac-based editing suites, including Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects
Adobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software published by Adobe Systems, used in the post-production process of filmmaking and television production. Its main uses are the origination of 2D and 2.5D animation, visual effects compositing and finishing...
, Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a non-linear video editing software developed by Macromedia Inc. and then Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X, runs on Mac personal computers powered by Mac OS X version 10.6.7 or later and using Intel processors...
and Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
. Members' finished programs air on one of several Public-access television channels.
We have 11 digital cameras, 3 edit rooms, one studio, several light kits and miscellaneous audio gear available to create a program. Once member media has been created using SPNN facilities, members must share their program on one of SPNN's channels.
Outreach
In 2007, SPNN's Access Department activated a YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
account, uploading many of the tutorials offered as classes for viewers to watch at their convenience. Their YouTube channel also includes lessons on white balancing, using the studio's audio mixer, and operating the studio's light meter, all from SPNN's producers. In 2008, SPNN began uploading their in-house series, All Things Access. All Things Access continues the video tutorials while profiling SPNN's members and other non-profit groups operating in the Twin Cities. According to its description, SPNN's YouTube channel focuses on Public-access television and community television.
Community Productions
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
decks, two mini DV decks, 7 monitors (one for each camera plus a CG, Preview, and Program monitor), a Waveform
Waveform
Waveform means the shape and form of a signal such as a wave moving in a physical medium or an abstract representation.In many cases the medium in which the wave is being propagated does not permit a direct visual image of the form. In these cases, the term 'waveform' refers to the shape of a graph...
and Vectorscope
Vectorscope
A vectorscope is a special type of oscilloscope used in both audio and video applications. Whereas an oscilloscope or waveform monitor normally displays a plot of signal vs. time, a vectorscope displays an X-Y plot of two signals, which can reveal details about the relationship between these two...
monitor for white balance and a graphics console computer capable of accessing the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
.
Production Services
Control room
A control room is a room serving as an operations centre where a facility or service can be monitored and controlled. Examples include:*in television production, the master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations, television networks...
contains a switcher
Switcher
A switcher or shunter is a small railroad locomotive intended not for moving trains over long distances but rather for assembling trains ready for a road locomotive to take over, disassembling a train that has been...
that can take a total of 12 camera outputs, two DV CAM decks, a DPS
Leitch Technology
Leitch Technology Corporation was a Canadian corporation based in Toronto, Ontario specializing in the design and manufacture of equipment for the broadcast television and video post-production industries....
replay deck, a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
deck, an audio board, a Waveform
Waveform
Waveform means the shape and form of a signal such as a wave moving in a physical medium or an abstract representation.In many cases the medium in which the wave is being propagated does not permit a direct visual image of the form. In these cases, the term 'waveform' refers to the shape of a graph...
and Vectorscope
Vectorscope
A vectorscope is a special type of oscilloscope used in both audio and video applications. Whereas an oscilloscope or waveform monitor normally displays a plot of signal vs. time, a vectorscope displays an X-Y plot of two signals, which can reveal details about the relationship between these two...
monitor for white balancing, 7 monitors for the director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
(4 cameras plus a CG, Program and VTR monitor), and a graphics console computer.
SPNN Youth
SPNN Youth Programs provides Saint Paul youth with the opportunity to create community media with a lasting impact. Through fun and engaging programs, youth develop skills in media production, critical thinking, and community awareness. It is a place for exploration and diverse voices, for artistic vision and award-winning quality. As an alternative to mainstream media, SPNN Youth works to increase youth media visibility on SPNN channels and on the web. SPNN Youth believes in the power of youth media to stimulate dialogue and create social change. Youth are active members of SPNN Youth Programs as participants, mentors, and leaders, and work with staff to create youth-driven programs. SPNN Youth welcomes and strive to be accessible to youth most affected by the digital divide including: low income youth, youth of color, new immigrant youth, differently-abled youth, GLBTQI youth, and youth from other marginalized communities.SPNN's Youth education programs give adolescents and teenagers the opportunity to produce their own television show, Set It Up, which is taped at the SPNN studio and aired on its youth education channel. The Youth Department offers access to MacBook
MacBook
The MacBook was a brand of Macintosh notebook computers built by Apple Inc. First introduced in May 2006, it replaced the iBook and 12-inch PowerBook series of notebooks as a part of the Apple–Intel transition. Positioned as the low end of the MacBook family, the Apple MacBook was aimed at the...
laptops, SD and HD prosumer camcorders, non-linear editing systems iMovie
IMovie
iMovie is a proprietary video editing software application which allows Mac, iPod Touch 4th generation, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPad 2 users to edit their own home movies. It was originally released by Apple in 1999 as a Mac OS 8 application bundled with the first FireWire-enabled consumer Apple...
and Final Cut Express
Final Cut Express
Final Cut Express is a discontinued video editing software created by Apple Inc. It is the consumer version of Final Cut Pro and is designed for advanced editing of digital video as well as high-definition video, which is used by many amateur and professional videographers...
, as well as to the studio equipment itself. Those who are members of the Youth Department can also intern at SPNN, where they can take instructional courses offered by the Access Department free of charge and/or volunteer on Community Production cablecasts.