The Finished Project

It's been awhile since I've updated this here blog, so I figured it's about time. My project for the New Wilmington Chamber of Commerce has been done and online for about 3 months. I don't think the link is on the website yet, but the chamber loved it! I got some flattering compliments from all the business owners I worked with which really helped boost my confidence. It was a lot of work, but I think the finished product was all worth it. So...without further adieu, here is my final project in all its glory. I present to you: "New Wilmington: A Great Place to Live and Visit". I hope you like it! :)

Yet Another Roadblock...

So this project, which was supposed to be completed by now, is put off until September. At my rough cut meeting with Mr. McKinley, which went fantastically, we realized we had goofed on the dates of the presentation. The Chamber's July meeting was scheduled for the 18th and we thought it was the 25th. We thought an easy fix for this would be to just reschedule the presentation for the August meeting, but my professor can't make that meeting as he will be on vacation with his family. So now it looks like I will have to wait until September to present this video. I'm still waiting to hear back from Mr. McKinley as to whether or not that will work.

Until then, I'm still making corrections based on the rough cut meeting I had with Mr. McKinley July 16th. He liked the video so far, but did make some very good suggestions about more video, different audio effects, and adding some sports that I had in the first draft. Although the date for the presentation is being moved I'm hoping to have everything complete within the next couple weeks. I want to have it all finished and "forget about it" until the actual presentation gets closer. 

Something I'm also looking into as another way to post this video is with something called a "YouTube Channel." Not really quite sure how it works or what it does, but a friend of mine, Chris Norris, is using this to promote the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, the team he's working for. I need to look more into it, but this is something Mr. Weaver had suggested and it sounds like it might be another great way to bring more attention to the New Wilmington area. 

Now comes the real challenge...

Out of all the aspects of putting together a video, I would have to say editing is my favorite and my least favorite part, all at the same time. I love putting sequences together and I could spend hours making sure everything flows well, but at the same time it can be such a tedious task it drives me crazy. This is monster I've dealt with the last couple weeks. 

It's bad enough trying to put this thing together, but having to learn a new editing system has brought a new challenge in itself. Although Final Cut isn't that much different than Adobe Premier, there are a few differences, mostly in the shortcut keys, that makes the process take a little longer. Now that I've got the basics down, I can really start to play around with all the different features Final Cut has to offer. Again, most of it is the same as Premier, but there are some differences; that's what makes this project fun. I love seeing what I can do with the film in the editing stage of the process. The most difficult thing for me to figure out was how to get the text in there; that was a good hour long process.

The thing people don't realize about projects like this, is the time it takes to edit everything down. The final product may only be 3 minutes long, but it may have taken 3 weeks to get it to that point. I have a really hard time, and always have, trying to cut stuff out. That was my least favorite part about putting together news stories. With this project, I essentially have the freedom to make it as long as I want. But I can't make it too long or people will lose interest. I heard somewhere that 2-3 minutes is the average length of a promo video, because any longer and people will lose interest, but any shorter and they won't get the point. 

I'm at a point now where I'm just tweaking some stuff and making sure everything flows. I meet with my client next week and I'm a little nervous. He's been extremely helpful in this whole process and I'm sure he will have excellent suggestions for the final product. The rough draft will be up sometime next week...

Filming Day One

So I finally went out to shoot some stuff this week. I had two consecutive days off so I figured that would be the perfect time to go up and get stuff on film since I didn't have any time to do it the last time I was up that way. Well, I didn't make it up to New Wilmington Wednesday, but I did go up Thursday. I was really worried about getting everything done because I got up there later than I wanted to, but I got quite a bit accomplished before it started STORMING! There are still a few more shots I need to get, but the weather is an uncontrollable factor in this whole process. I'll have to get back up there probably this coming week (although it's a holiday weekend) to get the rest of what I need. I was able to get a really cute shot of one of the people working at Mugsies. I think it really displays the quality of service you can only find in a small town coffee shop. I did fill out release forms for the person appearing as well as the location. 

I was curious about something though. Let's say I wanted to get a MS of a business sign, do I need a location release form? Or is it clear because it's outside? I was wondering about that. When I go back to get some more shots, I think I'm going to just have release forms filled out anyway just to be on the safe side. 

I was looking over my shot list as I was out shooting and had some second guesses about some shots. I'm not sure about the whole fireworks thing. First of all, I won't be able to make it up there for the fireworks so that creates the whole issue of having to credit someone else for shooting stuff for me. Secondly, fireworks are really hard to capture! I can try to capture some from home, but that would be cheating since they're not New Wilmington's. I think it would be a really cool shot, but since I live so far away it's not really plausible. I think I'll have plenty of video and I won't really need it.

Shot List

So to try to help myself be a little more organized, I have created a shot list to follow. When I'm out in the field trying to get stuff filmed (which I'm going to do Wednesday) I'll know what I've got and what I still need to go get. This is something I didn't have the last time and I think it really hurt me. I'm a little scatter-brained, so this shot list will keep me on track. Here are the things that I would like to put in the video. I have gone over this shot list with my client and he added a few things. There may be more shots to be added, but for right now this is what I have.

• Pizza Joe's
• Short Stop Inn
• Mugsie's
• Jimmy's
• amish buggy (with the nat sound of the horse's hooves)
• HS/College sports
• house with people waving and smiling
• WC Old Main bell tower (with the bells ringing...nat sound is crucial)
• horses
• golf course/driving range (possibly)
• Silk Road
• business logos
• covered bridges
• stream in Volant (with the nat sound and hopefully some people fishing)
• churches
• 4th july fireworks
• captions from Pittsburgh Magazine

This is what I'm going to film with Wednesday, more stuff may show up as I'm filming, who knows, but this is a good start.

Much Better Beginning

I'm already feeling so much better about this project than I did in the past. I have meetings set up and I have a timeline established. My first major meeting with Mr. McKinley is set for Wednesday. The purpose of this meeting is to lock in shots he wants, verify my treatment to ensure we are on the same page with the intent of this project, and set in stone the next two meetings. I have a shot list created, but I would like to get Tom's opinions and thoughts before I finalize everything. 

Having already established a working relationship with my client is definitely a huge step in the right direction that I didn't have before. I know how to contact him when I need to and he already has a little bit of an idea of what I am capable of and what to expect. 

While not being close to my client is helping more than I thought I would. It's really forcing me to stick to the timeline I have created, especially with gas prices being so high. I can't afford to make more trips than are absolutely necessary, so that is a big motivational factor in sticking to my timeline. After meeting with Mr. McKinley this week I think I'll be able to really get creative with this video since I'll know exactly what he wants. 

Starting Over

These last couple of months have been a real challenge for me, but I've learned so much about myself and I think it will help me down the road. First of all, I have to take Capstone over again because my project wasn't passable. I can use the same ideas, but I just need to take the project to a new level and really take the time to make it look more professional. In order to help me with this project, which I am fortunate enough to be able to work on from home, I finally broke down and bought a Mac and Final Cut Express. We worked with Adobe Premier at school, but I've heard so many good things about Final Cut and Mac that I just decided to buy it. It was a lot of money, but I think the quality of the final project will definitely benefit from it. Plus I can always use it for side projects and what not down the road. 

Anyway, back to my project. There are really only 4 major things for this project that I need to make sure are complete before I turn it in. Most of these I've learned from experience. 

1. Set up meetings. I need to set up three meetings with my client, President of the Chamber of Commerce Tom McKinley. The first meeting is just to solidify ideas for this project to ensure I'm capturing everything he wants in this video. I have some ideas from the last project I made, but I really want to set some things in stone. I've set Tom an email, but am still waiting for a reply. I'll send him another email and probably a text message by the end of the week. The second meeting will be set up a little later on down the road to show Tom my rough draft of the project. The purpose of this meeting will be to make any last minute changes to the video before I show it to the Chamber. That will be my last meeting. I will present the final video in front of the entire New Wilmington Chamber of Commerce as well as my professor. This meeting will probably be towards the end of the summer. Another detail I have to work out with Tom. 

2. Create a REAL WORKING Timeline. The last timeline I had didn't really do what it was supposed to. I had it set up because I knew I had to have it in order to pass, but I didn't really follow any of it. I now realize that having a timeline and following it is an essential part of this project. I understand that some things can be updated and changed if need be, but I can't use that an excuse to push things back that I just didn't complete. I really don't have any excuses this time around. I'm working about 40 hours a week, but I'm done by 7 every night so that leaves me the rest of the night to get my editing finished. This project is my number one priority.

3. Create a PROFESSIONAL treatment. The last treatment I created was very elementary according to professional standards. Maybe it's because I hadn't created one in a long time and had just forgotten, but I have found the template we are supposed to model our treatments after so that should help. There are some details about the treatment I need to verify with Tom, but I think for the most part I have it all under control.

4. Gather release forms. This was a big hiccup in my last attempt at this project. I was unaware that these were needed for this type of a project. I was under the assumption that I was clear because it was a school project, I guess because I was so accustomed to doing things for The County Line where we don't need release forms. That was a HUGE assumption that could have really got me in some trouble. I know now that I need release forms for EVERYTHING so I have plenty of those printed out.

Other than that I think I have a much better understanding of where this project is going and what I want it to look like. I just have to get used to a Mac system and Final Cut, but I think in the end the money I spent will pay off. 

It's getting close

I've got less than a week until my capstone presentation and I am so nervous. I got some stuff accomplished this week, but not as much as I had hoped. I will be finishing up filming today and tomorrow and start putting everything together hopefully tonight. I have an idea of the way I want this to turn out and that will help out tremendously with editing.

The editing is what's making me nervous. It won't take me long to finish, but I'm so nervous about presenting it to the Chamber. What if they don't like it? What if I get a bad grade on my Capstone? What if I don't graduate? These are all things that have been running through my head the last couple days and it has been driving me crazy. I am confident in my skills as a videographer/editor but I've never been under this much pressure before.

This past week I watched some of my classmates' Capstone presentations and that helped me out a little bit, but I'm doing something completely different than anyone else. The one that really stood out to me was Terese Marszalek's documentary. It was very well done; it was such an emotional journey and I was crying almost the entire time. I would like to congratulate her and I can only hope that my presentation will be as good. I know our projects are different, but the feedback she got was all positive and that's what I'm looking for in my presentation. I guess I'll find out my fate next week...

Crunch Time

The time of year has arrived when everyone has begun counting down the number of days until summer break is official. I have 4 major projects to finish before the year is up.

1. Capstone: The most important project that I need to finish is my Capstone. I've some footage shot, but I need to go do more. That is my goal this week. I also need to get in contact with the people that are in charge of the mission conference to try and get pictures to put in my video. I have all the ideas I need to get this project done, I just need to sit down and get it finished. I only have 2 weeks until my presentation and I need to have a run-through before then. So the big goal for this week is to make BIG progress on my video.

2. Documentary: The next project that needs to be completed is my documentary for my Mass Communications class. This is a group project; we went and interviewed our family last weekend and things went really well!! We have one more interview to do and I think that is being shot this week. Then we have a whole week of class time to work on putting this together. So we will use that time to edit everything together.

3. Resume Tape: I need to do this not only for a class, but also to have it for job hunting purposes. I'm really not sure what I want to do with my life, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. I have all of the stand ups I want I just need to find the right stories to use.

4. E-portfolio: This is another thing that needs to get done for class, but also for job hunting purposes. I have most of the material I need to complete it I just need to get things organized and put together.

Now that Quilters is finished and with golf wrapping up this week I will have much more time to concentrate on getting all of my work completed. I only wish this would haven happened about 2 weeks prior.

