Hey Everybody,
So this week has been pretty grey and rainy but its helped me to focus on the work at hand. I have continued to work on the Newswire Video Catalog and update the keywords and descriptions for all of the news segments. It has been very interesting as I am regularly watching the great news segment that FSTV produces and learning more aout the world around me. I also got to work the camera again for the Newswire shoot which was interesting and a great learning experience. I hope that everyone else is having a good weak despite the inclement weather and I look forward to helping anyone who needs it, just let me know.
-Weston
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The Winds of Change are a Blowin
Hello folks,
So, Virginia is no longer with us and Jackson is the newest member of our team. I look forward to working with Jackson and seeing what we can do with Your Voice Here. Maybe I'll try my hand at being talent. Kimberly is right about learning every aspect of production; it will undoubtedly come in handy in the future. Working with Aaron and Ginny has taught me a lot about the talent aspect. They are both s natural on camera and have great interviewing techniques. These are not easy skills to learn but I'm sure that with a little practice I'll be a worthy protege. So, let the winds of change keep on blowing.
-Mark
So, Virginia is no longer with us and Jackson is the newest member of our team. I look forward to working with Jackson and seeing what we can do with Your Voice Here. Maybe I'll try my hand at being talent. Kimberly is right about learning every aspect of production; it will undoubtedly come in handy in the future. Working with Aaron and Ginny has taught me a lot about the talent aspect. They are both s natural on camera and have great interviewing techniques. These are not easy skills to learn but I'm sure that with a little practice I'll be a worthy protege. So, let the winds of change keep on blowing.
-Mark
Monday, May 23, 2011
First Day
Last week I had my first day as an intern at Free Speech TV. It was pretty exciting, as I was able to jump right into hands on work. Started off by sitting in on the morning Newswire production schedule meeting, and from there teamed with Mark to film for "Your Voice Here" downtown. We asked people how they felt about the US senate continuing subsidies for domestic oil companies, and whether the system for determining those subsidies is flawed. We picked out the best handful of these responses and handed them over to Antoinette for use on that day's Newswire. I thought they turned out pretty well, despite our difficulty getting many participants. It was raining toward the end of our 16th street shoot, so we had to work with only about a dozen responses. Later on the same day, I operated camera 1 for the Newswire broadcast, which was relatively straightforward, but very exciting. It's cool when on the first day of your internship you can get so involved in the process, and so far Free Speech has been a great experience. I really look forward to learning more about the ins and outs of FSTV's daily production process.
-Jackson
-Jackson
Friday, May 20, 2011
Ingesting
Hey friends!
So this week consisted of a very rich amount of training for me. Earlier on Wednesday, I filled in as a talent for a trial run of another interview news segment. It was all improvised, which made it easy. I have no experience in acting and am actually very camera shy since I'm used to being behind the lens. The test run was exciting, and yet again I've gained another perspective from a different position taking a role in production. It was very interesting to communicate to both Eric from the control room in one of my ears, and my interviewees, Antoinette or Marcy in the other. For a last minute stand in, I thought the experience was enriching and at least I can say I've tried it in case some time in the future I'm needed for some kind of talent position.
As for today, Teo taught me how to ingest the GritTV shorts which will be scheduled next week. With so many machines communicating with each other, it's kind of hard to wrap your head around how it all works. It turned out to be very simple. Just like printing to tape, I record the shorts and they are relayed to the other computer where they will now be identified by a house number. Learning this aspect of broadcast production was very important and I'm sure it will apply to a job I have in the future. Technology amazes me, and it's very valuable when you know you understand it and can use it to your advantage.
See everyone next week. Hope the weather warms up!
So this week consisted of a very rich amount of training for me. Earlier on Wednesday, I filled in as a talent for a trial run of another interview news segment. It was all improvised, which made it easy. I have no experience in acting and am actually very camera shy since I'm used to being behind the lens. The test run was exciting, and yet again I've gained another perspective from a different position taking a role in production. It was very interesting to communicate to both Eric from the control room in one of my ears, and my interviewees, Antoinette or Marcy in the other. For a last minute stand in, I thought the experience was enriching and at least I can say I've tried it in case some time in the future I'm needed for some kind of talent position.
