Student Athlete...Take 2 !

So I know in my last entry I talked about being able to do my very own student athlete of the week story. Well I have some bad news to report... our footage got erased! SO it was back to square one, again! Bob called to let me know what time to come in on Wednesday and asked if I would like to go out with Bill to film this week's student athlete of the week. I was so excited, yet confused, because I though I would be working on my athlete story from last time not filming a new one. He explained what had happened and I was very anxious.

On our way there Bill explained to me that this week's athlete is not only Valedictorian of his senior class, but is also a three sport athlete. This is something very hard to come by and I was ready to hear the story behind this kid. When we arrived, they were just getting finished with practice. We set up the equipment and began asking our questions. The athlete wasn't nervous at all, more excited than anything, and we found out some interesting stuff about him. One of the most intriguing things I fould out was that for all three sports he plays, he has kept the same number all through high school. I could tell just by his responses that this kid's first priority isn't sports, but academics, and this is something hard to come across in today's society.

I just finished up working on the story, and next week i'm going to be adding my voice and editing all of the sound bites and footage that I am going to use. I'm even more excited to do this story than the last. Tune in next week, as I talk about how the final version turns out!

Student Athlete

So with basketball season coming to a near end, I've had some extra time to work on my student athlete assignment. Bob asked me to go out with Bill while he filmed a student athlete of the week so I could see what it was all about. My assignment would then be that when I returned I would be writing a story for student athlete, editing it, and voicing it as well. This could be something I could use in the future for my resume tape, or just to have as a keepsake from my internship. I've been pretty excited about starting to work on it, but with basketball season in full bloom a few weeks ago it made it hard. So I've now got my opportunity to start working on it and seeing what direction exactly I wanted to go in with it. I knew right away that I wanted to talk about her academic achievements, teamwork, and advice her Father gave her when she first began her basketball career. On our way back from filming, I talked these ideas over with Bill and these were things he definitely was going to mention in his student athlete story. This was a good thing, because I then knew I was on the right track, and if these were things that caught my ear I'm sure it would catch the listeners ear as well.

I can't wait to go back from break and start editing. Their editing program is different than what I'm used to using at Westminster, but I'm sure I can pick it up and catch on. I have already wrote everything I want to voice for it, I just have to add the sound bites. I intentionally didn't watch the student athlete segment on the news that way I wouldn't be tempted to write it the way Bill did, but instead be able to be creative and write it the way I wanted to do it. I think this was a great suggestion because it gives me another great opportunity to work on different equipment and to write and report stories. These are all things that I like to do, and they are giving me yet another opportunity to show them my creativity, and may be another thing to help get my foot in the door.

Election Night!

Well I had an intresting offer this week, and it was one that I could not pass up! Bob called and asked me if I could come in Tuesday night instead of Monday because Monday was pretty slow and Tuesday would probably be a little more busy. I didn't think anything of it until I glanced down at my planner and saw that it was the Ohio primaries. All I kept thinking to myself was how awesome it would be if I got to do something with the news at that time because this primary was so crucial for the Democratic party. I was checking my e-mail a little later and Bob sent me an e-mail asking if I could come in until after the 11:00 news was over and help keep track of the Election results in the 4 counties they cover and I would be in the news department. This was such a great opportunity because I not only got to do something different, but I would be working with the News Director. This was a great opportunity to show him that I'm a hard and organized worker...and he would know my name!!! That's one step closer to getting my foot in the door than I was before.

I arrived there and didn't know what to expect. At first I was almost star struck because I was surrounded by such talent. All of the evening news anchors were there and I couldn't help but watch them and see what they were doing. I was surrounded by some of the people that I look up to as being great in their field. It was pretty slow at first because there was a shortage in ballots so they would not release the results until 9 PM. Once that time came around it started to pick up, and I was getting calls with the results and entering them into the computer. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be, but it was such a great opportunity. I got to be surrounded by the talent of the evening news anchors (all whom are very nice to me), and I got my foot in the door. When jobs are so scarce in this field you need to take whatever you can that will help these people remember your name and stand out...not every opportunity you get is going to be fun and exciting, but if it will help get your name remembered and one day get me to my dream job I will do it!!!

Change in Plans!

I know I told you all that I would be meeting with the Newsdirector at WKBN/WYTV, but with all of the snow we had this week some adjustments were made in the schedule. So I will be meeting with him this upcoming week, but I know I've been telling you guys a lot about the whole Videojournalist experience. This week I got to add to that. I went out with Bill to cover to high school playoff games up by Cleveland. The one game that we were going to was Northwest & Canfield. Canfield has a player on their team that we were going to be interviewing for WYTV's Student Athlete. Bill shot student athlete all by himself. He first set up the camera on a tripod, whitebalanced, and then checked to make sure the student would be in frame. Next he got the mic out, tested it to make sure there was audio, and then began the interview. This was great hands on experience because I got to see the whole product from beginning to end on just what it was like to be a videojournalist.