Deadline Pressure

This week for my BC Journalism 2 class I had to complete a deadline project. This was a package that had to be shot, edited and dubbed to tape in one day. I decided to do my package on Relay for Life. I knew this was going to be an emotional day before I got down there, but the day didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped. I had a vision of this package before I went to shoot it and it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.

I got down to the track about an hour later than I wanted to, so by the time I got down there I had missed the Survivor's Lap and there was only one survivor we could find. I asked her if she would be willing to do a TV interview and she seemed a little hesitant. She did the interview but it wasn't anything spectacular. It was hard to do because I knew she wasn't very comfortable talking about things. But I do have to give her respect for doing the interview.

The next challenge I came across was what kind of B roll to get. There wasn't a whole lot going on while we were down there so I got a lot of shots of people walking. I got them from different angles and such but I just wish I would have had more time. I really wanted to get the luminaries and the fireworks to put in the package, but because the package had to be complete by 6 pm I couldn't get it.

The package isn't what I expected it to be, but I think it's alright. It wasn't the time pressure that I was worried about, it was the expectation for myself to make a great package and I'm not sure I fulfilled it.

Finally Making Progress

This week was super busy for me, but I feel like I got a lot of things accomplished. There were three major things that happened this week.

First, I got to interview Emmy award winning media critic and author, Eric Burns. He is a 1967 Westminster alum who came to speak for the Bleasby Colloquium. I was a little nervous at first because this was a big deal! Mr. Weaver came to me and asked me to do the interview because he wanted someone who was experienced and well-spoken (thanks for the ego-boost). The interview went very well and it also gives me another "celebrity" interview to put on my resume.

Secondly, I FINALLY met with Tom McKinley, the president of the New Wilmington Chamber of Commerce about my capstone project! Our meeting went extremely well and I feel so much better about things. This meeting lifted a HUGE weight off my shoulders. Tom gave me numerous ideas for things he wants in this video and that was very encouraging. He also gave me the names of some other people I might want to get in contact with to get more video or pictures from past events. I now have direction for my whole project and I feel a thousand times better about things. I'm really excited to get started on the whole process. Tom seemed really excited about the whole thing as well so that's encouraging!

Finally, I was also responsible for putting together a package for The County Line this week. To be completely honest I kind of forgot about it until about Wednesday night because of the whole Eric Burns thing. After my meeting with Tom on Thursday I was still without a package and it was 2 pm; TCL starts at 7:30. I was going to do a package about the blood drive, but when I walked down there no one was there! So I decided to take things into my own hands and donate blood myself and take the camera along and try to make a package out of that. It wasn't the best package in the least, but it was shot, edited, and dubbed to tape in 2 1/2 hours. The whole experience of trying to put something together out of nothing made me realize that I do have what it takes to survive in this business. It may be EXTREMELY stressful at times, but in the end it really is rewarding.

I still don't know what I want to do when I leave WC. I have 42 days left to figure it out.

Am I really ready for this?

As the semester is racing to a close and graduation is creeping closer and closer I've been doing a lot of soul searching. I have to stop and ask myself, "Am I really ready to graduate?" Sure, Westminster has given me opportunities I never would have had before, but I'm still not sure I'm ready to leave and go out into the real world. I feel like everyone around me has such definite plans for their future and I'm just struggling in the wind. There's Chris Norris who had an amazing internship last summer with the Cleveland Indians and has another one lined up for this summer with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. Clarissa Hunter and TJ Renninger both work for WYTV/WKBN now. And then there's me; no internship and no potential job. I don't even know what I want to do!

Over spring break I did decide that I would stay at home this summer and use that time to do my job searching because there's no way I would be able to do that now. I am involved in too many things on campus plus trying to get everything done for the semester I would drive myself crazy. But maybe that's just my problem. I'm involved in too many things. The more I think about it if I could go back and do this year over I think I would do a lot of things differently.

First of all, I would have had a more definite idea of my capstone project before the year even began. This is the thing that's causing me the most stress because I don't have a lot of things done and the end is coming quickly. I've had such a hard time trying to get in contact with my client that all of this phone-tag nonsense I'm doing now would have been much easier to deal with in September (instead of the end of March with my capstone presentation about a month away).

