May 29, 2012
We met with our supervisor, Tabitha Safdi and were placed in
a cubicle across from her office. We were able to get our ID’s made with
another intern (Kala). We took a tour of both the building we are working in
for the summer (the old building) and the TCC (telecommunication center). We
were able to sit in on two live news feeds. One was broadcasted to MSNBC and
the other was on CNN. It was really fascinating to me to watch everything
behind the scenes and it’s definitely something I think I would be interested
in. We also were able to help test out microphones on one of the sets they were
prepping for a show later that day.
“IT’S FINALLY HERE!” My exact thoughts as I jumped out of
bed this morning at 6:30am. Yes… I said it, 6:30am! I must admit I am not a
morning person but I have a feeling that’ll change this summer. So as I arrive
at the ETV building in Columbia all bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to meet our
supervisor Tabitha Safdi, I realize I’m in the wrong building. #Rookie mistake. When I finally get where I am supposed
to be across the street, I met my fellow intern Jenny and toured what will be
our home for 10 weeks. From then
on, the first day couldn’t have been better! We toured the new etv studios (the
TCC), met some of the nicest staff members, sat in on live news feeds to CNN
and MSNBC (what-a-dream!), and saving the best for last… we got our intern badges
and our own cubicle space making us official. We each have our own computers and desks, our own phone line,
and office supplies galore! What else could an intern ask for? Literally. Later
in the day we helped with mic checks for a production the next day. It was
pretty cool being behind the scenes and seeing everything that goes into
producing a show. Overall day 1 was a success and I can’t wait for our first
day in the field tomorrow. Greenville here we come!
May 30, 2012
I feel like this internship has already started out on such
a good note. Everything we did today is exactly what I would love to continue
to do. We traveled to Greenville for three different interviews. The first was
with SCIO Diamonds, which is a new industry which grows diamonds. I have no
doubt that this business will begin to boom soon. I was so interested in the
science behind it too because I usually shrug off things that deal with
chemistry or science. This company was located in the Next Innovation Center
which is a large modern designed building that houses office space and we
interviewed the CEO of Gnoso in order to get more details on the space and how
it’s impacted the city of Greenville. Our third stop was at Zike Bikes- a new
type of hybrid scooter/bike. We were able to talk to the brains behind the
operation and hear all about his story. We rode the bikes around the shop and
take some fun B-roll footage. In all three places we got a feel for how to set
up the scenes, what questions to ask, how to stage the set for B-roll and how
to work the audio portion. Going around the state and traveling to meet other
people and talk about their stories or passions is definitely something that I
couldn’t get from another job and being able to video it and bring it back and
perfect it to share with everyone is just like me giving back something to them
for their time.
Meagan:
It’s the second day of the internship and we are already
going in the field and filming. We went upstate to Greenville, SC to film 3
genuinely awesome stories. My genius TELE professor, David Hazinksi, always
preaches that a good story must be “new, interesting, and different.” After
today’s shoot, I can say we definitely met those requirements. Our first story
was about SCIO Diamond Technology Corp, a company that actually “grows” their
own manmade diamonds. Of course some people try to grow their own tomatoes, try
to grow as an intellectual, and even
try to grow their own hair…. but DIAMONDS??? Like I said, new, interesting and
different. SCIO Diamonds is actually housed in the NEXT Innovation Center,
which was our next story idea. The
NEXT Innovation Center is pretty indescribable. It is a huge state of the art
technology center created to help entrepreneurial industries collaborate ideas
and brainpower to take their businesses to new heights. Even the design of the
innovation center seemed… well “innovative”.
The building walls were lined with dry erase boards filled with ideas and the
interaction amongst companies definitely seemed like a great business
environment. The third story was on Zikes! Zikes are a hybrid between a bike
and a scooter and come in 4 different types. While we were there test-drove the
Zikes with the CEO and inventor himself! It was pretty tricky to learn at first
but such a cool experience.
Even though it was exciting just visiting and touring all of
these cool places, the best part of the whole day was filming, setting up
shots, and interviewing the interviewees. From a technical aspect we learned
how to film with a DSLR Canon 7d, how to use the audio recorder, how to interview someone for the "shorts," and what makes for a great b-roll shot. However, not
everything we learned on the trip was technical knowledge. I personally
discovered how much our work meant to these companies. Everyone really seemed to appreciate the time we spent highlighting their growing successes and their connection to Greenville
County. Now, I can't wait to get back and learn how to edit the ETV "shorts" for the website. The experience I have gotten in just one day is EXACTLY what I was looking for in an internship.
May 31, 2012
We went to the Senate house this morning to control the
different camera feeds for the ETV live segment. In the beginning everything
seemed overwhelming with all the buttons and screens and lights, but as we
observed and got the run down on everything, it really wasn’t too difficult-
just really time consuming. Afterwards we went back to the office and
researched things for Pickens County. We also got a glimpse at how Tabitha
edited the interviews on FCP.
