Monday, June 30, 2008

Last Week!

Soooo I'm almost done! Only two more days! I had a great time and I really feel I've learned a lot! They offered me a position as a weekend reporter so that was really exciting! I am going home to Lander for the fourth and then when I get back we are going to talk about what I will be doing here when my internship is finished.
I cant believe the summer is halfway done. I don't want it to be over! I'm kinda sad the internship will be done. It's been fun! Right now for the last week I've been learning tricks to producing. It's been helpful. They have to do a lot more here than we do in class. The producer is in charge of a lot of different things.

Have fun with the rest of your internships!
Take care!
Ally

Really? July starts tomorrow?

Hello everyone...After Ray had pulled my teeth last week at an Osprey game I finally decided to figure this thing out. And while it looks like you guys are doing things much cooler than what I've been getting into, this summer hasn't been bad at all. Working in the sports department at KECI has been pretty legit. It is definitely more fun when the Osprey are in town, but its not that bad when they are on the road either. On days with a slow sports schedule in Missoula, I go in and archive all these old Betta tapes from the 80's on to a dvd. While it is quite boring to dub and write down all the things on the tapes, the style of sportscasting from the early and mid 80's keeps me very entertained....We could NEVER get away with some of that stuff today.....When there is stuff going on in town (usually Osprey games) I love it....I get to the stadium around 6:30 for a 7:00 game. head down to the field to get some establishers and shoot the bull with some of the coaches. Last week I found out the O's manager live two doors down from Big Papi in the Dominican during the off season...stuff like that....these guys all have great baseball stories....So then I head back up to the press box for the game. Nice and air conditioned with all the normal press box perks. shoot the game till about 9:15 -9:30 then head back to edit the tape and write a shot sheet. Sometimes we have to send the game highlights to our affiliates so I'm getting pretty well versed in the world of FTP as well. Once video is sent and the scripts are in I'm usually out the door....But as some of you on the facebook set know every now and then I get some anchoring experience in as well......Its been fun for sure...and great experience. If any of you guys are in town and suffering from the heat, you can always come cool off at the McMansion....Peace!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Your Who? oooohhh....

Hey everyone!
OMG the M's are winning!! WHOO HOO!!! I am so excited for them to come back home! This week I logged and logged, the games and completed the head shots for next weeks home stand. So Funny story! I was on a shoot to get shots of Johijma signing autographs at the Ronald McDonald's house. Well on the way to the shoot we rode the Moose van and I was sitting next to this guys from Australia and just thinking he was part of the crew handing out stuff to the kids. We all talking making normal coversation and I was showing Steve, the Boss man, my wicked bruise for being hit by the opening pitch in front of 38,000 fans. lol thats another story! So showing of my knuckel bruise and listening to the Aussie talk I had the cool question to ask what brought him to Seattle........
Hmmmm...
everyone in the van turns and looks at me like I was crazy and the "WTF" look. Hahaha!!
He answered Well I play baseball.....on the team.... I'm a pitcher Number 18.
Oh man! I turned Bright Red!! cuz I couldn't walk away for being soooo embarrassed.
It was Ryan Rowling-Smith.
He knew I was embarrassed and said oh its ok people in Austria don't know who I am. Oh well he was really nice about it and joked with me the whole way there and back. Not only did he recognize me for being the antenna girl (backpack with Huge Antenna) He said I have seen you out on the field.
Later that day Game Time. Well we won the game and I finally got to go on the field with the antenna haha and go in for press confence. Waiting for all the players to enter the dug out, Ryan Rowling-Smith points and laughs at me and says Hi. Of course my co-worker has to yell out "hey she'll never forget who you are."
It was a very very funny thing and everyone I work with thinks its even more hilarious.
So thats a good story for the books. haha

Week 5

Whats up?
Staying busy editing away, I am just finishing up another edit and going to be working on another.
I have been playing around with adobe premiere and there are some cool shortcuts. One of them is "ripple delete" if I end up deleting a section on the timeline causing there to be an empty space on the timeline, I just right click to ripple delete and the two join together. There is another tool that is on the preview window that lets you select the media (as in audio and video, just audio or just sound) and choose which one. Adobe is very cool and I have become very used to it. It will be interesting when coming back to use avid and see if it has helped me with my editing.

Hope everyone is doing well, talk to you soon.Publish Post

Teal

Calm, Cool, and Collected

The last two days have been a teensy bit stressful at KPAX. Yesterday was the first time Greg, the normal director, was gone leaving the new director and me by ourselves. There was a live shot, and the weather guy was live in Kalispell via KAJ within a minute of each other. I've never been so stressed out! I had a feeling something would blow up in our face. Somehow, though, we never screwed up, which I am completely thankful for. Then today, with fifteen minutes before the show, the producer and anchor decided to add a breaking news stinger, which we don't have on the new non liner system, for a story that occurred two hours prior to the show (i was the only one who didn't think the story was very breaking news by that point). Needless to say, the wrong stinger got put in, I knew and I thought everyone else did too, but they didn't and the anchor was quiet while we sat on a soundless stinger for thirty seconds though we told her to talk. The director was freaking out before and after, a repeat of yesterday. After the show, I was thanked for being the calm, cool, and collected head in the control room. I'm looking forward to a non-stressful day where all I have to do is make graphics and push buttons!!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Hoopfest

Hey Everyone,
KHQ is still going good...this weekend is hoopfest so today I went out with Paola and wrote a package on the oldest team in this years tournament...they ranged in age from 62-67 and were all former college bball players... I also shot a couple of in's and out's for practice.

Tomorrow we will be at hoopfest again, but I think we are going to do something on drunken arrests, because they actually have a place in the park where they take the people and keep them in holding after they arrest them...so it should be interesting...

Hope everyone is still having a great summer!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Oregon Trail, Cont.

Hello my RTV friends! I was out on vacation for two weeks, but now I’m back in action. Everyone at CCTV has been great to work with and flexible in terms of my schedule. When I got back this week I continued work on some non-profit video brochures. These brochures have definitely become my babies. We had a meeting with my boss Alan to go over a completed brochure and make sure the style was right. After a few adjustments and an initial screening with the clients, my first brochure will be ready to go. I am currently in the midst of working on about six other brochures.

I also did some on-air work this week. A producer here is creating a video technology podcast and wanted a, “cute girl who knew something about video.” (flattered that I fit the bill) There was lots of tech bantering, and I think it turned out well. I have a newfound admiration for all of you who spend time on camera. I’ve never been so paranoid about how my hair looks. As soon as that show gets all put together I’ll post the link so you can all laugh at me.

Working hard – more next week from the beautiful Willamette Valley. (You know, the place you got to at the end of that Oregon Trail game?)

Scrambling

Wow, next week is my last one.

I feel like I still have so much to do here at Loopline. I think I'm actually going to get a little depressed leaving the projects we are working on. I suppose I'll live...

The cool thing is I'm finally starting to edit a bit on this Patrick Ireland project. What I do is go through each individual tape and create a separate timeline trying to piece together the best bits of footage-- so the editor has a better, more manageable idea of what each one has to offer. 

I don't know if anything I'm doing will make the final cut, but I don't know if it won't. 

Outside of that I've been doing research for another film (on an early 20th century female Dr., I've mentioned it), and trying to help set up a master class workshop the company will hold in a couple of months.

Two of the employees went to a film festival in France this week--I set up a meeting for that too. Felt pretty good about myself.

Anyhow, I'm heading to Belfast this weekend. I hope to get a feel for the perspective of Northern Ireland, since I feel I've learned so much about the Republic. 

Next week is my last one, wow.

-db

Thursday, June 26, 2008

FINALLY SUNNY

It's finally sunny in seattle so it finally feels like summer!! The mariners are currently out of town until June 30th but last Tuesday I worked an event called "Girls night out" Where 4 lucky winners got a 500 dollar shopping spree at the mariners team store and a full spa day make over.. so facials... hair... makeup... pedicures... manicures the whole nine yards. Olav (one of amanda and i's bosses) let me shoot aton of the footage so that was pretty awesome. He couldn't really handle the girly stuff haha. I met Jen from 101.5 (a radio station here) and she was really nice and gave me alot of insight into how she got her job. The day was long... 5 am till 6pm. But it was worth it for the hands on experience and anything to get out of logging game highlights!! haha. Today I did game highlights... and helped finding certain shots for our new manager. Since everyone is getting fired this internship has proved to be a very eventful one lately. Hope all is well with everyone!!

Kelly.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Hectic Newsdesk

I just finished all of my Newsdesk training.

I love that the Assignment Editor gets to have a hand in everything and knows what's going on with everyone in the newsroom, but there were also nonstop distractions.

Watching 4 TV's (we log what stories our competitor stations put in their A-segments every time), answering and transferring incoming phone calls, trying to hear your own thoughts over 6 police scanners constantly babbling, keeping track of which reporters are doing live shots and where, and looking up story ideas to file from the AP wires, every Colorado newspaper, and all incoming e-mails.... is a BIG job!

I really liked being so busy and so in charge of everything, but it definitely got to a point where it was hard to do soo much multi-tasking. If the police scanners were somewhere else, i think i could have handled the rest of the duties... they are soo distracting! The sound level on them constantly varies and lots of them talk at once and have static interruptions.

I am so glad that KMGH uses inews, because my familiarity with the program gives me an advantage. I didn't realize, however, just how much each inews-using station could personalize it so much. I really like how KMGH has created shortcut buttons for each employee, depending on their position. The producers have the setup best for them, and so on... If you can imagine it, these shortcuts make inews even easier and more user-friendly!

One of the most useful skills I have been picking up lately is learning all of the shortcuts on different computers and for various programs. I am learning all of the inews shortcuts at KMGH, and I am learning all of the Avid shortcuts at my High Noon Entertainment job for the Food Network Challenge. After this summer, I may never use a mouse again!

This week at High Noon, we've been busy with shoots-- there's a live studio audience every time. I have gotten to sit in the audience, assist a few photogs, meet the competitors and hosts, and shadow the producer a bit. At the last one -called the "Battle of the Brides" Challenge, where designers team up with brides-to-be and have to make them their dream wedding cake... in just 8 hours!- The designer who made the winning cake surprised me by giving me an extra rose... The rose, like everything else on the cake, was edible but so beautiful and delicate that I saved it. And it's made with a substance that will last for quite a while and not rot, despite the fact that it's a sugary food product. My boyfriend will be visiting me this weekend, so i'm surprising him by taking him to be part of the live studio audience for the chocolate competition on Thursday.

Learning a lot!