Secondly, I don't think I would cut down on the number of things I'm involved in on campus because I love them all, but I would definitely have managed my time better. I've realized that I'm the kind of person that gets wrapped up in the moment and forgets about the other things that need to get done that day. It's only recently that I've become so rigid with my schedule because I know that's the only way I'll get things done.

Finally, I would have made better decisions in what classes I'm taking this semester. There is one class in particular that I really regret taking. I feel like the only thing that class has done for me this semester is add to the stress of my schedule. I haven't really learned anything I didn't know before and I really feel like it's a waste of my time to sit through it when I have so many other things to be doing. Who knows, maybe five years from now I'll realize how much I did learn in that class but right now I'm hating every minute of it.

So I have 48 days until I graduate. I've contacted one guy about a job. He said because they are a new company they weren't sure when they were going to expand, but he'd definitely keep me in mind. That's what I'm working with. Maybe in the next 48 days something miraculous will happen and I'll have a solid job lined up...but I'm not counting on it.

Resume Material...finally

I've forgotten the feeling you get when you know you've created something worthwhile. I finally put together a package this week that is truly resume material! It's not anything hard-hitting; it's just a fun little package about sledding. But I love all the nat-sound I was able to catch just from standing at the top of the hill and listening. The interview I got was probably one of my better ones simply because I didn't make it real formal. I just talked to him and casually put the camera up to his face. I like that approach so much better than the formal interview. You can capture more candid shots, people in their natural state of being and that creates more interesting video which in turn will give you a better package.

Stage Directing vs. Screen Directing

Last week, Westminster College put on "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and I was honored to be the Student Director as well as the Stage Manager for this show. It was an unbelievable amount of work to take on both jobs, but very well worth it! The show was a complete success! As a broadcast major and theatre minor I often find myself comparing the two fields because of their similarities.

With stage directing you are responsible not only for making sure the actual performance runs smoothly but also for all the rehearsals. You are responsible for creating the composition of the actors, making sure the energy levels are appropriate, making sure the actors know all their lines, as well as the overall shape and design of the show. In other words, the success of the show depends a lot on you. While I was only the student director I did have a lot of responsibilities, but I was fortunate to have an amazing mentor in my director, Eileen Hendrickson. It is because of her guidance that I've seriously considered directing as a possible future career.

Directing for a television show may seem entirely different than stage directing, but there are similarities. In a TV show, a director is also responsible for the way a show turns out. You need to be able to communicate well with all the other people you are working with in order to have a successful show. I've only directed once, but I really enjoyed it. There's always pressure, but it's pressure that I thrive on. You are responsible for making sure all the graphics get put up in time, telling the cameras which shots to get and when, and telling the tapes when to run. So in the same sense the success of the show depends on you and your calls.

This year I've come to realize I really enjoy being in charge of things. I don't think I'm as focused on being in front of the camera as I was a year ago. I could picture myself working behind the scenes as well. I live for pressure and deadlines and I think being a director provides some of that pressure.

I'm still not entirely sure what I want to do after graduation, but no one says you have to pick just one thing. All I have to do is get my resume out there and see what comes my way.

Finding stories...

As a reporter in a very small town I often find it difficult to find stories to report. Our news program, The County Line, is weekly which makes it hard to do spot news. I like doing features, but even that seems like a daunting task in such a small town. Either people never respond to your emails or phone calls or they just don't want to be on camera. Sometimes they've already been interviewed for another story and don't want to help out again.

Another problem is that I'm a full-time student on top of it all. My schedule is super busy so finding the time to go shoot is hard. In addition to finding the time to shoot, I think the title of "Student Journalist" gives people the impression that we're not serious. We've talked in class about different ways to combat that stereotype such as saying we are a legitimate news/radio station. But for some people that still isn't enough. "Student Journalist" implies we're just some college kids playing reporter. How do we convey that this is what we want to do with our lives and we need practice? The only way to get practice and gain experience is by doing. It's vicious never ending circle that I hope one day comes to an end.

