Me...an expert?!

So last week we had to meet with Brad Weaver, our Capstone advisor, to talk about exactly where we were going with our projects. We had to develop goals, write an abstract and a proposal. Not going to lie, I was a little intimidated. But, I understand why we needed to do it. For my project I want to focus on the importance of the up and coming "VJ" in this business. I think it's a skill all young reporters/photographers should have by the time they graduate from college.

So here are my goals:

• Become an expert on VJ-driven shows.
• Perfect my own skills as a VJ.
• Pitch my show idea to Discovery or Travel.

Now I wouldn't consider myself an expert at anything, but through research I hope to make myself a little bit more aware of what's going on in this line of work.

Look out, Mike Rowe! I'm coming for your job!! :)

Lessons in Teamwork

Last week for capstone we went up to the Titan Traverse ropes course. At first I thought this would be just another lame “team building” activity we were being forced to do. Once we got up there, I realized that everything we were about to do had relevance to life after college…in some way or another. As a TEAM we had to get everyone from one side of this “spider-web” to the other without touching any of the ropes. It took everyone working together and effective communication skills to get it done. It sounds cheesy, but without everyone working together we really couldn’t have gotten it done. This relates to real life because, especially in this line of work, you really need to work together to get things done; you can’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.


I was a crazy young man who let himself be blinded by his passions and obeyed only the impulses of the moment.
~Gustav Mahler

Team Serious

OK...so I was really nervous after the first meeting of Capstone about my future. I thought since I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do I would have a hard time finding a job. But I talked with Weaver today about a show idea I had and I feel a lot better.

Because I enjoyed doing On The Road so much I was trying to think about what I could do with that in the future. I love watching Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel and thought that would be a great job to have. But I knew I couldn't rip that show off so....I came up with a show which Weaver and I have temporarily called "$20 and a Tank Of Gas." The concept of the show would be discovering different places that the people of New Wilmington and the surrounding area could go to on a day trip. This is just so I can use this as a package for The County Line and possibly as part of a resume tape. If it were to get picked up the concept would be the same, but it would be focused on traveling around the United States and discovering small town places not many people go to. Since I come from a small town I know how important tourism is to the economy of the town.

I've got some research to do as far as shows already on Travel Channel and such, which I've already started looking into. But again, now that I've talked things over with Weaver I feel a lot better. He really liked the idea and seemed to think it could really work. Not only as a segment for a college tv station, but also as a segment on a national station.

It's surprising the things one thinks of in the shower...haha