Fun Moment

Fun Moment:

during a 10pm newscast the other night the weather guy pulled a great improv move. I was in the studio that night looking over the shoulder of the guy who controls all of the floor cameras... (they are all robotically controlled, and no people physically touch the studio cams, so it's fun to see the guy in the control booth use the different remote controls!) One of the nicest anchors, Anne Trujillo, had just done a VO on how coffee helps keep women's hearts healthy, and she tossed to weather. So the weather man actually went out the studio doors and filled up a cup of coffee in the break room next door -mind you, this was all DURING his weather cast as he was explaining CG full maps and the week's temps- and he walked back in and handed Anne the coffee just in time to sit down for a 3-shot with the 2 anchors. All three of them couldn't stop smiling about it, and the moment the commercial break started, everyone in the studio busted out laughing.

Not only had the weather guy not planned that move beforehand, but he didn't even have a paper to read off of... he had all of this week's temps memorized! LOL

Week 5: More reporting

Worked with a photog:


Just me:


Worked with a photog:

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

back to it...

hey guys,
sorry i know that i haven't blogged for a while but i don't really have any new stuff.....we went on a family vacation so I haven't been to work in a while, but will be headed back saturday...i'm excited to get back and get into a real routine...i'll write again when i have more exciting stuff :) hope everyone is having a great summer!
~Marianne

Monday, June 23, 2008

Same old Same old

Since I cant remember to do anything, I'm now starting my internship. Ya for procrastinating and forgetfulness! Life at good ol' KPAX is the same as it has been since school's got out. I show up around three, create graphics, ots's, plasmas, eyecams, and then when its time for the show to start I get to technical direct. At least now I only screw up about once every few shows on the technical directing front which is a huge plus. I'm also getting better using Photoshop. I made a standard bike graphic look all wrecked and twisted on Saturday. It was neat. Well, that's all. Hope everyone else is having a blast.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

nose to the grindstone

Work was hectic last week! We are getting ready for a two week dark week. (in case you don't know a dark week is where we do not produce any tv shows during that time). That means we have taped six shows a week. I get to see a lot of crazy sketches, and have killed many trees getting everyone their scripts. I feel like I am getting to know the people at the show a lot better, as well as the other interns. I got to sit in on a talent meeting this week where me and another intern pitched our ideas for potential show guests. It fascinated me listen to the talent coordinators pitch thier own ideas. I felt honored when the show's producer complimented us interns for doing our "homework". Although none of our ideas were used we may get to sit in on another meeting hopefully. I am going home for the next two dark weeks so in preparation I have been doing research for more guests, and as always, making lots of coffee. I'll send some California sunshine your way Melissa and Bre, it was 115 in Bakersfield this weekend.

until next week,
Holly

Saturday, June 21, 2008

dead ducks

Well everyday I've been logging Wade and Mike kill ducks.... I've never seen a dead duck before so it really has been very interesting to watch. The internship has been going great I really do enjoy everyone that I work with and it really has been giving me an opportunity to see really great footage. Next week I will be looking at Elk hunting.

Friday, June 20, 2008

week4

I had the week off which is nice, I am going to la to go to a concert and I will be back and running with full force. My boss, Jerry is getting married on Tuesday and he is leaving me in charge of filming and editing his wedding. Pretty cool. I am also getting another edit on Sunday and will be busy all week. I really like what I have learned. I also like the time that I have had with the camera and I have worked on strengthening my camera skills. I definitely feel more comfortable with the cameras. there are a few different ones that Jerry has so I get a little variety.
Today in San Diego it is a scorching 98 degrees! Way too hot!! Well, I hope that everyone is doing well and staying busy. Happy Summer officially.

Talk to you later gators

Teal

Moo

So thanks for all your concern about the flooding situation. Madison did get hit pretty hard but not enough to shut the city down. A lot of roads were closed going out of Wisconsin, but luckily I had no travel plans. I think the worst is over though.

We finally finished up the student stories we were working on. They aren't that impressive production wise, but it was time consuming to trascribe the entire interview and find the story to tell in 90 seconds. The group process here is slow--but extremely effective. So those are done just in time for the new staff training that will happen next week. We are helping tech the whole week long training which will include setting up and running audio and powerpoint throughout the sessions. We have also been helping set up the stage and helping the graphics dept.

As far as production goes, we got the go ahead to start script writing and story boarding our ideas for the next two videos they want to produce. But then we have to pitch our ideas and get one of the three approved and then really work on making the script perfect. It's along process, and hopefully we will get to at least start shooting and editing it together.

That's about it from here.

A Part of the Team


That's how I felt this week. I've reached that saturation point where all the little tasks I've been given by the staff here have accumulated to a real contribution. Just yesterday, as I was sitting in on a meeting, my advisor off-handedly asked when I'd be leaving. She actually seemed startled to hear that I'd be gone in just a couple of weeks. "But no, you should try to extend it."

Flattering...


Last week I was telling everyone about this old/new school linear editing system, "Lightworks." Well here's a picture of the controller I described. That circle in the center is the size of your palm and your fingers fit it that groove above it. Still undecided.




Also, so get this. Loopline does their own video mastering (they contract out the mastering of their audio.) So in order to get their films up to theatrical quality, one of the programs they use is this program Color. The software works in tandem with Final Cut Pro, and basically is like a souped-up color corrector times ten. It also has it's own €5000 controller to get just the right look.


Alas, I have to run. I get play photographer for another super top-secret museum archive search.


excl slán!

-db




Thursday, June 19, 2008

Oh Poor M's.. Who's Next...

