Basic Stuff:
Who are you?
We're NapierTV. It says just up there, see?
We're a student-run society that produces what can best be described as "an internet TV show" - a video podcast. We do a lot more than that, but that probably sums up the basics.
Are you affiliated with the NSA/Napier?
We're funded by the Napier Students Association (NSA) and we're mostly Edinburgh Napier (ENU) students, but we're not the "official" ENU/NSA podcast, although we're arguably the de facto Edinburgh Napier podcast.
What exactly does NapierTV do? Just cover events? Create events? Seek out new life and new civilisation?
The answer is - all those things. We seek to be a sort of gateway to the wonderful world of Napier. In our weekly podcast we show highlights from our channels - these can include coverage of other people's events, coverage of our own events, and a range of other content all based around student life. Whilst we haven't yet explored alien worlds, some of the student digs we've been into might as well have been.
What are these "events" of which you speak?
That's a little bit of jargon for you! We've hosted numerous things - laserquest matches, gig nights, club takeovers, and pub crawls. Rather than refer to them all individually, we often use the blanket term "events" to describe anything we put on.
Getting Involved:
Am I eligible to join?
Yes, even if you're not an Edinburgh Napier student - all you need is a valid NSA society card. Pick them up at the NSA office during office hours for £5 (they entitle you to a free Frankenstein's card, so it's not a bad deal).
The only catch is if you're not an Edinburgh Napier student - you're not eligible to be president, treasurer or secretary. That's pretty much the only restriction and that's a decision out of our hands (it's a constitutional thingy).
How do I join?
Joining is pretty simple - turn up to one of our production meetings, or talk to us at one of our live shows. Alternately, just get in touch through the contact section of the site. Membership is just £5 for the year, although we also do membership for £15 that includes a NapierTV hoody.
When are your production meetings?
Every Thursday at 7PM at Merchiston. The actual room number varies, but we try to make sure some of our team are downstairs to point the way. If you get lost, call the society mobile - 07556293444 - it's just a standard mobile phone, nothing special (we just didn't want to give the world our personal phone numbers!). There should also be some signs up to tell you which room we're in, so keep your eyes peeled.
What happens at one of your production meetings?
Generally meetings go a little like this - a brief overview of the previous week's activities, filming a few bits and pieces and working out a film schedule. We try to not keep things too serious but we also want to get some relevant stuff in done. If there's something in particular you want us to cover at a meeting, just get in touch and tell us.
If I have something I think ENTV will be interested in, what should I do?
First of all - get in touch. Either through speaking to us directly, or using the contact section of the website. Generally the more notice we have the better. We can't guarantee we'll be able to attend or help out, but we at least promise to have a look and get back to you.
If i'm interested in helping out?
That depends on what you want to help out with. We're always on the lookout for members, and even more so people with an interest in helping us produce content. Contact us and let us know what area you'd like to help out with.
Be it hosting a channel, helping plan events, camerawork, lighting, sound, or even just holding things, we can always use the help, and will try and find a place for you in our crew ASAP. Also, bear in mind that even if you're already helping out in one area, the chances are that you'll find yourselves picking up things from all aspects.
When is the weekly live show?
Every Thursday, 8PM at the NSA bar, although the actual start time varies, depending on the meeting before hand and how complex the filming setup is for the evening.
What happens at your live shows?
Given that Morning Coffee is live and often very improvised, what we plan to happen doesn't always quite work out. That said, it's generally a laugh and we try to keep things varied. Every week there'll be Morning Coffee and the premiere of the week's episode, but the rest is more flexible. Live music, a bit of stand-up comedy and competitions are all on the cards!
Nitty Gritty:
What kind of equipment do you use?
We film using Canon HV30s and HV40s, depending on what we have available. Our microphones of choice are Shure SM58s, Rode Videomics for shotgun and boom work and Sony ECM CS10 lapel mics. Our lighting is a bit of a homebrew solution built from "sun guns" (2 - 3.5 million candlelight torches). We also use a variety of tripods, handles and other bits and pieces. If you'd like to know more, feel free to drop us an email.
Licensing?
Wherever possible we license our content under a Creative Commons license - currently we're using a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.5 UK: Scotland License. This means you're free to distribute our show as much as you like for free, but you're not allowed to charge for it or use it for commercial purposes. Should you wish to share it, you've got to make sure you stipulate that this is the license it's being shared under. You're also quite welcome to chop up our footage and create mash-ups or whatever else you might like, should you be so inclined.
Where do you stand on journalistic neutrality?
We are not the mouth-piece for anyone but ourselves. That said, we take the attitude of being positive unless given cause to be negative. We try to support Edinburgh Napier ventures and encourage others to do the same, but should we be treated badly we're not going to take it lying down. We want to be inclusive, but we're nobody's doormat.
Where can I find copies of your constitution/code of conduct?
Check our resources section.
What's with the iframes you use to power your calendar?
We don't like iframes and wouldn't use them if it wasn't such a pain to not use them. We explored various alternatives when building the site, but eventually we found that it was a case of diminishing returns, so we kept them. Most of the rest of the custom stuff on the site runs on PHP or javascript, but the calendar was a bit too much for the first version of the site. Sorry!
Contacting Us:
How can I get in touch with you?
We can be reached via email, Twitter, Facebook and good old fashioned snail mail:
NapierTV
Napier Students' Association
12 Merchiston Place
Edinburgh, EH10 4NR
You can also text ENTV on the following number - 07556293444
It's a dedicated mobile number just for the society. You can call if you like but any of us might answer!
I'm with a society/club, could you film our event?
The answer is "maybe". It all depends when your event is, when you ask us and whether we have a spare crew to hand. It's a lot easier for us to film things for you if you can lend us a person or two for the event to help us out. A briefing helps too! The only caveat is that if you want the footage from us directly and want the tapes, we may have to take a deposit - miniDV tapes aren't free and we've had so many societies and clubs not return them!
Press contact?
If you're with the mainstream press or independent media we'd quite like to speak to you. Email would probably work best for contact and if necessary we can provide phone numbers and further details (we're sure you'll understand why we're unwilling to list those publicly!).