After the interview on our way back, Bill gave me some surprising news. He said that I was going to write a story on this athlete and this upcoming week I was going to be able to put a package together from the footage we filmed on her. This was really exciting because this is my first big opportunity to put together such a good story and hold onto it so I can one day use it for my resume tape because I helped film and would be writing my own story. I was so overwhelmed and excited at the same time that I began writing a story right away on our way back to the station. I first thought about the sound bites I had heard during the interview and what I was going to use out of them for my story. Most likely what caught my ear will catch the viewers ear as well. I began to write my story, and as with most beginning journalists you tend to write long bites and not as conversational as it should be. Since Bill was with me I would write a bite ask him how it was, and then if I wasn't satisfied (which was most of the time because I'm a perfectionist) I would stick to the same thing I wrote before but shorten it.

One of the best pieces of advice that Bill gave me was to just imagine you are reading this to a friend, would you really talk as formal as you are, or would you be more conversational. This really helped because I would read my story out loud and realize that I would never talk like that to my friends if I were telling just how great of an athlete this player really was. Another thing that I realized was that with the Student Athlete profile that they do on area athletes they really focus on players who are both academic and team leaders. The girl that we did this week was not only going to be going to Pitt to play in the fall, but she had an academic GPA of almost 4.0. Bill told me that this is a common theme with all of the athletes they chose. I can't wait to finish this story next week and see how it compares to the actual one that showed on the news segment lastnight. I didn't watch it purposely so I could compare what I wrote to that of a professional. I will let you all know how this goes next week! Just maybe being a videojournalist is in my future after all!

Upcoming Meeting With the News Director!

Wednesday my assignment was to go out with Bill and cover boy's high school basketball playoff games. I was pretty excited because I don't mind doing stats for basketball at all. On our way to the game I was filling Bill in on how much i enjoy doing everything from editing to shooting and reporting, and he had a suggestion for me...one I didn't really expect! He told me that I could shoot a little bit of the second game that we were going to and I was really excited about that. We didn't end up staying at that game very long, so I didn't get to shoot, but the news just kept on getting better. He suggested that I have Bob talk to the News Director and introduce me because that is what New Vision (the company who merged WKBN & WYTV) is all about "video journalists". I mean reporting or anchoring is what I one day want to accomplish, but at the same time I don't mind shooting and editing it's kind of like my way of showing creativity. When I first heard what a video journalist was this fall I never really considered it to be something that I would enjoy doing in the future, but the more I started editing and putting packages together in my Video Production class the more I enjoyed doing it! Yesterday, the news got even better when Bob e-mailed me to say that I was going to be meeting with the news director next week. I mean how exciting is this, I thought when I signed up for this internship I was going to be gaining a lot of experience and building upon the knowledge I have already learned, but now I am going to be meeting with the news director which may possibly land me my first job! I'm so excited, and Bill told me that New Vision really wants to hire video journalists just out of college because they can hire one person who can do everything instead of worrying about hiring editors and photographers....it sounds like they are looking for people just like me! This is going to be my first big opportunity!

My New Love!

Since I signed up to do my internship in the Spring, I knew I wasn't going to get to go out and cover one of my favorite sports football, but it would most likley be basketball. Basketball is a sport that I'm not really in to watching until March Madness rolls around, but if I want to be in the business of sports I need to be well rounded in all sports.

When I first began a lot of what I was doing was keeping a log of what was happening during a high school basketball game, so that when we arrived back at the studio it would save a lot of time just knowing what we wanted to use and where it was all at. Basketball is a very fast paced sport and when logging you really need to be paying attention to everything that is happening on the court. Little did I know that when I arrived they were going to be sending me out to cover a sport that was not basketball and a sport i didn't know so much about.....ice hockey.

I was shocked and amazed at the same time. All I kept thinking to myself was, do I know enough about this sport, what if I get hit in the head by a puck, or some big brawl happens in the arena....and most of all what did I get myself into. This was one of the best experiences I have encountered with my short time at the station. It was nothing like I expected. The team I was going to watch was the Youngstown Steelhounds. They are not an official NHL team, but more of a minor league. The camera man and I stood right behind the glass, and it was the best! You could hear the players smashing up against the glass, and the sound of the puck hitting the glass and outside of the ring! All I can say is that I hope I get to cover it again it was such a rush!

An Evening With The News Crew

So Monday night i arrived at the WKBN station to find a suprise waiting for me. I was informed that I was going to be going out with a news reporter instead of going out and covering high school basketball games. I was shocked and excited all at the same time because I have often debated on whether or not I want to go into news or sports.

I went out with a reporter to Salem to cover a story on "Project Prom" where four local schools are asking for donations of gently used prom dresses to help out girl's who are having a hard time affording gowns for this year. I really liked the topic that we were covering because anytime it involves helping out a community I am always interested, plus we do something very similar in my hometown so I thought it would be interesting to compare them.

When we arrived we automatically interviewed the senior student who was in charge, and then shot footage of the meeting taking place. The reporter that I was with while shooting the interview had in mind before he got there what exactly he was looking for for a sound bite so it made the editing process a lot easier.

When we went back to the station to put the story together he had in mind already the direction he wanted to go in, so it was all pretty much just capturing the video and adding the sound bites to the footage you wanted to do. One thing I realized though, was that this reporter was very picky about how he worded everything, which is something that I don't usually see with the sports guys.

Overall, I was pleased with how the final product turned out. It was a very good experience because I really like to report on stories that people can relate to, so in that aspect I wouldn't mind reporting news. On the other hand though, I really enjoy sports a lot more and still believe that I want to be a sports anochor one day, but it's always good to experience new things and this experience helped me to decide what area I truly belong in.