Hey peeps!
The M's are going great! Its been soo fun!! Its too bad everyone is getting fired!! Its a new day everyday at Safeco field. I have worked the cameras and followed the hand held camera, I wear the backpack with the antenna its pretty dorky but whatever I get to go everywhere! The field, the locker room, press conferences! And IF we win we run of the field, that is when you can see me or Kelly on the field. Its been really super! I do the decko projects with head shots and all the info for the screen. I am working on making SWEET head shots with photoshop for the 80's night I have to make them look goofy. And LOTS and LOTS of logging tap!its really a never ending process. Me and Kelly got to watch the production of a commercial with the moose and watched them edit. That was really neat.

Mid-term Reports please

Hi all-Don't forget your midterm reports are coming due. It's been very exciting for me to read what all of you are doing. Keep posting updates, links, video, audio, whatever. And don't forget you'll need to hand in a work sample at the end of summer. Ray Fanning will also be wanting some of you to speak in his Preparing for an Internship class. I'll be making calls over the next week to your internship hosts. Take care and keep working hard.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Almost done : (

Hello Everyone!

Sooo I only have eight days left! It's hard to think I'm almost done! I've been working over 9 hrs a day on average so it's wrapping up around here. I have learned so much around here and I want to remain and intern ha ha! Is that totally weird. I like being the newbie that everyone is excited to teach things to.

Lately I have been working on rewrites and VO/SOT's. My package on the Welcome Home Picnic for the Veterans went on air on Sunday. That was stressful I literally was working on it down to the last minute! I had a great time working on that story. Everyone was so eager to go on camera it kinda got out of hand! I'm surprised so many people want to go on air. Usually its a fight to get an interview with strangers but not lately.

Yesterday I went with the live crew to set up for a live shot at the first Osprey game! It was really fun setting up and hanging out in the stadium before all the fans got there. The shoot went well but the mascot was really annoying! He kept trying to jump in on the live shot.

Everything else is just work work work! I'm finally getting into the swing of things!

Till next week, take care!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Go Stop Go

Dear RTV-ers,

It's the first day of my 3rd week at KMGH. I am really starting to fall in love with Denver, which makes the news here all more more interesting. My internship has been a mix of busy learning and speedbumps, where all of the sudden I have to slow down and stay off to the side. The trick is finding your own mentor(s) in the newsroom.

I work Tues nightside, Wed dayside, and Thursday dayside... Last Wednesday I met someone who I see becoming one of my mentors. Shane is an executive producer who has only been at KMGH for 2 months. He's been working with me one-on-one to improve my script writing skills. We started out by picking out some AP stories for me to rewrite... After my first draft we went over how I could improve each one.

I never realized just how concise readers have to be! It really comes down to pulling the most important info, "the meat of the story" and announcing it right off the bat. I have been struggling with when to attribute --at UM this past year I have been combating my tendency for passive voice by adding in attribution before each fact I bring up-- the problem with this is that all of my sentences start to fall into a monotonous pattern. for example, "officer John Doe says...." This example is great to have as long as the next sentence doesn't start the same way. I keep running into this problem because when I shorten important stories, I often end up citing one source's fact after another source's bite (SOT)...

But most of all, to improve my broadcast-style writing I just need practice. I'm still not getting it right the first time, but every story I write I am catching more of my own mistakes. What I really need, and finally am getting, is the one-on-one teaching to go over everything I write, give me suggestions, and be willing to go over my next draft too. At UM Denise gives me great advice on this but she has soo many other students to work with too. Admittedly, everyone in the newsroom is too busy for me at one time or another, but Shane worked with me right after he finished producing the 9am show that day.

Shane has given me a lot of insight on how & when I can get the best stuff for my resume tape. He talked to the weekend morning crew he works with and they are more than willing to help me record myself anchoring/reporting in the studio after one of their 9am shows. This is a huge hook-up for me, as even the studio chairs are sacred here. Shane has offered to help me prepare for this by helping me produce and write material for me to anchor and report...

this all sounds great! the only downside to these opportunities is that it means coming in at 3 or 4 am on a Saturday and/or Sunday morning. But if I've learned anything from the reporters who have come to UM as guest-speakers, it's those odd-hour opportunities that allow you to get your foot in the door. It sounds like coming in that early, I would be able to do more hands-on learning. And the few morning crew people Shane has introduced me to are soo friendly and helpful. I'm going to come in on a Saturday some week soon, and possibly switch one of my other shifts to this morning-side shift, where there are no other interns, but lots of helpful crew, and the show is a little bit more relaxed then too... they even get free breakfast because they have a guest chef every weekend morning.

I've also found a potential reporter mentor... I've been watching 7newscasts regularly, with particular interest in the reporters who do great packages. Most of my favorite packages have been done by Lane Lion. (cool name, huh?) I admire his writing style and he turns packages regularly. I spoke to him this morning about shadowing him through every step of a package next week. Before this encounter I had only briefly met him, so I was nervous to approach this busy man. But he was really flattered and excited that I would like to work with him. I plan on following up these plans next week.

One of the main reasons I chose to intern at KMGH is the 7 positions they rotate you through. 3 of these positions only require a one day rotation. I am completing those this week.

I am doing the "Production rotation" for the 10pm news tonight. KMGH uses ParkerVision and Ignite programs to run the production booth. I've sat in and watched this once before, but the thousands of screens and buttons in those rooms are still foreign to me.

Tomorrow I am doing the "Call 7 For Help" rotation. This has not been a favorite of the other interns, as you get many complaint calls. But I'm still looking forward to experiencing it so that I am familiar with every area of KMGH.

and Thursday I will be doing the "Graphics Art rotation." KMGH uses Deko for this, (along with inews) so hopefully I will have a little bit of an advantage going into this, because I at least know what Deko is.

