From another perspective

This, indeed, is a new perspective. Until now, I’ve merely been writing the news in faceless obscurity.

People don’t necessarily associate a face or personality when they read one of my articles. But ever since I started reporting for the University’s television station I feel that my horizons and feelings of responsibility have broadened. I’ve learned under both stress and commitment to finish projects both efficiently and quickly. In the broadcast business you must be prepared to go in a minute’s notice. Therefore this field requires more work from an individual.

As part of being a news reporter for this station, I must complete a package each week. A package involves three main tasks: writing the script, taping the scenes and editing. Prior to last week, I had never written a script, held a camera or edited a tape before. Talk about learning to swim in deep waters. Fortunately for me I know experts at these tasks that can help me to handle them.

I wrote my first script last week on the security of Bobcat Village. For this package I received help with the taping and editing; however, on my package for this week, I decided I could handle the taping on my own. Videotaping is tougher than it looks. The camera must be at the right position and angle to correctly tape the image.

But the hardest part of the process is editing the video. For this job the operator tapes certain pieces of the video and the reporter’s voice onto a DVC-PRO for the final package. This task is rather technical but I’m learning.

Although all of this is fairly new to me, I have enjoyed every minute. Being a television news reporter excites me. One of my loves in life is surprises, and let me tell you there are plenty of those in this line of work. For example, Wednesday morning Matt Evans and I had to shoot a standup in the rain. In a standup the reporter goes on the scene and explains the situation. My first package included my first standup. This standup explained a portion of the security at Bobcat Village. I was so nervous that I almost hit the panic alarm in the middle of my piece. I performed my second standup Wednesday morning. This standup took three takes instead of nine.

According to the instructor for my newscast production class, my first package was “very good.” One of my packages is part of a show that our class is producing. The other members in the class also completed packages and helped produce the show. The show premieres today at 6 p.m. on Channel 4. MBC (Milledgeville-Baldwin County) news plays from 6 to 6:30 p.m., and The Beat plays from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. The MBC news show will inform viewers on news for the county, where as The Beat will tell the latest entertainment and sports news. If you miss the premiere tonight, the shows will replay on Saturday and Sunday night. Our show will last all semester long, so for news updates in your county, turn to channel four for MBC news and The Beat.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 24 2003. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry