Week Two

I finished up my first week at the station by going with Katie to Screen Gems studio to find out more about the big film productions that were coming to Wilmington. The studio was extremely interesting, and the people we talked to at the film commissioner's office were incredibly friendly. It was awesome to learn about all of the time and effort that the people of Wilmington put into making a movie like 'Iron Man 3' or filming a tv show like 'Dawson's Creek.' Katie took the information she learned from the interview and created an awesome package for the A block of the 5pm show. I was able to observe her for another day and learn more about the editing process. I also stayed and watched the show from the control room again. I learned a lot for my first week, and I left the station feeling very accomplished. Click here for a link to the Screen Gems package.

This Wednesday I started the second week of my internship by heading back to Screen Gems with Katie and a new intern named Sarah. This time our story was about the beginning of the 'Iron Man 3' film production. We took some video of the studio and preformed stand ups in front of the camera. It was so exciting to be on camera for the first time. I loved it! While out in the field, we also took a trip to the StarNews building to interview the editor of the book 'Wilm on Film.'  I was super impressed with their newsroom. It was massive compared to my days at ABH. The day was extremely interesting. We wrapped up our interview and went back to the station to put together the package. I got to learn more about editing by playing around creating my own version of the package. I used my own standup and tracked my voice to be used with the video we shot. It was awesome. I was thrilled to have finished a package that featured me as a reporter. It was amazing.  Click here to see the package that aired and imagine me as the reporter.

Thursday, I woke up at 4am and went into the station super early to help out with the morning show. The morning was a much more relaxing environment to learn about production and camera equipment. I was able to double check the scripts and watch the show from the set. I learned more about the cameras, prompter and sound board. It was amazing. I learned that the production of any live show is really a team effort. I loved the experience, and I was so thrilled Ashley had asked me to come in early. I agreed to come in for the morning show again the next day as well. After the morning show, I went out in the field with Katie to a shopping center parking where we met a bus filled with political protesters on their way to Raleigh. We shot a few interviews before following the bus to the capital. Raleigh was a great city and I loved the experience. We shot stand ups in front of the legislative building before heading inside to listen in on a press conference and we were on the floor for a meeting of the NC House of Representatives. It was amazing to witness the political process first hand. After the session was over, we got some interviews with two of the House Representatives and some more stand ups in front of the capital. Then, it was time to edit the video from the field and send it in to the station. The process was thrilling and extremely stressful. We had some technical difficulties, but managed to get the video in by deadline before driving back to Wilmington. Click here to see the package from my Raleigh road trip.

Yesterday, I woke up again at 4am and went in to work the morning shift. I wrote some of the script and learned some more about video editing. I watched the show from the production studio where I helped answer the phones for the trivia question and escorted a guest interviewee. After the show ended, I got to play mock anchor on the set. I had so much fun, and it was really funny watching the actual anchors of the morning show, Ashley and Tim, attempt to run the prompter for me. For the day side shift, I went with Ryan to chase down the Sheriff and Chief Deputy, who were riding around on motorcycles. We shot video using the big camera which is extremely heavy. It was difficult to trying to get video from inside the car, but lucky for us some of it was not too shaky.  We finally managed to get an interview with them before heading back to the station to put together a vo sot for the 6 o'clock show.  I was able to put together most of it by myself in the editing system and write the script for the show. I was so excited to watch it when I finally left for the day. I have learned so much in just two weeks, and I am having an amazing time. Can't wait to learn more about the broadcast business next week.