As for today, Teo taught me how to ingest the GritTV shorts which will be scheduled next week. With so many machines communicating with each other, it's kind of hard to wrap your head around how it all works. It turned out to be very simple. Just like printing to tape, I record the shorts and they are relayed to the other computer where they will now be identified by a house number. Learning this aspect of broadcast production was very important and I'm sure it will apply to a job I have in the future. Technology amazes me, and it's very valuable when you know you understand it and can use it to your advantage.
See everyone next week. Hope the weather warms up!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Newswire
Hey everybody,
So this week Lauren gave me the opportunity to help out by going through all of the newswire packages and adding brief descriptions and writing some keywords down for each . I was able to do so for all of the available packages and I will continue to do so for segments posted to hydra in the future. This opportunity was a great and interesting one as I was able to learn a lot about about news thats has been happening all over the world. It also allowed me to see the great work that people have done putting together these segments. I was also able to help out by doing some Camera work for the Newswire shoots which was a good leaning experience. I hope everyone has a good week
-Weston
So this week Lauren gave me the opportunity to help out by going through all of the newswire packages and adding brief descriptions and writing some keywords down for each . I was able to do so for all of the available packages and I will continue to do so for segments posted to hydra in the future. This opportunity was a great and interesting one as I was able to learn a lot about about news thats has been happening all over the world. It also allowed me to see the great work that people have done putting together these segments. I was also able to help out by doing some Camera work for the Newswire shoots which was a good leaning experience. I hope everyone has a good week
-Weston
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Timecode Mystery
Hello all,
I think we did some good work on last week's YVH's but we still encountered the mysterious timecode problem which has been giving us trouble with audio and video synchronization. This has happened almost every time we have ingested video for the last two weeks and on various different machines. This leads me to believe that it is not a problem with the decks or computers but rather with the camera or mic or possibly with the tapes. I think some serious investigation is called for on this one. So, by way of starting the investigation I will exposit on every detail that may help yield a solution to this quandary.
The tapes play fine when in the deck, but when ingested we see either a warning message saying something like... "Timecode break encountered. Must re-log clips" or "A problem was encountered..."
I first noticed these issues after we began using a new mic. Although this seems unlikely to cause such a large discrepancy in synchronization (usually about 5 minutes).
The camera has displayed the words "Auto Shut-Off" several times during shooting, although not while recording luckily, and promptly shut down.
We have been shooting in 30f instead of 60i for the last couple weeks as well. I don't know if this could be a potential culprit but it coincided with the problems.
I think that's about all I have noticed but I will keep thinking. I will also do some online research and see if there are any similar stories out there.
-Mark
I think we did some good work on last week's YVH's but we still encountered the mysterious timecode problem which has been giving us trouble with audio and video synchronization. This has happened almost every time we have ingested video for the last two weeks and on various different machines. This leads me to believe that it is not a problem with the decks or computers but rather with the camera or mic or possibly with the tapes. I think some serious investigation is called for on this one. So, by way of starting the investigation I will exposit on every detail that may help yield a solution to this quandary.
The tapes play fine when in the deck, but when ingested we see either a warning message saying something like... "Timecode break encountered. Must re-log clips" or "A problem was encountered..."
I first noticed these issues after we began using a new mic. Although this seems unlikely to cause such a large discrepancy in synchronization (usually about 5 minutes).
The camera has displayed the words "Auto Shut-Off" several times during shooting, although not while recording luckily, and promptly shut down.
We have been shooting in 30f instead of 60i for the last couple weeks as well. I don't know if this could be a potential culprit but it coincided with the problems.
I think that's about all I have noticed but I will keep thinking. I will also do some online research and see if there are any similar stories out there.
