Channel Five relocates to new home on Coney Drive

Most people start the year with promises of having a fresh start and a new outlook on life. And that’s exactly what Great Belize Productions/Channel Five is doing. The station has a fresh look and we are now broadcasting from our home on Coney Drive as we move forward with the new decade. The work is ongoing but tonight we’ll give you an insight of how it is shaping up. William Neal, my co-host from Open Your Eyes, took a tour of our Coney Drive studio earlier this morning while the hammers and drills were still pounding away.

William Neal
This building in downtown Belize City on Regent Street—number 17 Regent Street to be exact—has always been a historic building. And while many may debate whether it held slaves or not, there’s no debating that it has been home to Great Belize Productions and Channel Five, the leader in television productions, for close to twenty years. In fact, this transmission tower located in its backyard has become a landmark of Belize City and a distinct feature in the Belize City Skyline. And as the New Year begins, 2010, we here at Channel Five are getting ready and getting ready to begin an entirely new one.

And while we’ve turned and corner and closed a chapter at number 17 Regent Street, we’re looking forward to bigger, brighter and better things here at number 2282 Coney Drive, the new home of Channel Five. And if you’ve ever moved into a new house you know it is never easy. It’s hard work but it’s hard work that needs to be done. Imagine moving an entire business but it’s all a part of our growing pains. And the man making sure that Channel Five has a new look and definitely looks spiffy is non other Gilvano Swasey.

William Neal
“Gilvano, how exactly do you decide what would be the look for some of the sets that we have here at Channel Five?”

Gilvano Swasey, Artist
“Well, whenever I’m doing a design project, I basically get a feel of the client; what are their ideas and most importantly how they work. When I say how they work, it’s professionalism because many times I look at Belize TV and there’s a certain look that is Belize of course and then we look at foreign TV and think how come they look so good or how come they look better. And I’m always annoyed that we don’t use the technology that we have or most importantly be professional about how we do things. Here at Channel Five, working along with the crew and the cameraman and understanding the lighting, the image and the feel that they want to give to the public and to how they cover their stories, everything has a feel of professionalism, cleanliness, sharp and to the point and clarity because you’re transferring information and one little slip of the word or one bad look will change the story completely. So that is very crucial.”

William Neal
“Now, a lot of times people don’t realize that television is a visual medium and you have great ideas and you think this will look good on TV. How do you not make a huge mistake after a huge investment in a set?”

Gilvano Swasey
“The main thing sometimes less is more. When it comes to TV, you’re dealing with technology, you’re dealing with images right. First of all, as a designer, you have to understand all the aspects. Something that looks good to the regular eye will not look good on camera. You’re talking about with lighting, which is very important for TV. You might put too much light and it washes out, you might put little light and it’s dark, you might put too much information on the back and your story that you’re giving gets lost. So we have to understand these things and working at Channel Five you get to work with the cameraman, the reporter, so you get the full story.”

William Neal
“How do you feel when you sit down at home and watch the television and it’s a part of your creation?”

Gilvano Swasey
“It feels very satisfying to be honest because, like you mention, everything is new and sometimes it’s a bit scary to do something new. Of course, there will be little times when you look at it and it’s like I could have done a little better but the thing is that you learn right. Many people do things and they’re happy with that. So there’s always room for improvement, there’s always fresh ideas. Like I said, you feel satisfied knowing up to the point that you look at it and it looks like states, like Belizeans would say, but it shows that here in Belize we are very creative. We have creative people in that aspect and can be on that same level. We shouldn’t be afraid to push the envelope.”

Williams Neal
“Well, thanks very much Gilvano.”

And now we have to definitely go and look for the man named Rick because his name has been several times. So we definitely have to go and find Rick. And we’ve managed to locate the very illusive Rick, referenced by Gilvano so many times. This is the control room and this is actually the brain of Rick materialized.

William Neal
“Now Rick, we’re looking at this brand new space and new control room. How have things changed over the years?”

Rick Romero, Head of Production Department
“It has changed a lot. For the eighteen years we’ve been working in a studio that’s pretty much from here to there or a little but more. But right now we’ve changed to two bigger studios—one for news and one for Open Your Eyes. The control room itself is where we are right now. It’s much bigger also. So we have three bigger rooms to work from.”

William Neal
“And as we look at the control board etcetera in the control room here, Rick one of the things that springs to mind is how do you guide the development, especially when you’re talking about technical expertise and you’re dealing with a pioneering kind of job? How do you guide that as a technical person?”

Rick Romero
“We’re trying to provide the best quality image out there possible. We’re trying to set a standard for how our news looks, how our local show Open your Eyes looks and the production values are pretty high.”

William Neal
“how do you work with new members of staff etcetera to make sure that Channel Five and the look that has become signature for Channel Five remains the same?”

Rick Romero
“Our production guys, our cameramen, our editors; they know it’s all about capturing the best images you know providing visually arresting images really. Editing; high standards in telling a story, in shooting a set, in doing interviews, all that has to do with certain basic standards or principles of video and that’s what we try to maintain on a day to day basis.”

William Neal
“Now, Rick my final question just has to do with the fact that you have been one of the pillars in terms of the development of Channel Five especially when it comes to that technical efficiency that Channel Five is now known for. How do you maintain a fresh outlook twenty years down the road?”

Rick Romero
“A fresh outlook; everyday is a challenge, every day we take it on as if it were the last day we’re shooting or the last day we’re editing and tomorrow is going to be a new set of challenges when it comes to television.”

And for us here at Channel Five, we hope to continue to build a bright future beyond 2010 on the tradition of excellence that we have long established here. Our hope is that Belize’s leading television station will evolve to become the region’s leading television station, despite all the challenges. We hope that you will continue to tune in and support Channel Five as we make the move beyond 2010. Remember with your support, the sky is truly the limit.