Monday Funday

Jenny:

Woke up bright and early after a long birthday weekend to join Don in helping clear out the Beaufort location of any tapes that need to be archived. Best part was being able to be home for a bit, and the ride was pretty educational also just getting to talk to Don about his different experiences with field work and cameras and his perspective on certain shots/ideas. We were able to meet up with my dad and brother for lunch at Barbara Jeans and it was nice being able to let both sides- work and family meet the other. The work wasn't too hard and It's the type of work I thought I was going to be doing- or at least a little of what I have been used to. It was different going from summers and summers of playing softball in the heat to being in the AC and editing videos :) However, today was the first day Meagan and I didn't work with eachother :( So, it was sad in that aspect. But, when I got back she had a gift, a cake, and my side of the cubicle decorated. I couldn't ask for better people to work with. I'm not looking forward to the end of this internship.

On a side note- I'm super nervous for this upcoming week because this is the week we are doing our stories. I'm super nervous, but excited at the same time. I know I speak for Meagan too when I say that this is showtime for sure. :)

Meagan:

Rain Check

Jenny:

So we rescheduled our rained out shoots for today- Friday the 13th and I have my fingers crossed that our luck will not follow the superstition. Our first stop of the day was our big alligator hunting adventure! We went to Berkeley County, got on a boat, and searched for some gators. After an hour or so of no luck at sighting any, we decided to get the interviews and use the footage that we had. Oh- but this is after getting rained on briefly while on the boat. Our second stop was at the Cooper River just finishing up the story we had started at Mepkin about the river. We were kinda rushing through this one because we we running late already for Tony the "peanut man". I give mad props to Meagan for finding that guy by the way. He is a hoot and a half. I was dying of laughter behind the camera and just full of smiles after. He was hilarious and so outgoing. He had a great story and was so personable. After finishing up the interview and getting the B-roll. we were able to get the last of the footage we needed for Silicon Harbor and headed home. 

Meagan:

Flash Flood!

Jenny:

Couldn't ask for any better way to start off the day (other than possibly a little more sleep) than getting to ride around the river on a boat taking video of the wildlife. I could definitely get used to this. Our interview was on the Wildlife Conservation and the safety precautions of Dolphins within the Charleston area. The people were so inviting, and the weather was perfect-- but I spoke too soon. The next shoot was at the corner of Church and Market street in downtown Charleston. After Parking in the parking garage, we walked about 3 blocks to the destination in an overcast shadow. When we got there, about 10 minutes into shooting some B-roll, down came the rain. At first, it wasn't so bad, but, it just didn't stop, and then it started getting worse. Everyone piled into the Market area and after the streets had completely flooded, water started to make its way into the Market area. Seeing as how we couldn't just stay there all day- we did have more shoots, I volunteered to go get the car and bring it around so the equipment would not get messed up. After wading through water up to my knees, I was able to make it to safe ground and got to the car. Since streets were blocked off, Meagan and Tabitha met me closer to the parking garage and jumped in. It was one of the craziest things by far, that I have experienced. So, now we have two shoots to makeup on Friday, not including the one more we had to do today but also had to cancel.


Although the rain definitely put a damper in our schedule, it was an experience I won't forget and definitely shows us how vital it is to have good weather/lighting for our shoots. 

Meagan:

Overnighter

Jenny:

I'm pretty excited for this shoot!! I packed my bag last night so I could just get out of the apartment smoothly this morning. We are off to Berkeley County and Charleston tomorrow. We started the day off very peacefully with a Monastery interview and we got to tour the place. We followed that up with an interview from a historian about the significance of the Cooper River and how it's contributed to the area. The final shoot was the one I was really looking forward to- Gator Hunting!! As my anticipation for this shoot built, so did the storm clouds. We were about 10 minutes away from the destination when the monsoon hit. We had to pull off the road because it was so bad. When we got to the site, we ran inside trying to dodge the rain, but that didn't exactly go as planned either. After being drenched in rain, we tried to wait it out a bit while talking to the locals. At one point in time, one of the boats just outside the window on the harbor got loose and was taken away to the sandbar across the lake because of the storm! It was a crazy sight to witness and it's safe to say the shoot had to be "Rain Checked". 

So we decided to head to the place we were staying at for the night. This was not the average overnight stay destination- this place was a vacationer's dream get away. Meagan and I were in Heaven when we got inside. Every room had characteristics of my dream house on Pinterest. After settling in and getting a tour, we went to a a local Taco Restaurant- Taco Mamacita. Let me start off by saying, I am not an adventurous eater-  tend to stick to chicken fingers most of the time and next to nothing toppings. But at this place, I was feeling a little risky I suppose. I had a Caribbean Jerk and Shrimp Po' Boy taco with sweet potato fries and OMG... soooooo good!! I basically inhaled the food. After our hunger satisfaction, it was back to paradise. When we got back to the house, Meagan and I explored around a bit and took pictures on the porches and walked the beach a little. But, it was time to get back to work, so we got back to the house and continued work on the Internship Video. Then it was off to bed.

Meagan:

Our Big Debut

Jenny:

Today is a huge day for me! Similar to our shoots, I had to organize, schedule, and implement the interviews with all of the Endowment interns at SCETV this summer! I had the schedule ready and questions prepared- I had my fingers crossed that everything was going to run smoothly!