-Mark
Friday, May 13, 2011
GritTV shorts coming soon
Exciting news everyone! After hours of ingesting tapes (completed by previous interns Jenny and Shay) followed by hours of sifting through Grit TV shorts consisting of a vast spectrum of content, Tik and I have finally been able to start scheduling 5 different shorts a week! I assume she will just start from the top of the list in my google document, so I can't tell you exactly what the shorts will be about. Over the last couple months, Lauren gave me the assignment to sift through a long list of shorts, watch them, cut them to an appropriate time code, and add an FSTV bumper to each clip. For those of you who are not familiar with GritTV shorts, they are a series of various announcements, event promotions, short documentaries, documentary trailers, speeches, stories, news broadcasts, and other important subjects displayed for discussion and support from viewer's. GritTV is hosted by the one and only, Laura Flanders, who is an awesome lady and a close friend to the staff here at FSTV, I recently discovered.
Keep your eyes peeled for GritTV shorts on FSTV's channel, they are short! It's one thing to be able to sift through over a hundred shorts, I've learned so much and heard stories from so many individuals whom I may never be able to meet or hear from again, but to be able to play them on a network like FSTV's is so much more powerful! I can't wait for all of them to finally receive the exposure they deserve (in addition to the play time they receive on GritTV, of course). It's also very exciting to know that even the simple, donated time and work of us interns can turn into something that is distributed on an actual TV network with thousands of viewers!
Keep your eyes peeled for GritTV shorts on FSTV's channel, they are short! It's one thing to be able to sift through over a hundred shorts, I've learned so much and heard stories from so many individuals whom I may never be able to meet or hear from again, but to be able to play them on a network like FSTV's is so much more powerful! I can't wait for all of them to finally receive the exposure they deserve (in addition to the play time they receive on GritTV, of course). It's also very exciting to know that even the simple, donated time and work of us interns can turn into something that is distributed on an actual TV network with thousands of viewers!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Action Calender
Hey Everybody,
So last week I unfortunately had to take my final exams for the semester and was not able to come in and help out with the second week of the pledge drive. So hopefully although there is not much going on with the pledge drive this week I can help out in other ways. Just let me know if anyone needs help with anything. I'm going to be coming in all day monday and Wednesday instead of fridays and part of the day on Wednesday because I am taking summer classes on fridays and will not have any class on Wednesdays. I hope that this change in my schedule doesn't impact anyone too much. This week so far I have helped andrew with finding some events for the action calendar and helped Antoinette capture some of the text news. I'm assuming that we are done for the week doing live on air pledge drive shoots. But again if anybody needs any help let me know I have no problem helping out and I would love to learn some new things.
-Weston
So last week I unfortunately had to take my final exams for the semester and was not able to come in and help out with the second week of the pledge drive. So hopefully although there is not much going on with the pledge drive this week I can help out in other ways. Just let me know if anyone needs help with anything. I'm going to be coming in all day monday and Wednesday instead of fridays and part of the day on Wednesday because I am taking summer classes on fridays and will not have any class on Wednesdays. I hope that this change in my schedule doesn't impact anyone too much. This week so far I have helped andrew with finding some events for the action calendar and helped Antoinette capture some of the text news. I'm assuming that we are done for the week doing live on air pledge drive shoots. But again if anybody needs any help let me know I have no problem helping out and I would love to learn some new things.
-Weston
Thursday, May 5, 2011
News Pakage Practice and Other Things
Aloha,
So I've mainly been working on the usual YVH and other responsibilities and I'm happy to say that this week we stuck to a good schedule and the production and editing went a lot smoother.
I also had a chance recently to try my hand at editing a news package. It was cool working with a voice over and matching it to the appropriate Reuters clips. It's a different kind of challenge telling a story this way and I think I did ok for my first try. One thing that stuck out to me was the importance of using ambient sound in the appropriate places. The story I worked on had to do with Iraqi military testing and the deadline for American Troop withdrawals. There was a section about certain activist organizations protesting the potential extension of the deadline and I found that using audio of the protestors chanting made the story much more powerful. It also brought back memories of my school days in Durango, producing radio news stories. We were always told to study really good radio programs, like "This American Life", that used ambient sound effectively and try to mimic them. I guess what I'm getting at is that there is formula for good story telling that appeals to all the senses and that's what we should strive to accomplish in our work.
