Hybrid Course Location Sound Goes On Location

Professor Vinit Parmar of FILM 2601./ CUNY
Professor Vinit Parmar of FILM 2601./ CUNY

FILM 2601, or Location Sound, was one of the only film classes at Brooklyn College to hold a hybrid meeting. Last week, the class met outside in groups of four or five to use sound equipment acquired at the school.

   Professor Vinit Parmar split their two sections into 13 groups, organized by zip code so that students wouldn’t have to travel far to meet. One group member was designated to pick up equipment at the school before meeting the rest of the group outside in a decided meeting place. The students exchanged the equipment to test it and record a short scene for a group project.

   Though the class is not listed on CUNYfirst as a hybrid course, Parmar previously gained permission from the school and redesigned the course to accommodate COVID-19 safety protocols. Students’ handling of audio gear was delayed several weeks to allow Thesis Production students time to use and return equipment.

   “In addition, I swapped out all five interior location shoots for five exterior shoots, all changes to accommodate to COVID safety requirements,” Parmar told the Vanguard.

   According to Parmar, the in-person meetings were necessary to the class, which is the lowest level course to receive a hybrid status.

   “Location Sound requires students to handle unique broadcast quality audio gear,” Parmar said. “Students must collaborate as part of a film crew to produce scenes and such experiential learning is directly tied to the learning outcomes of the course.”

   Some of the class student’s agreed it was important that they get real hands on work with the gear. 

   “I think meeting people was necessary with working with the equipment because if I were to do it alone, I would be totally lost on how to use the equipment,” said student Michelle Wu, who was part of a group that met in Brooklyn. “I have never used any of the BC equipment before. I’m pretty sure I am not the only one who is in this situation as well.”

   Location Sound was taught over the summer, and then included the dispersal of equipment kits for students to work with alone. The protocols for picking up and dropping off the equipment combined the school’s task-force guidelines with actor union SAG-AFTRA’s COVID guidelines. 

   The guidelines include meeting outside in groups of five people or below, wearing masks, and sanitizing gear. There is a mandatory rotation and 72 hour waiting period between equipment distributions and drop-offs, and mandatory bins for each equipment kit. Within each group, there is also a COVID leader responsible for implementing the guidelines and reporting back the success of the implementation.

   “All of us had a face mask, each brought hand sanitizer, and even latex gloves,” said Luis Paleta, member of a group. “I wore my N95 mask, and another mask on top, which not only made me feel super safe, but also made me safe to think that I wouldn’t be putting my classmates at any possible risk.”

   Parmar also gave students the option to opt out of the in-person group projects.

   “We have four students who have taken gear home to work independently,” said Parmar. “Some students had high-risk parents or elderly at home, and could not risk exposure to the virus. So, the course had to have built into it some degree of transparency and flexibility while upholding challenging and engaging projects whether one worked alone or in a group setting.”

   Despite protections, some students who attended the meetings were nervous about gathering in person.

   “Believe it or not, doing this assignment was the first time since the pandemic, where I was around a group of people,” said Paleta. “Even when things calmed down in NYC and places reopened, I never hung out with my friends, or even with other family members. I usually don’t go out unless necessary and stay at home.”

   Once cases began to rise in Brooklyn and Queens in September, BC’s administration put forth new protocols that the film department had to quickly adopt. Initially, the school was going to permit meetings of up to ten people for the fall semester. When they backtracked to five, the department scrambled to organize the number of equipment kits they could disperse.

   “We naturally had multiple meetings between the administration, my department chair, Public Safety, and the Equipment Room to deal with evolving rules, changing circumstances while under a limited budget and increased time pressure,” Parmar said.

   Parmar did not attend any of the in-person meetings because he would have exceeded the five people maximum.

   The class will probably meet about four more times this semester. Film classes like Cinematography and Thesis Production have also met in person following the same protocols.