In 1997, the face of media making at the USC School of School of Cinematic Arts changed forever when Trojan Vision signed on the air. Since then, the channel has remained at the forefront of student television production. In 2011, Trojan Vision produced the largest amount of content in the fourteen-year history of the channel and, on November 29^th, Executive Director Don Tillman spoke to the SCAN-NATOA conference on the success of the students who run Trojan Vision.

“Television is growing and will continue to grow,” said Tillman. “The problem is that television can’t only be defined initially as a screen. Television can be received on telephones, iPhones, iPads and who knows down the road. The nice thing is that no one tunes in to watch television, they tune in to watch content.”

Trojan Vision produced many shows this year including CU@USC, The Cutting Edge, Platforum, The Morning Cure, Sportsmanlike Conduct, The Scoop, Delish, Re-Search and Mind Games. In addition, 2011 marked the first year that Trojan Vision’s content was broadcast in high definition.

“Like everyone else, we were an digital system,” said Tillman. “This year, we literally tore out everything and started over to build what is now a state-of-the-art high-definition television operation. High definition brings new challenges. Getting used to high definition is hard because the equipment is significantly different from the analog equipment we were used to. The set has to be better. The lighting has to be better. The performances have to be better. With HD, what you see is what you get.”

Tillman spoke about the importance of allowing students to work in a real world environment.

“I’ve never thought of myself as an professor,” said Tillman. “I’m the guy that they go to when things

need done. An executive or, as the trades say it, a ‘suit.’ The philosophy has been the same from day one. When [Dean] Elizabeth [M. Daley] came to me with the idea of bringing a television station to USC which would be totally operated by students, we decided this is not a classroom. This is a day-to-day experience of creating television programming. There’s no ‘my dog ate my homework.’” The show has to go on. The students produce four hours of television every day. Sometimes I sit back and can’t even believe it.”

For more information, please visit: http://trojanvision.com/