Meet Video Producer Matt Schaeffer

Hello!  My name is Matt Schaeffer and I am co-owner of DYNAMIC Video Lighting and Sound LLC.  Since blogging is new to DYNAMIC, we each decided to give introductions about our backgrounds in the world of entertainment.  We will give insight on how we came to love the industry and I will also let you know how DYNAMIC became DYNAMIC!

I was born in Reading, PA.  I spent my entire life living in the same house, the same neighborhood and the same school district, Muhlenberg.  I had an interest in television since the fifth grade.  My teacher, Mr. Larry Kline, ran a TV club that produced morning announcements.  We also taped events such as talent shows and concerts in our middle school.  To be a member of this club, you had to have top grades and had to be selected.  Once chosen, you were a member for all three of your middle school years.  We used what was known as Newtek’s Video Toaster.  Some of you might know of Newtek as the creator of the Tricaster which in today’s world is an industry leading product which has revolutionized portable broadcasting.

We continued to use the Video Toaster in high school for all of our video switching.  Here, we stepped up our programming from the every day morning announcements and added a weekly news broadcast called Muhltime.  Although I was dedicated to the world of television and film, I joined every club and participated in every activity that I could.  I was involved in every music activity that I could be and also participated in sports.  I wanted to leave high school as well-rounded as possible.  When it came time to pick a college, I knew I wanted to focus on film so my decision was between Temple and Penn State.  I chose THE Pennsylvania State University and continue to be proud of my alma mater!

I began my Penn State career as a film student where I had the opportunity to use equipment such as the Bolex H-16 Reflex.  This camera used 16mm film and we could either shoot in black and white or color.  Due to the cost of film, we decided to film in black and white.  The Bolex shot in 15 sec. segments which meant that you couldn’t stay on a shot for more than that allotted amount of time, which in film, 15 seconds is even too long to be on one shot.  It was on the Bolex that I had the opportunity to direct and edit my very first film, A Shameful Double Standard.  As I got deeper into the film program, I realized that I enjoyed live production as opposed to film so I moved my focus from Film to Telecommunications with a focus on broadcasting (Penn State did not have a broadcasting major until my senior year).  I graduated with a Bachelors of Arts from the college of Communications in December of 2005.

I participated in two totally opposite internships while I was at Penn State.  The first internship happened by accident.  I heard that Disney was coming to PSU to do some recruiting for their college program.  I went to their recruiting seminar and they had the option to audition to be a character performer.  They explained that if I wouldn’t get accepted to be a character that I would still be considered for the College Program.  What did I have to lose?  So I auditioned.  The audition consisted of character movements and dance.  After a long audition process, I was accepted for the Fall of 2003 program.  Unfortunately I had to respectfully decline because my sister was getting married in September and Disney would not allow me to miss the first few weeks because the training was intense at that time.  They told me to audition again the following semester, so I did and thankfully passed the audition again and was officially accepted into the program from January-May of 2004.

My second internship occurred at WPVI-6 ABC in Philadelphia.  I was a Public Affairs Intern where I learned what it was like to plan, shoot, transcribe, log, write, and edit news segments for ABC’s local programing known as Fast Forward.  I also had the opportunity to edit the Best of Class segments on Avid editing stations.  This was an honor because editing is not something that they allowed interns to do on a regular basis.  While at ABC, I worked with the entire Philadelphia Eagles team (including interviews with Donovan McNabb, Jeremiah Trotter, Jevon Kearse, Brian Dawkins and Jeff Lurie), Sixers star “Double D” Darryl Dawkins, and Cedric the Entertainer.  Also while at WPVI, I shared several elevator rides with Meteorologist Cecily Tynan which led to me being able to watch several news casts live in studio during the 5 o’clock news.

I graduated from Penn State University in 2005.  I applied at several locations between Reading and Philadelphia.  One job in particular caught my eye.  I come from a family of teachers, so when I saw a job available at the Wilson School District, I jumped right on it.  The job was for a Television Production Manager.  I was brought in to an interview that included Deb Chestnut (who would become my boss), George Fiore (a former Muhlenberg Muhl), Kevin (a summer intern and TV crew president, going into his senior year) and Nate (a summer intern going into his junior year).  I found it particularly unique that two students were involved with the interview process however they wanted to find someone that related to kids well and apparently I hit it off with them.  I was hired at Wilson on July 18th, 2006, at a salary that was less then ideal however I looked at it as a stepping stone to something bigger.

 I spent the remainder of that summer working with Kevin and Nate.  We upgraded the television studio as well as the editing suite that summer.  Kevin and I also worked on a new announcer desk during the beginning parts of the 2006-2007 school year.  Kevin helped to show me how production was run at Wilson and gave me a great foundation for what I had planned next.  For the next 3 summers, Kevin and Nate continued to work as my summer interns and we continued to upgrade and expand the production facilities at Wilson.  We designed and built a TV remote production truck which includes over 20 LCD monitors and professional video/audio mixing equipment.  We upgraded our cameras from standard definition to high definition.  We also built a full editing suite outfitted with powerful Apple computers running the Adobe Suite along side of Final Cut Studio.

My second full year, Nate introduced me to moving-head lights.  We worked on plays and musicals together and it was that year that I began to take a great interest in event production.  Later that year, we worked together at the Make-A-Wish Prom where we helped to grant a wish to a little boy who was diagnosed with a serious form of cancer.  This child’s wish was to go to Disney World but he was a HUGE Star Wars fanatic.  With the help of theatrical lighting and special effects as well as a professional Star Wars impersonating group, we brought Darth Vader and other members of the epic series to Wilson High School’s gym.  This event marked another first.  Hayden Christiansen, who played Anakin Skywalker, was asked to be a part of this event but was on location filming another movie.  He asked if there were any ways to view it and we wanted to accommodate so we streamed it live over the internet.  Hayden, along with other members of George Lucas’s team, watched from locations all over the country.  After the success of this event, we began to stream every live broadcast over the internet such as football games and commencement ceremonies.  The culmination of this year also marked the end of WTV and the birth of WMP.  Wilson Media Productions is a full production team that specializes in all types of events, not just the what is shown on television.  WMP continued to grow with shows such as VAMP, Proms, local celebrity benefits, and broadway style musicals.

During our final summer together, myself, Kevin and Nate were driving around together and talking about all the things we’ve done at Wilson.  We didn’t want it to stop there.  We decided that we wanted to do things like this for the rest of our lives together, and so, DYNAMIC was born.

Although this was an abridged version of the last 7 years, one thing is for sure, we’ve been through a lot together! We’ve now been in business for over three years and continue to grow with each event that we produce.  The support that we are receiving from everyone is what keeps us going.  Thank you to all of our supporters.  The more our name is seen, the more our business grows.

Remember… MAKE YOUR NEXT EVENT… DYNAMIC!