I am really enjoying my transcriber & pre-editing job at High Noon Entertainment too. I work with Avid there and I am finally meeting friends around my own age in Denver on my lunch hours there. Ray, just out of curiosity, would it be possible to split my intern hours between High Noon and KMGH?

Monday, June 16, 2008

mariners suck...

So I'm not going to lie the mariners suck. were losing every single game almost... firing general managers... having our own manager freak out in a press conference... 13 swear words in 45 seconds which i am sure most of you have seen all over FSN etc. but my internship has been fun so thats a plus. I worked an event where a silent auction with the seattle seahawks raised over 1.6 million dollars for a charity. I met Matt hasselbeck which was amazing. Then we worked 3 graduations where I was put on camera 2 which is a big camera they use for the games so that was good to get practice in there. And this week so far has been another losing home stand but I get to work with camera 3 which is running around getting fan shots etc. I also got to meet Rick Rizz today by interviewing him for a spread called "baffling the broadcaster" (rick is the voice of the mariners on komo 1000) he was really nice and wanted to hear all about my internship and montana life. I work my last home game for a while this wednesday and then it will be more commercial shoots with the players and promos for radio stations like girls night out etc. I am looking forward to more commercial shoots because those are always fun...
hope all is well with everyone else!! its finally sunny in seattle thank god.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Week 4: Uplifting Balloon Ride

I'm just coming off my two-week producing rotation and cloud nine. I got to go up in a hot air balloon! Too many storms threatened us going up WAY high, so it stayed tied to the ground. Still, very fun.

Here's my story preview "web element:"

It's a little goofy since I didn't plan to be on camera that day (dressed a little down for producing)
And my package:

I love getting to do it all--shoot/report/edit. Most reporters there get a photog. Even the other intern often does! Hmm..

All this national news (flooding, tornados) is happening so locally--that boy scout camp was just 1.5 hours away and we sent reporters down there. I know Melissa touched on just how wet it is, really, all the rivers are just spilling over; it's unbelievable. And tornado warnings! Yikes! Thunderstorms probably 4/7 nights a week.

-Breanna

This is the big time now

Tomorrow I get to sit in on a talent meeting for the show. I am supposed to have a list of five to ten people who I think would be neat guests to have on the show. I am trying to mix the list up- I have found a variety of writers, actors and recording artists who inspire me. I am excited and more than a little nervous to put my input in front of the producers and talent people at the Late Late Show. Last week was exciting. We got to see two bands perform, and Craig did a few hilarious sketches. The days go by really fast, which is good. The summer seems to be flying by. It is quite interesting how I am getting more and more tasks from the staff at the show. I am very happy that they are putting me to good use. I have been helping out one of the talent coordinators responsible for booking and pre-interviewing the talent for the show. Seeing how a lot of her job is just talking to people and watching the work they have done just cements even further in my mind that you have to be a people person to work in entertainment. I am trying my best to be charming and efficient. Oh, and I saw Betty White (a golden girl) last week and she is cute as a button. Until next week...

Friday, June 13, 2008

Tornados and floods

Hello all!

Well--if nothing else it has been quite the exciting week weather wise. (But no snow!! I can't believe it snowed in Missoula!!) I have heard the tornado sirens go off 3 times and there has been a massive amounts of flooding. Pretty crazy out here--I have never seen that much rain fall in that short amount of time--and it just doesn't stop. Check out some pictures online if you haven't seen all the damages these rains have caused--it's pretty crazy.

Anyway--work is going well. Life is a bit slower here than it is in college, but I think that's because I (and all of us I'm sure) are used to living such crazy fast-paced lives at school. So it's a nice change of pace. This week we had our photo shoots for the website, so soon my picture will be on the 2100 website. I'll post the link when they get posted. I also got to voice the narration for a multi-ethnic piece which was fun. I finshed up editing the small project I was working on and survived my first show and tell, where pieces are played for the whole production team and feedback is given. Besides that, the 3 other interns and myself have been brainstorming and starting to do some basic script writing for other videos in the works.

That's about it from here. Just trying to stay busy and not get sucked up by the tornados. And I signed up for a pottery class--which I am very excited about.

Until next week . . .

Melissa

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Week 5... whew

I've become almost a pro at Avid editing system lately. When I've got nothing to do I've been making videos with crazy edits just so I can practice what I've learned. Examples are fast-forwarding, zooms, effects that have lighting bolts!
Today I stayed in and didn't go out with a crew... it seemed like no one was here. I finished writing a couple of stories from yesterday and edited them. Minor problem, when I finished one package I realized that I had never opened a sequence, rather I was just editing on a blank timeline. Soo... that whole package was a waste and I had to re-do it. That's kind of how it goes I guess!
Hope everyone's having fun!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Snow? For real?

Hello Hello!

So this is week three at KPAX and today I went to Polson to get shots of SNOW. I am pretty bummed that the weather has been so bad lately! Oh well what can you do I guess it gives us something to report! Yesterday I got to go out and shoot footage in Hamilton about solar energy and I also interviewed the installer of the solar panels. Then I came back to the station and wrote a VO/SOT and I got to report it in the studio at 5:30. This was my second time on air and I was a little more nervous... I don't really know why haha.
I cant get over the quality of the cameras we use. The picture is sooo clear! I love it. I have also been doing re writes for the shows and they let me shoot whenever we go out. I start the producing segment next week so hopefully I learn some tricks to help for next semester! I really like everyone at the station they are so friendly and willing to help! They are constantly trying to find ways for me to get in there and report! I really like that.

