Hi, I'm Deb Piper and I'm a producer and the manager of
remote production at PBS Wisconsin. For the Mile of
Music production, I am one of the producers working on all
the details it takes for us to put this together with our
production truck. We are recording at Lawrence
University Memorial Chapel and also at Jones Park. We have a
crew of 20 working with us in our production truck. We are
recording nine concerts between the Memorial Chapel and Jones
Park. Here at the chapel, we have six cameras and tomorrow
at Jones Park, we'll have seven cameras including two crane
cameras. We also have a myriad of people inside the
truck between audio and video, our switcher, our robotics
camera operator will be in there as well as
the director that's either myself or John. So, we have a
big group here and we're really excited to be here. So, as
we're directing these shows, we've actually done a little
homework and kind of researched each of the artists. We
kind of know their style. We want to know if they have
multiple instruments. Are they really cool about their
interaction with the audience? And, we're using that as we're
helping the camera bridges figure out their shots. Camera
operators are being creative about how they pick their
angles and that's a really fun part of this for them as well.
So, we don't just waltz into a show and decide we're going to
record it. We've actually been doing some research on this for
at least eight years. Our first scout here at Mile of Music was in
2019. We've been back twice since then with
various technical crew. We've been researching the artists
once they were announced and knowing what genres and what
will be best for our audience and it would be really interest
our audience. So, we've been doing a lot of planning in that
regards. Getting 40 people into Appleton with hotels and meals
and everything else. There's a lot that goes into a production.
Well, I think one of the things that really excites me about
this is just seeing the entire thing finally come together.
I'm looking at this as a director, but not just as a
director. I'm looking at this as an audience member. I'm a
huge music fan. I am really taking all of these bands and
starting to add them to my own playlists. So, I've really
learned a lot about these artists and I'm trying to take
all of that and bring that experience in so that you as an
audience member gets to enjoy it as much as I am here.