Good Morning SC State House! Today we sat in on the taping
of a live House of Representatives meeting. We sat in a private control room
where we learned as much as we could about what goes into filming a House
meeting and how to work the different cameras. Luckily Tabitha is a champ,
because it seemed pretty challenging to us. There were 3 different cameras with
multiple presets to punch throughout the meeting. In some circumstances Tabitha
had to zoom, pan, and tilt to create new shots for the segment while finding
the correct lower thirds for every
speaker at the same time! Whew, what a morning. Just being in the state house
made me feel important and in actuality we were. Even if politics may seem dry,
filming the meeting was quite interesting! It was hard for us to just sit there
and watch because we wanted to dive in and help, but learning how it wall
worked was awesome too. After the meeting adjourned we headed back to ETV and
researched story ideas for Pickens County, our next stop! We also had the
opportunity to see how Tabitha edits the “shorts” using FCP (Final Cut Pro). This knowledge
will come in handy when our external hard drive comes in and we can edit
packages ourselves.
June 1, 2012
Jenny:
After having watched Tabitha work with FCP I was really
excited at the possibility that we would be able to edit. However, our external
hard drive has not come in yet so we were given other jobs. My duty today was
to transcribe an interview. I jumped on the opportunity- not knowing what
exactly “transcribing” entailed. What I quickly learned was that I had no idea
what I had signed up for. Transcribing is typing up everything- word for word
that is said in an interview. So I had to play and pause every few milliseconds
in order to accurately do the job. I now know the childhood, career, and
motives of Jasper Johns, a local artist who now resides in Connecticut. It was
definitely time consuming, but not difficult. The story was interesting so it
was neat being able to write on it.
Meagan:
Our external hard drive is still on its way, so in the mean
time we filled our first Friday up with other tasks. Oh, and a PIZZA PARTAYYY!
While Jenny transcribed an interview on local artist, Jasper Johns, I worked on
finishing tweets for the ETV “Shorts.” My job was to watch about 45 “Shorts”
already posted on the ETV website and then create intriguing tweets to entice
twitter follows to watch the videos. Now I must say I haven’t jumped on board
the twitter train yet, but I am one of those obnoxious people who #hashtag on facebook
status’, so I do have some previous experience. I realized creating tweets for
the “Shorts” is actually a pretty beneficial skill to develop for today’s
social media frenzy. With twitter taking over as a main social media site,
learning how to attract followers and popularity through twitter is essential.
By the time I was almost done with the wittiest tweets I could muster up, it
was pizza party time in the office! OM NOM NOM. We were lucky to share the
spoils with the content division for winning the college basketball bracket as
a team building exercise. Village Idiot pizza sure made this rainy Friday a
brighter day. Jenny, Kala, and I sat on what we dubbed the “intern couch” and
met many staff members we haven’t seen before. #makin’themcontacts! (ß See so useful!) After
pulling ourselves away from the gooey cheesy goodness, it was time to get back
on the grind. After I finished my tweets, it was time for task number two,
calling a few Chambers of Commerce for story ideas. Calling the Chambers of
Commerce in different counties is the main way we get our story ideas for the
“Shorts.” We really want to give the county the chance to highlight their
community the way they want to. It’s also important to keep a relationship with
the Chambers across the state for future projects and connections. Tabitha
created a general guideline of how to speak to the Chambers to create a
relationship with them, and ultimately get interesting story ideas. I was
assigned to call Berkeley, Myrtle Beach, and the Commerce Chamber. I was a tad
rusty my first go around but Tabitha gave me some tips to sound more
personable. I originally thought it was best to be overly business-like and
serious, but I soon realized it is best to just be genuine and relaxed. So with
the tweets under my belt, the pizza making me loosen my belt, and learning how
to find story ideas, I’d say it was a great first Friday on the job!
June 4, 2012
The day was mostly filled with observing Tabitha work on the Greenville videos and we were also able to make more Tweets for the newest Shorts online. We found it really helpful to see the process she uses to make the Shorts. We learned to match up the interview's audio and video first, cut the sound-bites we want to use, then go back in and add the b-roll. Later in the day we researched and called around to different chambers in order
to find story ideas for Anderson.
June 5, 2012
Jenny:
It rained a lot today and we were supposed to go to Pickens,
but since its raining it ended up getting rescheduled to Thursday so Tabitha
gave us a lot of different documentaries that were made by ETV and some that
were international. I learned a lot, and not just educationally, but also the
different angles and styles of documentary filming. Dave Adams made a bunch of
the documentaries we watched that were made from ETV, so we were able to talk
to him about it afterward. We were also introduced to the possibility of
talking with Amy Shumaker, a woman who works at ETV but also represents the
INPUT team for the United States.
