By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
On’January 3, at 1 p.m.’America will get a sneak peak of the country’s future college and professional football players on NBC, and Lake Orion High School senior Riley Bussell will be behind the scenes, producing the show.
She was one of four broadcast students in the nation selected to capture the 2015 All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas, at the high school all-star game of the best 90 football players around the country.??
On the TV crew Bussell will make everything happen on your TV screen: the footage, the text graphics, little side-stories about the players and the game, instant replays for frequent blinkers, among other shared responsibilities.
Bussell will hustle out of Lake Orion on New Year’s eve and spend the next two days learning the ins and outs of the tech equipment she will be handling during the game.
Lucky for her the equipment will be very similar to the mechanisms she uses at home for Lake Orion Dragon Broadcasting, the high school’s broadcast program which produces the daily, live newscast?’LO-AM.
Dragon Broadcasting produces several other shows as well, including Dragon Digest, a sit-down interview show in its 29th’year, and a sports talk show called Cheap Seats which all play on the Orion Township education channel Comcast 22 and AT&T 99.
Bussell will work on 3Play systems and operate TriCaster, the same software panel she uses at the high school developed by the San Antonio based production company NewTek that sponsored the competition.
She found out about the competition through Phoebe Holmes, an LOHS marching band member, who was also selected to play on the field with the All-American marching band.
Representatives from NewTek, a private hardware and software company that manufactures live and post-production video tools, honored Bussell for her accomplishments Tuesday, December 16 just after Bussell helped produced LO-AM. with five other students.
‘I’m really excited,? she said, and has already been in communication with the three other broadcasters: Dylan Monson from South Dakota, Aaron Sortal from Florida and Ryan Urquhart from Florida. ‘It was weird, because I was strangely optimistic about the award. When I read about it I was like ‘yeah, I can do this.??
After submitting a three-minute video clip of a self-interview and moments of her best work, Bussell was shocked that she was one of four chosen students. View Bussell’s video story at www.newtek.com/aag.html.
‘We are all kind of alike,? she said of the four other students who enrolled in Dragon Broadcasting for a second year in a row. ‘I feel like any five of us could have won.?
Roger Smith, Dragon Broadcasting advisor, said Bussell was one of the top students in his class of talented producers.
She is the first broadcaster of Lake Orion to apply for the competition, and most definitely not the last.
‘She is willing to be the leader and the follower as needed on set,? he said, ‘whether it’s helping to write a script for someone new or directing a team.
‘In this competition you have to sell yourself. She has a lot of great work that she was able to compile into one piece, so she was able to stand out that way.?
Bussell thought she would submit a reel not only showcasing her smoothest and best clips, she added a little something extra.
‘I sat myself down and interviewed myself and that was really hard. I wanted to make it more personal so they [the NewTek video judges] could get to know me on that level.??
Bussell talked about her favorite crew positions, why she thought she stood out as a high school broadcast student and explained her responsibilities with LO-AM.
When she is not behind the scenes directing the show’her favorite position’Bussell is on camera anchoring. She is also in charge of show graphics while she technical directs, occasionally operates the cameras, and is on hand for whatever else is needed in the studio.
Among her best work she submitted was camerawork from a Special Olympics basketball game, an opener for a Dragon football game, a show she both produced and anchored, and shots of her directing a basketball game.
?[Directing] is really fun because you get to cue everyone,? Bussel said. ‘When there’s a really good show it’s mostly because of you, which is difficult because you always have to be one step ahead, but it’s really rewarding.?
Five All-American band members including Holmes will be traveling from Michigan to San Antonio for the game, along with one football player and Bussell.
Although this is the first live show she will be helping to produce outside of LO-AM, she is not nervous. Apart from the high school, she also volunteers at Orion Neighborhood Television, Orion Township’s public access channel.
Dragon Broadcasting and ONTV are tight knit. They use all of the same equipment, making it easy for students to work at both studios, and are connected through a fiber network allowing ONTV to broadcast dragon shows on their channel.
Bussell will be attending Central Michigan University next fall to study journalism.
‘This is really good practice for what it’s like to apply be a reporter,? Smith said. ‘That’s what it’s all about and she is definitely one of our leaders.?