Hangin' With Promotions!

Last week, Shayna and I changed things up a little at the TV station by job shadowing the Promotions department. Promotions is something we are both very interested in because this field ties in our love for TV News and Public Relations. When we first got to the station on Wednesday we met up with one of the Promotions producers, Justin. Justin is a really nice guy and easy to relate to because he just graduated from college a couple years ago. We talked to him about his job as a producer and all of the projects he had to cover. Next we hung out in the edit bays and watched as some of the promotions segments were edited. We saw the weekly "movie review" be put together and it was really neat to see how a green screen works and how they add graphics and other fancy effects to make the feature look great. We then went over to the graphics department of promotions and learned a bit about this job. The graphics director was really nice and showed us how he creates graphics for the different news casts and different stations. He definately has alot on his plate now that there are 3 stations in this building, WKBN, WYTV and FOX! Finally the Asst. Director of Promotions, Dave Redig talked to us a bit about our future goals and told us about the big Canfield fair, where we will be manning the tents on behalf of the station. Overall it was an interesting day and I think we learned alot. It was also nice to change things up a bit and see another departments job other than the news room!

Writing for ON THE AIR!

I talked briefly in my last post about how I started practicing writing scripts on stories I went out with reporters on. The format here at WKBN is slightly different from what I'm used to back at college, but ultimately the skills I have learned over the past 3 years have helped me out a lot here in the newsroom. I have been writing scripts for over 2 weeks now here at WKBN and have had anyone I can read over them and make corrections so I can get better at writing.

Last week when I came in on Wednesday, I was in for quite the surprise! Things were a little tight in the newsroom and some scripts needed to be written for the noon news. Noon Anchor, Jeff Levkulich had me write a VoSot on tips of saving fuel. It was really nice to have the experience of writing a professional script to be used on air and have an experienced anchor look over my script and give me suggestions for improvement. After a little tweaking, the script was ready to go and loaded into the rundown! Next, Jeff had me write two sports teases for the noon news as well. This was my first experience writing a sports tease, but it was pretty easy to follow the format and get it in there quickly. I went up to the studio and sat in the studio as the noon news was broadcast. It was pretty exciting to have my script read on air live during the news and I felt pretty accomplished, but I know I still have a lot of work to do and improvements can always be made. I look forward to writing more in the future for the news, and I plan on writing at least one script a day for my own benefit even if it is not used on air. Writing has definitely grown on me a lot since I have been here in the newsroom and it's something I believe will give me an advantage in the future.

Alpaca Shearing!

So here is the video I captured on my LG Venus cellphone, it takes 30 second video clips and it's kind of hard to see but not too bad for a cellphone!

First Week At WKBN!

Well classes are out for the semester, but that doesn't mean I'm not still hard at work in my major of broadcasting! This past week, fellow class mate and now co-worker Shayna Marti and myself started our internships at WKBN in Youngstown, Ohio. We were of course a little nervous when we came in our first day, but our internship supervisor Maggie Henderson put us at ease and showed us some of the technical aspects of the newsroom. Almost every reporter in the newsroom gets their own computer and work off of an AP system named ENPS. Using this program at first was like learning a foreign language because we have never used it before in our experiences at Westminster. The system allows you to check multiple AP wires, write scripts and save them to the rundown server and also acts as an in-office email system if you need to contact others in the newsroom. After learning a bit about the computers and the programs WKBN uses, We went out on our first adventure with a reporter to North Poland elementary to film a package about make a wish. It was really neat to get our first taste of how a VJ (video journalist, backpack journalist, one man band etc...) gets the job done and all the aspects that go into it. We helped Roxann Sebest set up the equipment, and then watched as she got all the b roll footage she needed for the package. She allowed us to be in charge of the camera for the interviews she conducted with the students and the school's president. On Tuesday, I came into the newsroom by myself and went out on another feature/enterprise story with a VJ named Dan Marin. Dan is a really cool guy and showed me how enthusiasm for the job and in the field can really help you capture a good package. The most amusing part of the day is that we went to an alpaca farm named Day Star Alpacas in North Jefferson to film the alpacas getting sheared for the summer. I will be sure to upload the video I captured on my cell phone of the alpacas getting shaved, it's truly unique! I even got the taste of editing on Avid, which is the editing software they use in the station, and the shots of the alpacas made for compelling and colorful video! The next day, on Wednesday, Shayna and I returned to the newsroom and decided to split up to follow different reporters on their journey's for the day. I went with veteran reporter Stan Boney to interview the mayor of Youngstown, and also a former senator who knew Ted Kennedy in the 80's. I decided after watching the video that was captured from the day that I wanted to start writing my own package scripts. It was quite the process to begin to learn how to write scripts on the ENPS system, but I got the hang of it after awhile and polished off a pretty good script. I had my supervisor Maggie look it over and give me suggestions to improve my writing. With all of this action in one week, I can't wait to see what this week brings, and I'll be sure to post video of everything happening!

