So Convention continued last night, and it was GLORIOUS event again! Those republicans actually seemed to have some energy last night. And THEN Sarah Palin came out, and FINALLY it felt like the big party the conventions were designed to be. As to actual events, it was the usual drudge work (not to complain, just to define) on tap for the morning, and I did end up being a bouncer during the shows again, BUT I got to make it down to the convention floor, and THIS time, it was chock-full of delegates! The only problem is, anyone with a headset, camera, audio recorder, or other form of recording device had alREADY descended on the floor as well. So I didn't exactly get very far. It WAS very neat to be down in the crush of things as the convention was going on all around me, and the potential historic first female VP was speaking.
More from the RNC later on today; duty calls!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Shaping my career in college
Although there are many things that have contributed to my development throughout college while working towards becoming a professional journalist, there is one experience that really comes to mind in helping me decide where I wanted to end up and pointing out to me that my career was moving in the right direction. It came to me during the class Radio and TV Announcing that we had here at Westminster. About that time, I got my first taste of the most visible position in broadcast journalism, the anchor desk. It had always been a dream of mine when I was a VERY young kid to try out being a news anchor, after of course, the firefighter/police officer/doctor stage. As I got older I heard more and more about how it was a hard field to get in to etc., and eventually said, OK I'll let that go, and moved on to other things. However, after discovering the BC program again, I was inspired to try and reach for the old goal again, and it turns out that it's been there all along.
Getting behind the news desk for the first time was a VERY weird experience. No matter how simple it looks from the TV side of things, the whole production is (of course) much more complicated than it seems. But the one thing that makes it stand out for me was that, even with all the nerves running through me for my first time anchoring, it felt natural in some ways. And now I think back to it and realize how much of a turning point that moment was for me. From that point on, I finally had the experience of doing, albeit on a smaller scale, what I had literally only dreamed about for years. And it's nice to know it's something that (eventually) I will be able to keep on doing.
Getting behind the news desk for the first time was a VERY weird experience. No matter how simple it looks from the TV side of things, the whole production is (of course) much more complicated than it seems. But the one thing that makes it stand out for me was that, even with all the nerves running through me for my first time anchoring, it felt natural in some ways. And now I think back to it and realize how much of a turning point that moment was for me. From that point on, I finally had the experience of doing, albeit on a smaller scale, what I had literally only dreamed about for years. And it's nice to know it's something that (eventually) I will be able to keep on doing.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
What a day!
So it's Day 2 of the Republican National Convention and what a day it's been! I've gotten to see a lot of things today that a big production has to go through that's kind of hard to experience any other way. In addition to my usual duties (including 6 AM newspaper delivery) I also got to stand in one of the sets and help manage the ebb and flow of people in and out during the regular show AND the special convention coverage later on in the same night.
And now for proof that Western Pennsylvania NEVER goes away, no matter how far away you are. As I was in the green room watching people come in and out, who should appear escorting a guest on the show but Liz Stephans and Scott Baker of breitbart.tv, who had come to campus and spoken to the broadcasting majors. I had introduced myself to them then and we'd spoken since, and they still remembered me (always a good sign!) I may be meeting them later tonight to keep in touch further, as work kept me jumping while they were there just long enough to keep us from having a very long conversation.
That's all I'll add for now, I may be posting later tonight, but if not, look for another update tomorrow!
And now for proof that Western Pennsylvania NEVER goes away, no matter how far away you are. As I was in the green room watching people come in and out, who should appear escorting a guest on the show but Liz Stephans and Scott Baker of breitbart.tv, who had come to campus and spoken to the broadcasting majors. I had introduced myself to them then and we'd spoken since, and they still remembered me (always a good sign!) I may be meeting them later tonight to keep in touch further, as work kept me jumping while they were there just long enough to keep us from having a very long conversation.
That's all I'll add for now, I may be posting later tonight, but if not, look for another update tomorrow!
Monday, September 1, 2008
Convention Opens!... sort of...
It's Monday, September 1st, and that means it's the opening of the Republican National Convention... or is it?
Although Convention was ready to go, Mother Nature made other plans, and Hurricane Gustav is wreaking havoc with the convention schedule. Although it seems now that the brunt of Gustav is missing New Orleans, it's still too late for today's activities. McCain's called off any convention activities besides the absolutely necessary business, so as not to be seen celebrating while a hurricane destroys the southern Louisiana coast... AGAIN. So they'll be going about the details and procedures of officially convening the convention, and making sure that the convention is valid.
While that's all well and good for the Republicans, it throws a HUGE spanner in the works for the media here, ESPECIALLY the NewsHour. So today's kind of nuts, as we are uncertain as to what the heck is actually going to occur. We also are down to 3 anchors/correspondents, to make matters even more interesting. Jim Lehrer decided to return to Washington after hearing that Gustav would be throwing things out of whack, and Margaret Warner was unable to make it to this convention. This leaves only Gwen Ifill, Ray Suarez and Judy Woodruff to man the fort here. There's still PLENTY of crew too, but the on-air group is now reduced to those three.
At the moment, Gustav is going to be the ONLY thing on CNN, so we're watching that around keepign the show afloat, which is being made even more interesting because the cable is cutting out for a few seconds every so often. Then again, this is bound to happen when pushing a signal through hundreds of new TVs across the center.
Anyway, that's where things stand as of this morning; more to come as things get going!
Although Convention was ready to go, Mother Nature made other plans, and Hurricane Gustav is wreaking havoc with the convention schedule. Although it seems now that the brunt of Gustav is missing New Orleans, it's still too late for today's activities. McCain's called off any convention activities besides the absolutely necessary business, so as not to be seen celebrating while a hurricane destroys the southern Louisiana coast... AGAIN. So they'll be going about the details and procedures of officially convening the convention, and making sure that the convention is valid.
While that's all well and good for the Republicans, it throws a HUGE spanner in the works for the media here, ESPECIALLY the NewsHour. So today's kind of nuts, as we are uncertain as to what the heck is actually going to occur. We also are down to 3 anchors/correspondents, to make matters even more interesting. Jim Lehrer decided to return to Washington after hearing that Gustav would be throwing things out of whack, and Margaret Warner was unable to make it to this convention. This leaves only Gwen Ifill, Ray Suarez and Judy Woodruff to man the fort here. There's still PLENTY of crew too, but the on-air group is now reduced to those three.
At the moment, Gustav is going to be the ONLY thing on CNN, so we're watching that around keepign the show afloat, which is being made even more interesting because the cable is cutting out for a few seconds every so often. Then again, this is bound to happen when pushing a signal through hundreds of new TVs across the center.
Anyway, that's where things stand as of this morning; more to come as things get going!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Summer Fun in St. Paul
So as you may have NOTICED, it's been a while since I've last posted. And for good reason. it's been summer time, and not too much has been going on... until now.
As many people are aware, it's an election year, and I have the privilege of working for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer during their gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul coming up next week. So keep in touch; when the RNC kicks off, I'll be posting here sharing what goes on behind the scenes of such a huge undertaking. I'll also have some pictures to throw up too, so keep an eye out.
Convention begins in FOUR DAYS!
As many people are aware, it's an election year, and I have the privilege of working for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer during their gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul coming up next week. So keep in touch; when the RNC kicks off, I'll be posting here sharing what goes on behind the scenes of such a huge undertaking. I'll also have some pictures to throw up too, so keep an eye out.
Convention begins in FOUR DAYS!
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!)
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