It's all about who you know...

Up until last week, I always thought people said that just to feel important about the "famous" people they knew. But I've come to realize...that's really the best way to find a job especially coming right out of college.

Last friday, I was working at the info desk and a man stopped by to talk to me in passing (like most people do.) He asked my year and major so I told him. Then he asked what kind of things I've done, I told him. Then he asked me if I wanted to go to New York. I said, "YES!" He then tells me that he lives in New York, knows the producer for Katie Couric's CBS Evening News, AND he lives next door to Stephen Colbert! He hands me his card and says, "Send me an email with your resume and I'll see what I can do for you." I asked him how he knew about Westminster and he told me he graduated from here and he is now a trustee at the college!

I tweaked my resume and sent it off to him on Wednesday. All I can do now is wait and see if anything comes out of it. So it really is all about who you know. So really with 2 degrees of separation...I know Stephen Colbert!

Real World Experience??

So I was an anchor for this weeks edition of The County Line with my good friend, Chris Norris. I was really excited about this week because I love working with Chris; we get along well and work well together. Those good feelings didn't last long. We got to the pre-show meeting and were going over the rundown. We only have two play back machines, but we wanted to run a VO and a VO-SOT back to back. Needless to say this required precision on everyone's part to work well and look good. During the run-through we didn't run the tapes all the way through for that particular transition, we just went through the script. So, when it came time to go live Chris and I were confused and the packages didn't go well and we looked like idiots. During our post production meeting Chris and I, along with a couple others, were called out in the middle of the meeting for being responsible for the failure of this transition. Initially, I was shocked and a little appalled! That's rude to call somebody out in the middle of a meeting, especially for something that wasn't entirely their fault. If you have a problem with them pull them aside and talk to them privately.

But the more I think about the situation the more I realize this was a valuable learning experience. I'm sure things like this happen in a real newsroom all the time. I need to learn to take responsibility for my mistakes and be willing to admit when I've done wrong. While there may have been other ways of handling the situation I think it happened this way for a reason and I'm a little wiser for it.

Expanding my Media Literacy

One class I'm taking this semester is called Mass Communications and the purpose of this class is to help us understand and expand our media literacy. To help us begin this journey our professor brought in an episode from an 80's show called Max Headroom.

The concept of the show is kind of cheesy and the actual production is totally bad 80's, but the underlying message still rings true today. The episode we watched was called "War." In this episode there are two TV stations fighting for the top ratings during the all important "Sweeps Week." One station is a network station while the other (I'm assuming) is the equivalent to a locally owned station. The network was using a dog show for their lead while the local station was using war stories; clearly the local station was winning the ratings war but this was only because they were in league with the "bad guys" who started the war.

While this may not sound like it would relate to our world today, what I took out of it was this: don't worry about the ratings. Worry about telling both sides of the story and getting to the truth. Even if it means you suffer a bit in the ratings.

Getting Back Into the Groove

Classes started back up this week and there is one class in particular that really made me think. In Capstone we began discussing how our projects were coming along and what everyone was planning on doing after graduation in May. It's scary to think that in about 4 months I will be starting a new chapter in my life...all on my own. My dad told me before I came back to school that it was about time to start thinking about what I want to do and where I'm going to do it. I really don't know what I'm going to do; I like making documentary-type videos and my project is focusing on that. I'll be creating a video essay for the New Wilmington Chamber of Commerce to use on their website. With that in mind I was talking with a fellow classmate and he said he knew someone that was doing the exact thing in Cleveland. So I have another contact (or will soon) and maybe that will give me some sort of direction in my life. We'll see I guess.

In capstone we also talked about what reality show we would audition for if we could apply for any. I think I would probably audition for The Amazing Race; I would love to be given the opportunity to travel all over the world...and of course the chance at a million dollars. That would definitely help with student loans. Maybe that's what I'll do after graduation. Hey, it happened to Amber Brkich!