Meagan:
The rhymes I used to sing as a child on rainy days popped
into my head this morning as I nearly hydroplaned my way to the office … “Rain
rain go away, come again another day,” “It’s raining it’s pouring, the old man
is snoring…” Originally we planned to head to Pickens County today for our
second shoot, but simply put we had a rain delay. There weren’t many
alternative tasks to accomplish since we thought we would be trekking back to
the upstate so Tabitha suggested a documentary day. She loaded us up with all
different types of documentaries to watch. From ETV Carolina Stories by Dave
Adams, to documentary series like “Women, War, and Peace,” we were fully
equipped with videos to view, critique and learn from. Jenny and I watched them
on the Mac Book ETV is letting us use. We ventured to one of the frigid meeting
rooms and made ourselves as comfortable as possible in the refrigerator
temperature. Bundled up in blankets, coffee in one hand and a pen to take notes
in the other… we were ready for documentary day! We started with the Carolina
Stories. The segments we watched covered mass murderer “Pee Wee,” homelessness
in Columbia, the rise and fall of detective Melvin Purvis, and photographer
Richard Roberts. All of the stories were quite captivating. They each had there
own style and format so it was interesting to get a sense of making
documentaries. The other documentaries were powerful as well. I highly recommend
“Patriot Guard Riders” by Ellen Frick, “Fire Storm” by Julie Winkokur, and the
PBS series “Women, War, and Peace.” So even with numb fingers and sniffling noses, it was nice to
just take the time and appreciate the different stories and the work that went
into them. In retrospect, it’s incredible to think of all the research,
filming, and postproduction involved in making a documentary. I’ve always been
fascinated with the idea of making documentaries of my own. Watching the
documentaries inspired me to pursue that goal. I want nothing more than to
bring certain issues to the light and hopefully expose that issue to the
public. Exposure and awareness can bring change, and with positive change comes
progress. What did I learn at our internship today? With a camera, a cause, and
passion, you can make a difference in the world.
June 6, 2012
Today we were introduced to the Vault. It’s where ETV houses
the majority of their film on tapes. Well they are currently organizing the
tapes and putting them in a logical order and inputting them into the system. We got the hang of the system after a while and was able to enter in a good bit of
tapes. We started to tackle certain jobs together toward the end of
the day. We’re probably going to be in here a lot more in the upcoming weeks because they have a deadline to finish the project.
June 7, 2012
Jenny:
We went on our second shoot today in Pickens and it was a
more historical aspect of things than Greenville was. We went to the Sassafras Mountains,
The Hagood Mill, and Andrew Pickens House. We were able to stand at the highest
point of SC and be in two places at once, we were able to visit an area that’s
history exceeds other places and we were able to walk in and around the house
of a major political figure in the county of Pickens. I really enjoy the
experience to do this and the opportunity to showcase these places that people
wouldn’t otherwise know about.
Meagan:
“Oh,
play me some mountain music… like grandma and grandpa used to play!” Alabama
may sing the song but today we’re off to Pickens, South Carolina to Sassafras
Mountain! After pushing putting the pedal to the metal, the van finally made it
to the top. Sassafras Mountain was breath taking. I haven’t been to the
mountains in so long, it was great to be back. The highlights of the mountain:
standing in NC and SC at the same time, the beautiful back drop of the
interview, almost stepping on a snake without knowing, and managing not to get
car sick on the way down. Ok so the fourth one is a joke… kinda. After we ate
at a gas station/restaurant/museum we were off to the 2nd location, Hagood Mill. Hagood Mill is a historic gristmill that
continues to produce grains today. It is also home to the largest wooden water
wheel in SC! The Mill had so many options for shooting b-roll, and Jenny and I
made sure to snap pictures the whole time we were there. Then it was time to
head to the last stop, the Hopewell Home. The Hopewell Home is the former home
of general Andrew Pickens! The white wooden house is currently going through
renovations but it’s still a site to see. Oh, and if your last name is Pickens,
you may want to attend the Pickens’ family reunion at the Hopewell Home next
summer for the chance to meet some long lost relatives!
June 8, 2012
Today I went straight into the vault and since I kind of
knew better what I was to do I was able to go ahead and jump-start into the
cataloguing and organizing of the films. We worked on that until around 12 when
we took a lunch break with the other girls and we went to Yesterday’s and
enjoyed the meal and just socialized. I feel like I can really learn a lot of
from them by listening and asking them questions based on their experience. We
went back to work and instead of continuing the cataloguing, I was able to
watch some of the blank tapes and make descriptions of what were on them in
order to better organize.
Meagan:
We were summoned back to the vault this morning. Apparently
we rock at cataloging so back to the warehouse of tapes it is! Jenny and I
added random collections into the system until the clock struck noon. The vault
crew made lunch reservations for us all at Yesterday’s in 5 points. My stomach
was growling and my mouth was watering until I heard the words, “let’s eat!”
Jenny and I hopped into Gypsy’s convertible, a fellow vault worker, and we were
off. With the wind blowing through our hair we set out to our first “business
lunch”! The head of the vault project met us all there. It was a great
opportunity to get to know everyone on a more personal level and enjoy some
delicious food at the same time! When we realized how late it had gotten, we
wiped the crums off our faces, paid our bills, and headed back to ETV. For the
rest of the day we continued cataloging tapes until it was time to go home.
Cataloging tapes into a new system may not seem like a dream job, but it is
fascinating to see the work that goes into such a necessary project. Everyone
in the vault continues to thank us for our work so it’s great to know how
helpful we have been so far!
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