Hope all is well with all of you!
ally

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

week 3

Hello everyone.
Today is cloudy and kind of cold. Which makes it perfectly alright that I am editing all day. I just got a new assignment and I have plowed through it most of today. It feels good to get an assignment and be able to edit with confidence. Maybe this edit isnt as time demanding as the 1st because I understand the program so much better now. I am happy that I have learned Adobe Premiere, one more tool to put in my belt.
I shot on Saturday which was cool. I get to get my own shots and I can't depend on anyone else to get them, I like that I think this has and will continue to be a good learning experience.
Since I last blogged I have joined a yoga studio and cleaned out my car. You cant leave anything in your car because of the heat! Yet the heat is better than snow, which I hear it is snowing in Missoula. Bummer! I cannot believe it.
Well, I better get back to editing and see if I can finish even earlier. I hope that everyone is having fun. Holly, jealous that you met kristin davis:)
Hey RTV-ers!

My first week was a whirlwind. My internship coordinator was incredibly busy, so I was often left to fend for myself. My first week duties were observing and introducing myself to people at opportune moments. The most important lesson I learned was how to be engaged in the newsroom without being an annoyance. Overall I think I did really well at this. As I introduced myself to people around the newsroom when they had a spare moment, an intern who had been there 3 weeks already followed me and introduced herself then too. I have already gotten more opportunities to do things than she has because I have figured out who to ask, while she has spent her time on facebook. Clearly, how much I get out of this internship depends on how much I put into it. Knowing this, the responsibility to get newsroom experience here rests on my shoulders.

In that first week I buddied-up to a lot of photogs who didn't have reporters with them. I got to practice 2 stand-ups and I even got to interview the county Sheriff on the rise in vehicle break-ins. One story I went on with a photog was a bust: the day before a man had burned down 2 churches on the same block, so we went to the churches to see if anyone was there organizing repairs and if and where they would be holding their services, but no-one was around.

I've practiced writing a couple of VO's and one of them got used in a 10pm newscast. At the end of my 10pm shift I go into the studio and watch the newscast live, and sometimes do the same with the 5pm newscast. Oh & I go to the 2pm meeting or the morning meeting daily.

Oh and I got to hear the Governor's live statement on the capital building's front steps. The Governor announced his support for Obama right before his deadline to do so. Every Denver station was there and I got to meet interns from other stations. In fact, Bre Roy I met a photog who worked with you at that RTV camp you went to... his name is Dave Wertheimer and he says Hi Bre!

In my last few hours last week, I started to train on website postings for: www.thedenverchannel.com
I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Therefore, for my first rotation I am starting with Online News. It turns out, there are a lot more things interns are allowed to do online than near the cameras. I get to pick the top 7 video packages that show up at the top of the website and I get to rewrite AP stories, read the original articles from papers across the nation, and update each story with new info.

My first week certainly kept me on my toes. It was exciting to never know where I'd be going each day and I am making valuable connections.

I also started working at High Noon Entertainment in the Denver Comcast building. I'm getting paid a great salary to transcribe tapes from the Food Network Challenge and I get to go to a shoot of it on Monday. I am learning lots of shortcuts and the people who first introduced Avid to stations across the country work here. It's basically a Production Internship, so I was thinking about splitting my intern hours between KMGH and here because they'll let me do some editing and pick out bites as I am trained more.

~~Stacy

Loving the rain... well not really

Hello everyone, Paige here from rainy Spokane. Apparently before I came in this morning it actually snowed briefly in West Spokane (thankfully far from where I am)! Anyways, I am well into my internship and just have a few weeks left. KHQ has been wonderful! I am editing whenever I can but havn't done anything too awesome yet. When I edit something good (preferably my own story) I will post it on this blog.
Recently I have been writing packages and editing some of them. I've done a couple stand-ups to include in my pachages and hope to do another today. Since I really havn't done a ton of this at school yet I do get a little nervous but am quickly getting used to reporting at the scene of a story.
Here's a few reasons KHQ is awesome:
5. probably the best TV station in the Spokane market
4. photogs are really helpful and help me with projects
3. reporters are nice and pretty funny sometimes
2. I love Spokane (of course...I am from here)
1. There are about 8 Grizzlies around the station! Including another intern- Marianne, a new Producer, one reporter- Paola Cherzad, one photog- Gabe, one promotions guy, the EP, and a partige in a pair tree.
If we can we'll take a picture soon and post it up on the blog.

Enjoy the weather!
Paige Browning

Monday, June 9, 2008

Hey All!!
Well this is my second week at Barrett and I am not going to lie, I was taken back seeing the killing of an Ox. But it has been great working with the staff at Barrett. I've been able to look at a lot of videos of hunting and fishing and would probabaly never see the things I am seeing now. Right now Barrett has tons anbd tons of projects due in the next week so it has been pretty hectic there making sure everything has been loaded. I am really looking forward to working with Barrett

The Old Ballgame

I’m finally able to blog after a hectic week of production. So here it is:

This week was one of the busiest in the year for CCTV. It started out with the men’s USSSA Slow-pitch Softball tournament. Three days full of softball and live TV work. I helped set up all the cameras and hook up the production truck on the day before the tournament. There were 5 cameras set up around the field, so a complicated production. I am continually amazed by CCTV’s ability to create a professional result with limited staff and new volunteers. At softball tournaments, the production crew is able to create DVDs immediately for team members to buy and take home. These sold quickly, especially for the championship games. The production manager Ken is going to let me direct a women’s softball tournament in the next couple weeks.

