Broadcast students simulate TopGear

by Hillary Akers, Photo Editor

June 14, 2012

TopGear at the Airport Photo Album by Hillary Akers, Photo Editor Click to enlarge an image Rodney Wright's Mustang Kim Nguyen   Terence Dollard Larry Everette Jake Dailey Jaquala Lyons Terence Dollard Jake Daily Terence Dollard Larry Everette Ehronda Farmer Jake Daily DJ Burris Terence Dollard Kim Nguyen Larry Everette After the burn out start Ehromda Farmer Larry Everette Jake Daily Terence Dollard Ehronda Farmer Larry Everette Terrence Dollard Jake Daily

Top Gear is an award winning British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) television show pushing cars to their limits to find out if they are as good as manufacturers claim.

Students in Terence Dollard's Advanced Videography and Editing course filmed scenes reminiscent of TopGear at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport on June 2.

The course is in the broadcast track of the Mass Communication Department.

The 11 students worked with professional driver Rodney Wright, president of the Tarheel Sports Car Club, which has been organizing autocrosses and road rallies in North Carolina since 1964. It offers time trials, track schools and rallycross.

"My goal for the exercise was to give the students an opportunity to shoot outside of the traditional university environment and to show the possibilities that are available when you are in broadcasting," Dollard said.

"The shoot was very successful," he said. "We executed everything that we planned and had some extra shots. The driver's skill made it even more exciting."

"It was a great experience," senior Joshua Shipman said. "It's not something you get to see every day."

He said he had never had an opportunity to work in that kind of atmosphere.

"What I was hoping that we would see, and what I think we did see, were creative camera shots and students trying to put their skills, not only to their best efforts, but to exceed their best efforts and try their hardest to make some really nice video," Dollard said.

Broadcasting major Jaquala Lyons said she learned a lot during the experience.

"It was the best class I've ever attended," Lyons said.

Wright was very pleased to be involved with the shoot, Dollard said. "He told me . . . how impressed he was with the group of students, how professional he thought they were and how pleased he was with the entire experience."

"The students wrote a script based around the premise that we were shooting some sort of TopGear style segment," Dollard said. "Two students wrote scripts that we combined into one master script that combines a love story between people who work at the library and two students who are working on a TopGear style segment."

"By putting those two scripts together we have one very strong story . . . written by the students," he said.

"The footage will be edited together in a TopGear style format, so we'll do a preview of the car followed by a lap time as the car goes around the track," Dollard said.

"One of the toughest parts was that the track wasn't exactly in one whole piece, so the shots that we got had to be very creative to cover up the fact that a large portion of the track was no longer solid concrete, but ruble," he said.

"I think when we see the finished product, we'll see that we're able to make it appear as one solid driving experience," he said.

Dollard said his goal is to do something creative every semester he teaches this class.

"In previous semesters we've built sets and done a web series for web shows," he said.

"I do like getting off campus," he said. "The great thing about teaching during summer is that we're together for a longer period of time [on any one day], and we're able to shoot more complete scenes rather than trying to do it all in an hour and 15 minutes, so generally I tailor the course towards the amount of time we have."

"In the fall, when I teach the course again, I will be meeting for a 2-1/2 hour period, so I'm hoping that I'm able to come up with something equally as interesting, although probably closer to campus," he said.