Students selected to promote golf tournament

SAN MARCOS — For the fifth year in a row, Palomar College has played an important part in promoting the PGA TOUR Farmers Insurance Open Golf Tournament at Torrey Pines. Two Palomar College radio and television, or RTV, students were selected by the Century Club of San Diego, the organizing body of the Farmers Insurance Open, to create advertising for the event.
Students David McMinn and Serena Reid produced a commercial package that included three 30-second television ads and three 30- and 60-second radio spots. The commercials were broadcast throughout the San Diego area while the tournament was aired on the Golf Channel and CBS network from Jan. 27 to Jan. 30.
“Palomar’s ongoing partnership with the Century Club presents a fantastic opportunity for our students,” said Pat Hahn, professor of Communication at Palomar College. “This kind of real-world experience can only help advance their career pursuits.”
He explained that more than 40 students became involved in this year’s effort, writing scripts and editing more than 14 hours of PGA footage.
Raquel Licuan, marketing communications manager for the Farmers Insurance Open, said that the relationship between the Century Club and Palomar began five years ago when the organization was looking for an approach to advertising that would appeal to a broader demographic than has been traditionally associated with golf events. They also wanted to give local college students the unique opportunity to design commercials.
Development of the commercial began when Palomar RTV Instructor Garrett Chaffin-Quiray gave members of his Broadcast Writing/Producing class (RTV 110) the assignment of writing a script based on information the Century Club provided.
The students were asked to write six versions of the commercial script, three each for radio and television. Reid’s script was one of those chosen to send on to the Century Club.
“I think my commercial was chosen because of simplicity,” Reid said. “The dialogue was simple and the imagery and audio clips I wrote into the script were simple; not overwhelming to the viewer or for the listener. I spent countless hours watching television commercials to get a feel for a professional approach. I also used what I learned in class about the psychological side of putting together a commercial.”
After Reid’s script was chosen, the Century Club provided the college with the other ingredients for a commercial — 14 hours of digital footage from the January 2010 PGA tournament. All six versions of Reid’s script were turned over to the students in Pat Hahn’s Digital Video Editing class (RTV 270).
The winning editing student, San Marcos resident David McMinn, said he spent more than 80 hours working with the footage shot by CBS Television, and “not sleeping for three days” in the effort “to choose just the right content to match Reid’s script.” In addition to editing the footage, he created digital sound effects to go along with the music other students had provided.
“This has been an amazing experience,” McMinn said. “Working with such a high caliber client I developed an understanding and appreciation for networking at the highest level, and gained valuable experience working with clients, sponsors and deadlines. Crunch time was tough but fun.”
Last year McMinn was among the Palomar RTV students whose work was nominated for an Emmy in the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences competition.
McMinn and Reid were given VIP passes and clubhouse access for the duration of the tournament. They were also introduced at a special media day for the event held at The Lodge at Torrey Pines.