I’m continuing to work on nonprofit brochures, editing and filming some things now too. The two nonprofits I’m currently assigned to are a homeless shelter and a day care for struggling families. Totally tearjerkers if I do say so myself.

The end of the week brought graduations. I’ve now heard pomp and circumstance about 1000 times. There are 6 graduations in 3 days here in Salem, and CCTV does on site production for all of them. I worked at two, once as a camera operator and once on audio, and of course there were hours of set up and take down. I’ll be an expert coiler at the end of the summer – watch out world!

Hope everyone’s doing well, have a good week!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Starstruck

Well it's the end of week two at the Late Late Show intern boot camp as I like to call it. I was both ecstatic and nervous to see the lovely Kristin Davis (Charlotte on Sex and the City) in person before she went on the show Tuesday. It is so weird to see celebrities when they aren't on TV. I also met the three other interns. They are all from the East coast. We have been pretty busy this last week-we taped five shows along with some extra footage to air at a later date. I am trying to not be in anybody's way, but also find a balance of when to ask if I can help. I do a lot of research, mostly finding footage of potential guests on the internet so the woman who books guests can determine if they will be a good on-camera interview. It's sort of like finding the "nugget" as Denise would say. As Teal mentioned we did get to meet up in San Diego for a little visit. It was so nice to see someone from home. LA is heating up so I think I will be going to the beach a lot more. It sounds like everyone is having a successful summer thus far. Until next time...

Research, script writing and editing

Hello all and happy dairy month!

Weird right--I must be in Wisconsin where they do celebrate such events. Anyway--life here is chugging along. I am almost finished editing a short testimony project I talked about earlier. We got an assignment about two video projects they are wanting to produce next year for various chapters around the country. 2100 definitley has a team approach to producing, so as a team of interns we are researching and proposing several different looks and ideas for the two projects. It's been fun to work together and I think two of our ideas are going to be produced eventually. Hopefully I will be here for that process.

Besides that, I was asked to travel with a small team to Indianapolis (sorry if I mentioned this in my last post--not sure if I did or not) to help tech and run cameras for a conference there. So that should be fun. I'm definitely looking forward to that.

So far so good in WI. They have a much different technique for story telling and editing so it's been great to learn that and broaden my experience base. Glad you all are doing well. It's been fun to see you guys on TV too! Thanks for posting those. Until next week . . .

Melissa

Intrigue and Confidence

I wonder how differently all of us will approach our class work next semester?

Isn't it crazy reading about everybody's varied experiences? We're all gonna be saying to each other, "Well yeah, but I learned this at my internship..." We'll drive each other nuts.

But on to the task at hand I have a belated recap of my third week at Loopline Film. The week was wonderfully diverse and productive.  The week began with me finishing the logging and note-taking for the project I've written about before. The notes for the tapes ended up being a 30 page Word document (let's hope it gets some use!)

Later that same day (Tuesday, since we had Monday off due to a "Bank Holiday") I accompanied one of the new employees to do some research for a project in the field. The film will be about Kathleen Lynn, an Irish Doctor in the early 1900's. I won't get into it much, let's say she was important, influential and founded a childrens' hospital in Ireland when the country had the biggest infant mortality rate in Europe. 

Right, but the cool part was we took a trip to the National Museum of Ireland, met up with one of the curators, and got card-swiped into a secret-looking area to view some locked away materials. Yours truly was the photographer and spent the afternoon feeling like a documentary Indiana Jones (that is Indiana Jones pre-"Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", which made me gag.) It felt cooler than I'm sure it sounds.

The rest of the week was just as varied. I met and spoke with my supervisor and other employees to discuss careers in the field of documentary, which was enlightening.

I helped sort the last year's receipts into months and catalogue them under 'petty cash' expenses for the company's taxes, which was meticulous.

Loopline recently moved to this new location so we reorganized the old master tape library, which was laborious.

I slightly had the chance to familiarize myself with a totally different brand of editing software: "Lightworks." It's computer based LINEAR editing from all I can figure, but its set up so the old dogs used to editing with actual film can feel at home. And you don't use a keyboard, you use this video game-esque controller to edit. I forgot my camera, but I'll load some pictures so you can all see it. It seems like the sorta thing that would be much faster than anything we've used one you become familiar with it. Sé Merry Doyle, the big cheese over here, flies through editing on it. 

Granted, the younger guy's here who use FinalCut seem to think it's a dinosaur. I'm undecided.

The second half of the week was spent with two things: First, finishing the rough draft of this 'deadline calendar' I've mentioned before, which I'm almost done with. Secondly, I helped Sé and another editor Marc finish producing a film in two languages (English and Irish), on two editing systems (Sé on Lightworks, Marc on FinalCut), in two rooms at the same time. I've never had so many timecodes floating around in my head. The film is nearly done: "John Henry Foley: Ghosts of the Empire". It's about a 19th Century sculptor...

Today is actually the Monday of my fourth week. I'm taking Tuesday-Thursday off to go to London and see off my girlfriend Laura as she heads back to the U.S. I'll be here for another month. Today though, before I leave, I'm scheduled to discuss my 3o pages of notes on "Patrick Ireland", which should be interesting.

-db

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Flooded. producing. tornadoes.

