Difference between one and 1

For the week of November 25 – November 30, I worked as a part of the News Show. Even though I arrived early, it seemed that there were more people than ever. I did the same things as last week (recording deck), however the content which fit into the hour earned was more significant. Just like last week I sat at the controls of the recording deck and pressed the corresponding controls (record when recording, etc…). Except this time I paid more attention to the audio levels. For the first newscaster, her audio levels were consistent with variations only existing when accentuating words (end of sentence or beginning of sentence). For the anchor, although it might have been because the audio was turned up to loud, her audio levels were not consistent with her regular speaking voice (unlike the first anchor). For the final anchor, everything else was fine and there were no glaring problems. If I had to say I learned something, it would be that the talent needs to keep their audio levels consistent in order to ensure not only a smooth recording, but also to make the product as high quality as possible.

1 hour

Simple enough, right?

For the week of November 18- 24, the hours I accumulated were during the shooting of News Show. With most of the jobs assigned already, I was assigned to work on the recording deck. It was a relatively simple task which only involved pressing the record and stop controls while monitoring the audio levels to see if they became inconsistent. This was a day where there was no possibility for mistakes.
 
1 hour

Relegation and Delegation

For the week of November 11 – 15, I submitted a sports reader, was a part of the News Show, and worked on the new show Mocs Take. The sports reader for women’s soccer was a fairly routine matter so there weren’t any problems. For the News Show, there wasn’t really anything to have a problem about. The entertainment portion of the show took up most of the time (I ran teleprompter). Professor Allen had arrived in the studio early and brought an extra camera with him in order to take up the leftover responsibilities and aid in the technical processes. The panel talked about one subject, taking up the time of the News Show and forcing them to shoot their portion later in the day. And then there was Mocs Take (not really an original name). Even though the basic idea of how the show would go was in their heads, they hadn’t actually put them into physical reality (in other words, they weren’t prepared). The scripts were incomplete and the responsibilities were undetermined. The show isn’t a bad idea, but it could be a little more organized.


1 hour reader + 1 hour News Show + 2.5 hours Mocs Take show = 4.5 hours

The pressure is on

For the week of October 28 – November 4, I shot the women’s volleyball game, submitted a reader on men’s soccer, and lent some of time to the News Show. For the volleyball game, since there were no highlights from the day before, all the pressure was on me for the highlights of the week. However, I am starting to get use to the handling of HD camera (especially since there is no need for tapes and I am not messing around with a focus ring). I also like how there is a systematic routine that is usually occurring (I shoot the games and others edit it, just like an assembly line). For the sports reader, there were no problems since the information was easy to understand and the game finished on time. The news show was the only time when there were problems. In terms of the non-technical concepts, I felt I had an understanding. Except for one, the talent (various anchors) had many mistakes in their delivery (fluctuations in voice level, reading too fast, etc…). This could have been attributed to the fact that they had to stand up and remain composed, or it could have been their lack of experience. However, when it came to the technical processes, I became lost. There were so many light switches and devices that memorizing them became a task. I also was relatively unfamiliar with some of the jargon that was being tossed around (the word “zebra” was being used a lot and I heard it was in relation to flesh tone). All in all, I need a whole lot more experience if I am going to know my way around.

2 hours volleyball game + 1 hour sports reader + 1 hour for News Show = 4 hours

Break's over, get back to work

For the week of October 22 – October 28, I shot the women’s volleyball game (weekend) and provided a national reader as well as a sports reader. As I said I would, I shot the volleyball game with a HD camera. It was my first time shooting a volleyball game with a HD camera. Unlike the other camera I had previously used, this HD camera had a smaller viewfinder so I was forced to use zoom and pan a lot more. Since the batteries were nearly dead and there was enough material that had been shot by others that weekend, I decided to end early. For the sports reader, we weren’t actually required to submit one but since the sports show usually utilizes readers, I quickly wrote a reader on the men’s and women’s cross country teams. And finally, for the national reader, I submitted a reader straight off the Associated Press application. I tried to find one that was somewhat relevant to the demographic that the News Show might be trying to reach. But regardless, I believe that viewing different news articles can only prove beneficial to my illumination towards the news side of broadcast.

1.5 hours volleyball game + 1 hour sports reader + 1 hour national reader = 3.5 hours