Dan Rather Comes to SHSU

Studio C of Sam Houston is complete! The first all LED University studio!

Dan Rather graced us with his presence in late September. Richard Lacy, Scott Jones, Craig Loper, and myself (Mitchell Loper) worked on getting the lighting and studios just right for Mr. Rather coming to visit his Alma Mater.

We all had the privilege of filming a “no holds barred” Q&A with about 100 MASSCOM students and Mr. Rather. This was an incredibly insightful event with Mr. Rather as he talked about his 56-year career in radio, newspapers, television and now the Internet. I have always had great respect for Dan Rather and now more than ever.

Much was discussed in the Q&A, but what I really got out of it was: work hard, and do what you love, reaffirming what I truly believe in, which is a creed we at Keena & Company do not take lightly!

Here is a shot BTS clip of Mr. Rather in Studio C.

Home stretch for Studio C, and revving up for Studio A

Currently the Keena & Company team is wrapping up the loose ends in Sam Houston’s Studio C. Starting next week, the Keena & Company team is installing the cameras and fine-tuning the lighting to finish up. Our team in conjunction with SHSU decided to go with 3 Canon XF305s. This is a great 1080p HD camera, with 4:2:2 pulldown, HDSDI out and genlock to jamsync the cameras for multi-camera shoots, this will be a solid edition to the studio. 

Background lights

Hanging blades to flag unwanted light and green reflection to camera.

Talent back lights

Comparing light quality of hard and soft for the talent backlights. 

Hanging flags to keep unwanted spill from camera lens.

We have officially started upgrading Studio A as well, SHSU’s flagship studio, where they teach multiple classes, support student projects and shoot their weekly news broadcast.

Starting now, the Keena & Company team of professionals and specialists will begin coordination and installation of, lighting instruments, grip equipment, and programing / broadcast equipment. The project will be installed in stages, so the studio is not down for an extended period of time.

Many thanks from Keena & Company to all of the suppliers, contractors and SHSU personnel for keeping these projects running smoothly. 

Network Houston

Network Houston’s recent event was an efficacious gathering held in the beautiful meeting room overlooking the cortyard pool at the Metropole on Richmond Avenue.  Hosted by Keena & Company, who offices at the Metropole, the event was attended by 20 successful business representatives coordinated by Dave Bamberg and Keena Collins. Jim Benton of Houston served tasty hors d’oeuvres and summer specialty drinks. Brad Page, of Bishop’s Office Needs, won the drawing and took home a beautiful large white orchard  (after brief care instructions from the experts).  Mitchell and Craig Loper of Keena & Company documented the event, shooting video clips with HDSLR cameras, FloLight 1024 Microbeam LED light panels and a Kessler Pocket Dolly.  These lightweight tools provide excellent opportunities for B2B communication through webinars and social media. Mitchell manages Keena & Company’s website and blog and is posting some of the event here for your enjoyment.


Network Houston from Keena & Company on Vimeo.

SHSU's Studio C gets a facelift!

For more than 6 months the Keena & Company has been working closely with Sam Houston State University upgrading their TV broadcast studios in the Dan Rather Communications Building.

After weeks of preparation and coordination from suppliers from coast to coast, Craig and Mitchell Loper are in full swing at Sam Houston replacing all tungsten studio lighting with new hi-tech, eco friendly High Powered LED MicroBeam-1024 lighting panels from FloLight.

This is the first of two studios that we are upgrading at SHSU, and will soon showcase today’s most current technology for both lighting and HD video production. Just a few studios around the world have converted to all LED lighting, but this will soon be the new standard for TV broadcast.

LED lighting is about 20x more efficient than conventional lighting. With lamp savings alone, the lights will pay for themselves! This new technology also uses less than 1/10 the amount of energy of traditional tungsten units and generates very little heat. Traditional tungsten lamps generate 90% of their energy use in the form of heat and only 10% of the used energy goes to light.

This is an exciting venture for Sam Houston and Keena & Company to design the studio lighting with this new technology and to provide a learning environment for current and future students at SAM that will be a showcase in the industry both now and for years to come. Currently we are lighting a green screen and two anchor positions for various shows SAM produces for cable TV and web. 

Prepping for Sam Houston

Welding adapters to retrofit hangers to new lights

1/2"-1/4" adapter "Tini-turnaround"

Billboard Campaign

Keena & Company’s Marketing Team is currently implementing their plan to spread the word about the Summer Meals Program for kids 18 and under for the Texas Agriculture Department. The program features Deion Sanders, NFL Hall of Famer.  

The program features free breakfast and lunch for anyone age 18 and under.

K&C produced and scheduled two sizes of billboards, bulletins, the normal size you see on freeways and major streets, and poster size, which are in neighborhoods. Here’s a sample of one of the boards.

Click to enlarge

Approximately 300 of these billboards will be running over a 3 month campaign across Texas in the following cities: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, Beaumont, Laredo, Brownsville, Weslaco, Harlingen, and Austin.

Billboards are one of the best ways to get a message to the people who really need the meals.  They will see them on public transportation or walking through their neighborhoods.

Previous billboard campaigns designed and implemented by Keena & Company’s marketing team have produced outstanding results for other state programs and we are expecting similar results for this worthwhile endeavor.

www.squaremeals.org  

Following a blog

In current times there are multiple ways to keep informed, and there are several different ways to follow a blog.  We urge you to follow, so you keep up with Keena & Company's current events and we will strive to provide business tips useful to you. The most effective way to follow the blog is through twitter. www.twitter.com
If you don't already have an account with twitter you will need to create one. twitter is a powerful tool to transfer information to others in a concise way. Once you are set up it is easy, fun and engaging.You are also able to receive messages, much like a txt message on your smart phone, if you so choose.


Staying engaged in social media can sometimes seem like a "sinkhole" for time and energy, and can also be frustrating to figure out at times. However, used effectively, it can keep you updated on trends and current events that you are specifically interested in.


We hope that this tip helps and we invite you to follow Keena & Company.

Sam Houston is back on the airwaves!

The Sam Houston State University television broadcast Studio “A” in the Dan Rather Communications Building is up and running!

Many individuals came together to make this happen. Keena & Company and Rock Eagle Communications team of 14 specialists and engineers, headed up by Craig Loper, have worked with the Department of Mass Communications since mid December 2010 to re-engineer Master Control and Studio “A”. In addition to these team members, SHSU project management support and more than 12 staff, instructors, and interns from the university contributed to bringing live broadcasts and student projects back on line. The project also involved multiple contractors from around the country and state, with hundreds of hours logged and long days had by all.

Thank you everyone!

Here are a few photos and video of the current and past students at Sam Houston “going live” with their recent weekly news broadcast on Huntsville’s Channel 7.