I'm on the 2-week producing rotation. It's such great practice rewriting wire copy on a time crunch. I can feel my writing improve each day. I get to produce three web updates each day and help write stories mainly for the midday newscast, but usually bumps for the later ones. Today tornadoes and storms hammered our viewing area. Serious damage, flooding. Great viewer photos. It's still hard for me to comprehend the reality of tornadoes here! I'm sure I'll see one myself by the end of the summer. Even though I was a producer today, Dexter sent me out to cover heavy flooding in Canton (just a vo/sot). Unbelievable flooding...it looked like lakes on farmland. I interviewed a woman who had to forge two feet of water to get to me on the road from her house. Once I had it back and edited, I ended up sticking around to help answer phones because viewers were going crazy. I love talking, well..listening to all these calls. It's intriguing. People were calling about power outages or if they'd seen a tornado or funnel clouds or complaining because the meteorologist wouldn't "shut his mouth." It was great. Having fun and feeling a little more like I belong.
P.S. Election coverage was fun, too! Got to interview the Gov. and phoner with former Sen. George McGovern election night and previous week got footage of Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton. I feel like here I'm right in the middle of national news.

Graffiti

Hello Hello,

So yesterday I came into work and Ryan, one of the reporters, said he wanted to do a story on graffiti in Missoula. He also said that he thought I should do the interviews which isn't that unusual because I've conducted a few interviews in the last two weeks... THEN he tells me he plans on helping me get it ready for the 5:30 show where I will be infront of the plasma screen reporting! We worked all day on it and then at 5:40 I went on! It was pretty exciting! I don't have actual footage of it but I did put a link at the bottom to my story that showed up online!

The reporters here are so helpful! They all were excited to see me go on air and they helped me calm down so I wasn't nervous! Everything else is going well. I've been doing some reporting and next week I start my producing segment. I dont know what they will have me do but I'm sure it will be fun!

It sounds like you're all doing well! Keep up the good work;)

ally


http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=8433470

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

mariners.

Hello all!! Greetings from sea town!

So I'm finishing up my first week at the mariners... Ray no worries Steve says he is faxing my learning agreement asap!!
So far everything has been pretty exciting I got to go out and get interviews with the fans before the game and shoot the pre game with camera 3.. so the first pitch... national anthem etc. Then I got to go around shooting the fans in the stands throughout the whole game.. we lost... but I still was able to go into the press conference with the skipper where each news station asked questions. My second day I worked on the graphics for the big screen which is one of my tasks i complete each day... the head shots of all the players... mariner game notes etc. using avid's decko...

Today I got to meet Steve Pool (the weather man for komo 4) he did a weather day for little kids around Washington. I also worked with the TD today to see how his job works. All in all its been fun so far I work again Friday and Saturday. Saturday will be a event where I will work a camera most likely filming the guest speakers/event.

Should be fun-- hope all is well!!

Kelly Hanson.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

update 2

Hello Everyone!

I am still loving KHQ...the, reporters, producers, news director, assignment editors, photogs, anchors are all awesome!!!

On the Weekends I usually go out with Paola...who is a UM alumni...and very helpful...Sunday we each wrote a package on Kevin Coe "The South Hill Rapist"... pretty creepy stuff....then she helped me do an as-live so that was GREAT practice...After the 6pm news show, she watched my as-live with me and gave me some pointers...which is awesome cuz i definitely need them!!

Yesterday (monday) I went all over Spokane with another reporter...it was a super slow day...and her stories kept falling through...but we ended up doing one about "comcast dating on demand"....yes for those of you who don't know you can do more than online dating know you can date through the TV...And best news of all...KHQ was the first station in Spokane with the story and we even beat the Press Releases!!! ohhh and if you guys are interested...check out KHQ.COM or just go ahead and make a trip up to The Big Easy or Fast Eddy's in Spokane to create your on profile for Comcast Dating on Demand...

Ok...then today...another pretty cool story or at least I thought so...I went to Colton, WA...and we interviewed a 16 year old boy from Colton High School that was riding the bus to school and noticed the driver kind of slumped over and the bus was going off the road...the kid grabbed the wheel and steered, the bus driver, himself, and nine other passengers safely into a wheatfield...the bus didn't even have a scratch...pretty neat huh...anyway I wrote a package for that and did another as-live...so hopefully I'll get the hang of being "live" pretty soon!

Thats all for now!!! Hope everyone else is having a great time!!!
Ray my form is in the mail tomorrow!

~Marianne

Monday, June 2, 2008

First Day at Barrett

Hello Everyone!!
Well today was my first day at Barrett Productions. Basically I learned about Avid and what I will be during there during my internship; that being loading and giving specific detail to what is happening to each scene. It was interesting watching all the pieces through my trial and error, there was a piece of elk hunting and seeing the process of a kill was pretty interesting. I return back to Barrett tomorrow morning and look forward to my work there.

1st edit

Hello again radio tv'rs.
I have just finished editing my 1st project. I had 6 hours of tape to edit and I had 2 weeks to complete it. I just finished today making it in a week. I am loving my internship and I am excited about everything I am learning. Jerry has given I am filming again on Saturday with one of Jerry's aids Chris and I am handing my edit in tomorrow and will be getting an evaluation of my work.  
Holly came to San Diego on Tuesday because her studio was dark. It was awesome to see her and talk about how much work she is doing. We went to the beach and had lunch at a nice restaurant. It would be awesome to see the rest of you Cali folk!! Okay, well until tomorrow. Have a good week!

Teal