Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Capstone progress

So I have a capstone for the fall now! As it turns out, I will be using both of the skills I mentioned from my last entry in the final version.

So here's how it's going to fall. I'll do a package every other week, and these will be under a deadline. At the beginning of the semester, I'll work under a deadline of two days for these packages. As the semester moves on, I'll work towards reducing the amount of time for each package. Also as the semester goes on, I'll have to use VJ gear for some of these packages. The gear will come in midway through the semester, after I've done a few packages, but before I reduce the deadline. By the end, I'll be using both a reduced deadline AND the VJ gear to produce my packages. Later tonight I'll be putting together a specific schedule for the next semester.

That's all well and good, but what do I get out of it that's tangible? Well, I'll put together a resume tape that already demonstrates work that would be close to the deadlines I'd face in a real job. And to help give me feedback on the process and packages, in addition to the department professors, I have also lined up a professional producer from a local TV station. She's a person that I've worked with before at a past internship, so I know that I can trust her to be perfectly honest with me in terms of how well I've put the package together.

It is what it is! (Hope I don't have to say that seriously anytime soon!)

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Capstone closing

So it's now almost time for me to turn in my Capstone project for next semester, and as it stands, I'll be digging for approval for my project this week. The department wasn't so much a fan of my proposal in the first place, so I'm kind of making up for lost time, but I have what I think is a better idea and hopefully that will help matters somewhat. I'm actually torn between two elements to focus on, or even the possibility of working in both. I realized that I know I can put together a good package for a TV show, but my usual time frame for them is over a week, not a day. With that in mind, I'd like to try and simulate the deadline pressure that I would feel in a real professional job.

In this case, I'd choose at least one package every other week, and then give myself a timeframe of 24-48 hours to get it complete. While this is still not a true-to-life timeframe, it is one that will at least move me closer to being prepared for a job in the field.

The other possibility is to practice my one-man-band-ing skills. After this semester, I think I'm better than I thought at shooting stories with only myself to be both behind and in front of the camera. More significant than that, it's a style of journalism that is becoming more prevalent in the business these days, and any person studying them would be remiss in not at least becoming familiar with the technology behind this new brand of journalism.

The third option I have, one which I'm leaning to right now, is to combine these aspects into one project, giving the whole undertaking some more depth. For this version, I hope to try and incorporate all of these elements to bring each piece in to my practice. I would keep the every-other-week schedule of deadline projects, but I would also add in the requirement that some of these be completed on my own, as a "VJ," shooting, editing, and writing the story all on my own.

I think this might be the way I go, especially as it incorporates so many important elements into my practice. I'll be deciding tonight, so keep checking here, you'll see more on this tomorrow.