Wrapping Things Up!

So here I am, at my computer, on the very last Sunday of the school year at Westminster! It's so surreal to think back over this semester and think of everything I have accomplished. It's also a wonder that I have survived it all and came out intact, but everything I have done this semester and all the pressures have made me a stronger person in many ways. I took 19 credit hours this semester including my TV practicum and Capstone. This first semester of capstone has been a major eye opening experience and has taught me a lot. I have finally finished my plans for my senior project and have gotten approval from the department. Also by working with my fellow capstone classmates I have learned a lot from them, and we have been able to help each other through this crazy process. For our capstone final, tomorrow morning, we will be meeting up to compete in an "Amazing Race" type activity held right here in New Wilmington. The reason why we are doing this is because it ties in with the overall theme we've had in capstone this semester, The Amazing Race. When we first started the class we had to identify a partner and fill out a lengthy application. As the semester went on we filmed and edited an application video and then eventually dubbed it over to VHS and stuffed it into envelopes to be sent out to CBS! We also had a similar activity with Titan Traverse where we had to work with partners and in teams to compete against the other teams. This experience helped us to realize that teamwork is a must and also if you want to succeed you must utilize your strengths. I think our final adventure tomorrow with continue this idea and I'm excited to see exactly what we will be doing! Finally I wanted to give out a final shout out to the graduating broadcast seniors. You guys have put so much work into the department in your years and we all really appreciate it! I know that they have helped me a ton and have made me an overall better student in broadcasting. Congrats to the class of 08, and hopefully my class of 09 will be able to represent the department just as well next year, but they are big shoes to fill!

A Producer's Life

I've mentioned The County Line several times in previous blogs because I've been very involved with it this semester from being on crew to filming sports, making packages, doing interviews and finally last week, I got to produce my first show! I will admit that I was nervous at first because I am a perfectionist and wanted to make sure that it would turn out to be a great show. But as the week rolled on, things seemed to mesh together well and things slowly began gaining speed. We had a meeting in the newsroom to discuss possible package ideas and assignments for the show. After some discussion and brain storming it seemed we had more than enough material to try to jam into the 30 minuet show. Fellow Capstone classmate, NickyPiszczor, helped co-produce the show and was a great help. I have seen people work on putting the show together before but I had never actually produced so she helped show me the ropes of what exactly need to be done. We talked several times throughout the week to keep track of what stories were coming in and what we still needed. We met the night before the show to produce a rough draft of the rundown and it was interesting to see the process of entering all the information like run times, tape codes, story slugs and back timing. I noticed that one of the biggest pains in producing is making sure that your show is timed PERFECTLY. You must make sure all the package times, commercial blocks and other aspects are timed out perfectly to meet the 30 minuet slot. The day of the show was a very exciting day to say the least, both the joy and pressure of producing started weighing down on me. I stayed in the newsroom most of the day just emailing graphics, checking in with reporters on their packages and making sure the run down was complete and accurate. FINALLY it was show time at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and even tho I was slightly nervous I was more excited to physically see how the show would come together. Nicky and I finally stepped back and watched as all the aspects of the show came together, there was nothing much more we could do and the pressures we felt were lifted as we saw how smooth it ran. There were of course a few minor hiccups, but overall we were very proud of the show and everything ran great. This experience definitely opened my eyes to the world of producing and I'm very excited to delve deeper into producing at my internship this summer and also next year at WCN.

What Dosen't Kill You Only Makes You...

I’ve heard this phrase before, but didn’t understand its true meaning until this week. This was honestly one of the toughest weeks I have ever faced academically in my college career. Many things happened in my classes which pushed me to the edge but the real topper was when my capstone class met on Thursday to pitch our senior project proposals. We had to come up with a short summary of what the main point of our project would be, a list of objectives, strategies, and evaluation methods. Our capstone professor then asked the other members of the broadcasting faculty to come into our class to give us feedback on our proposals. Essentially my project was to target the student body of the college and get them interested in watching the college television station through radio advertisements, campus advertisements and other strategies. I originally thought I had a pretty strong project because everyone I talked to about it seemed pretty excited about what I was doing. When I pitched my project idea to the faculty however, they were less than excited. I was told that I should not target the students at all because the student body changes every year. I was also told that I shouldn’t focus my energy on making posters, flyers and campus advertisements either. After getting shot down by the firing squad, they suggested that I focus my project on a different audience, that of the Lawrence/Mercer county community. When I take a step back and think about it, they were right in saying this because the community around us is essentially who watches our network and our programming. I think it will be a fun and rewarding project to connect with the community and obtain a stronger viewer ship for WCN using my promotional strengths. Overall, this week really showed me how to take constructive criticism and have a thick skin, because in the end what doesn’t kill you really makes you stronger!