That's the rant for today.
Aloha,
Mark
So I've mainly been working on the usual YVH and other responsibilities and I'm happy to say that this week we stuck to a good schedule and the production and editing went a lot smoother.
I also had a chance recently to try my hand at editing a news package. It was cool working with a voice over and matching it to the appropriate Reuters clips. It's a different kind of challenge telling a story this way and I think I did ok for my first try. One thing that stuck out to me was the importance of using ambient sound in the appropriate places. The story I worked on had to do with Iraqi military testing and the deadline for American Troop withdrawals. There was a section about certain activist organizations protesting the potential extension of the deadline and I found that using audio of the protestors chanting made the story much more powerful. It also brought back memories of my school days in Durango, producing radio news stories. We were always told to study really good radio programs, like "This American Life", that used ambient sound effectively and try to mimic them. I guess what I'm getting at is that there is formula for good story telling that appeals to all the senses and that's what we should strive to accomplish in our work.
That's the rant for today.
Aloha,
Mark
Monday, May 2, 2011
Happy May!
Wow, time is going by incredibly quickly. Even though I'm here three days a week sometimes I can't even keep track of what my current assignments are! I'm pretty sure my blog posts have been sporadic and inconsistent but for this post I'd really like to reflect on our introduction to headline news over the last few weeks.
First of all, and I'm not trying to kiss ass by any means, the opportunities us interns have here at FSTV are rare and extremely valuable. Most other internships sound like a lot of shadow time and no hands-on time. I feel so lucky to be able to learn how to use up-to-date equipment and take responsibility for even the most fundamental roles in production. After a few runs through our headline news segments, I've gained an understanding for the complexity of technical aspects that all play a crucial role in the process before reaching a final product. At first, Weston and I learned how to roll in ques during the news pieces, but then I had a chance to direct from the studio floor and began to see the process as a big picture. I think it was easier to communicate with everyone once I understood the process from both the control room and the studio since I knew what would be expected from both parts.
I hope the pledge drive is going well for those of you who are working on it! Once again it just looks like my schedule will conflict with my ability to be much of a help during the next few weeks.
Also, if anyone would like to see what I've been working on at school all semester I would love to see your faces at my junior cinema showcase this Thursday, May 5th from 7:00pm - 8:30pm. It's in the Schomp Theater at my school:
Denver School of The Arts
7111 Montview Blvd.
See everyone on Wednesday and Friday and hopefully Thursday!
-Kimberly
First of all, and I'm not trying to kiss ass by any means, the opportunities us interns have here at FSTV are rare and extremely valuable. Most other internships sound like a lot of shadow time and no hands-on time. I feel so lucky to be able to learn how to use up-to-date equipment and take responsibility for even the most fundamental roles in production. After a few runs through our headline news segments, I've gained an understanding for the complexity of technical aspects that all play a crucial role in the process before reaching a final product. At first, Weston and I learned how to roll in ques during the news pieces, but then I had a chance to direct from the studio floor and began to see the process as a big picture. I think it was easier to communicate with everyone once I understood the process from both the control room and the studio since I knew what would be expected from both parts.
I hope the pledge drive is going well for those of you who are working on it! Once again it just looks like my schedule will conflict with my ability to be much of a help during the next few weeks.
Also, if anyone would like to see what I've been working on at school all semester I would love to see your faces at my junior cinema showcase this Thursday, May 5th from 7:00pm - 8:30pm. It's in the Schomp Theater at my school:
Denver School of The Arts
7111 Montview Blvd.
Denver, CO
See everyone on Wednesday and Friday and hopefully Thursday!
-Kimberly
Hey Everyone!
Sorry I have been laggin on the blog for a while, with the Pledge Drive and News Production roll-out. Ass all of you know your roles have changed to accommodate the news section as well as action calendar and Your Voice Here. I know these tasks can be daunting at times but I am always here to help. Please write me emails with concerns or suggestions. Thanks Gang!
-Lauren
-Lauren
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