Meagan:
Cue the music… “It’s the final count downnnnn”! Today is our final shoot, the grand
finale, the finish line, the end of an epic chapter…. Ok so you get the
picture. Today is our last day in the field with ETV Shorts. I cannot believe
how incredibly fast this internship has flown by. Luckily we ended on a high
note with a film shoot in the city notorious for mini golf and dinner theatres:
Myrtle Beach/Horry County. However, our stories covered a much different aspect
of this neon lit beach town. The goal for ETV Shorts is to highlight stories
not well publicized, and we did just that. I was in charge of booking our final
shoot and I was ecstatic to do so! After contacting the Conway and Myrtle Beach
Chambers I secured two great story ideas. The Waccamaw River in Conway and the
Shagger’s Hall of Fame in North Myrtle. The last story was up to me, myself,
and I. The trick however is finding something in Myrtle that isn’t plastered on
every billboard. Therefore I moved my thinking to the island life, Pawley’s
Island to be exact.
Our first stop was Pawley’s Island where we covered The Pawley’s
Island Original Rope Hammock Shop! It turns out Pawley’s Island is the
birthplace of rope hammocks. Who knew?!? We even had the opportunity to watch craftsmen
make traditional cotton hammocks right before our eyes AND try the craft
ourselves. I was in charge of conducting the interview, filming the majority of
the broll, and I even did a stand up! My true passion is reporting on
camera. I love it but I definitely
need more experience. Luckily Tabitha was there to help me out. After shooting
b-roll of the hammock maker and families kicking their feet up in these hanging
lounge beds, it was time to dance our way to story numero dos: the Shagger’s
Hall of Fame!
Honk Honk! Move it people we have places to go and people to
interview! Thanks to bumper-to-bumper traffic we were limited to exactly one
hour to film two interviews and broll at two locations. But on the bright side,
filming the Shagger’s Hall of Fame story gave me the jitterbugs. I absolutely
loved it! We captured b-roll at the official Shagger’s Hall of Fame at the Ocean
Drive Resort and then headed over to the OD Pavilion to see some shaggers in
action! The OD Pavilion is a haven for fast dancing, quickstep shagging, and
talented dancers alike. The owner,
H.Lee, gave us a warm welcome over the sound system and then hit the dance
floor. I was grinning ear to ear. The combination of the upbeat music, the oceanic
back drop, and the room’s energy created an electrifying shoot! Several generations
put on their boogie shoes and danced for us as we got footage of their swanky
moves. Even with beads of sweat pouring from their smiling faces they never
missed a beat. H. Lee also hooked
us up with a shagging NATIONAL CHAMPION! As you can imagine, she was an
incredible dancer… a perfect 10 to be exact. For a girl who has never shagged in her life and knows little
about the sport, I was in awe. Like really… what an awesome job we have! We are
at the beach filming people doing what they love as we do what we love. Life
doesn’t get much better than that. I really wish we could have stayed all day
but good things don’t last forever. The hour flew by and before I knew it, it
was time to pull myself away from the Pavilion. But mark my words, I WILL learn
to shag and I WILL be back OB Pavilion.
So with our gear in tow and feet still tapping to beach
music, it was off to Conway we go. Our third and last story EVER was on the
stunning Waccamaw River. Upon contacting the Conway Chamber for story ideas, the
Chamber repeatedly emphasized just how important the Waccamaw River is to the
community. Once we arrived at the Riverfront Park, the river’s importance and
beauty was indeed evident. We had the pleasure of interviewing the Mayor of
Conway as well as a Waccamaw Riverkeeper. The “pleasure” is actually an
understatement. Our interviews with these ladies may have been the best
interviews yet. They both answered in complete statements while also including
strictly valuable information. Short and sweet, just the way an editor likes
it! After I finished asking all of the interview questions, Jenny and I had a
great time filming the river’s breath charming scenery. We filmed the
eco-tourism aspect first. Fortunately the blazing heat brought out a decent
crowd of kayakers, fishermen, boaters, and even teenagers illegally jumping off
platforms into the river. We then focused on the river’s beauty and natural
importance the River Keeper touched on in her interview. For any aspiring
videographer or journalist, it is important to really listen to what the
interviewee says during their interview and match their statements with broll
shots. After learning this lesson from editing multiple ETV Shorts already,
Jenny and I were sure to do just that. As we cruised along on a golf cart provided by the city of
Conway we were able to film the biodiversity of the river. We used both the
16-35mm and 70-200mm lenses to capture a variety of shots. Both Jenny and I
took turns filming, but there was one shot of the historic bridge I just had to
film before we departed. And little did I know while I was down on the ground trying
to capture my “money shot,” the whole golf cart crew was getting their money
shots of how ridiculous I looked- haha (can’t wait to see how those turn out…
or maybe I can). Even when on a shoot you have to have fun. I’m so glad to work
with Jenny and Tabitha for this very reason. No matter how hot and miserable
the weather may be or how many production challenges we run into, we are always
enjoying our work. That’s when you know you have a great internship… when work
doesn’t seem like work at all, but rather an experience you don’t want to
end. But as I said before, all
good things do come to an end (sad face). We thanked our Conway interviewees
for their graciousness, got directions to the closest Sonic and were on our way
back to the ETV mother ship. Yes, I said… Sonic. Of course we had to treat
ourselves on the last shoot! So now it’s back to the office to edit our last
ETV Shorts and get these stories posted for our dedicated audience!
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