Then it was time. 9:00 rolled around and our first interviewee, Michael McCall was going to set the bar. Tabitha pretty much handed Meagan and me the reigns and we set up the shot and the audio, and took our places. Meagan was behind the camera and I was on audio asking the questions. His interview went by without any problems and we were able to get some B-roll all within 30 minutes- just in time for the next interview with Tara Prater. For her interview, we pulled a professional in the field, Dave Adams, to come and sit in on some B-roll. Our next intern was David Kiser, who is working specifically in Radio, so the B-roll for his shoot was a lot of fun! We had some time before the next interview with Kalina Harrison, so now it was me and Meagan's turn to be on the opposite side of the camera. Since Meagan and I have had a wide variety of experiences, similar to most of the other interns, we had a tough decision setting the stage for our background and location of the shoot. Meagan did hers in the Master Control room and it was really fun interviewing her, just because we have been working together since the beginning of the summer and we haven't had the experience of seeing the other person on camera. She did really well and made me a little nervous for my interview. Since I love the vault SO much, what better place to do the interview than right there in the middle of the tape stacks? My interview went well- or so I think it did, I haven't seen the actual footage yet. I'm sure the audio is a little difficult because the background noise was a little loud at times. With everything done so far, I was really proud of Meagan and myself for being able to get in so many interviews in one day, and we weren't done. After our interview with Kalina, we traveled to ETV-Sumter to interview Destinee Clavon who is working with them on their set of "Making it Grow". It was great to see everyone again and I hope that wasn't our last time! But then after the interview, it was back to the office!


Ahhh, relief and gratitude. I was pretty excited that the shoots had gone so well and that everyone was ready at their allotted time. It's actually pretty funny too because these shoots went smoother than some of our actual interviews with businesses. I think having the communication background and media skills were the reason the interviews went so smoothly. All the interns know how tedious the editing process can be and they made our jobs a lot easier by phrasing their sentences in complete, concise, and brief sentences, the editing should be easier and easily transitionable (not sure if that's a word). 


Now all that is left to do is edit our shoots from the other day, and our intern interviews and hopefully have them done before the Intern Luncheon. Also... currently, life in the cubicle is going well. Meagan has been busy calling the Chambers around Charleston county and scheduling shoots while I've been doing the same, but with Abbeville and Cherokee county. Abbeville is done and I'm crossing my fingers hoping everything goes well. Cherokee is causing me a little stress because I'm having a hard time finding stories. Other than that, life as an intern is good. :)

Meagan:

Happy belated birthday America and let the celebrations continue! Today is our intern interviews for the ETV Endowment Internship video. What’s that you say? Well like Uncle Sam’s notorious message to America, ETV wants to let potential interns to know that “WE WANT YOU!” And Jenny and I are in charge of relaying that very important message.

So here’s a quick shpeel of our big gig:

Jenny set up the interview schedule for all of the endowment interns (you go girl!) and acted as the intern liaison. Our main initiative today was interviewing and shooting b-roll for every endowment intern available (8 of us) to compile in summer 2013 internship video. It was time to put our big girl pants on and step into the real world. We were completely in charge of directing, filming, and interviewing. I admit it was difficult to restrain my control freak mentality, but Jenny and I make a solid team. We worked together in coming up with some snazzy shots, relevant locations for interviews, and visions of a masterpiece. My favorite part however was interviewing each other. I want to be an on air talent so it was great being on camera again. A tad bit nerve racking but exhilarating at the same time. Jenny kept me at ease with the interview so it was easy breezy once we got started. We have both come so far since the first day we were introduced to ETV. Now it’s crazy to think we are putting a video together to summarize all of our experiences. And a 2-minute video at that! With all of the memorable sound bites from the endowment interns, we have our work cut out for us. However, their inspirational and encouraging words will keep us pressing on. Man, what a powerful working environment we work in. 

McCormick Shoot

Jenny:

We had a very busy day planned today! First stop was at the Old Gin and Mill, and Marion Parnell, who was a pleasure to meet, gave us a tour, showed us around, and gave us a very detailed history! She was one probably one of the sweetest people we've come across so far. She gave us recommendations to eat at Little Italy- a cute little restaurant in the heart of their downtown area. 


The next stop on the list was at Lake Thurmond, and this interview was definitely one of the easiest we've done so far. The man we interviewed, was more than accommodating and was able to answer questions before we even asked them. He was familiar with media and interviews, so his interview definitely makes the editing process run a lot smoother than some. 


I do have to stop and mention that both of these interviews were outside. Sure, a beautiful day is always great for an interview, I'm just happy I was behind the camera instead of in front of it. I was pouring sweat by the end of the second interview. That was another factor I hadn't thought of much in this field of work. I always assumed videos were made with ease, with the few minor technical difficulties, but weather is also a huge part of filming... which takes us to our next story.


Because our next shoot wasn't until 6, we waited around for a few hours in a wonderful, air conditioned setting- Subway (beats the heat). Well, just when we were heading to the shoot, thunder sounded, and lighting struck. Rain started coming down as we pulled up to our venue. So, needless to say, we had to raincheck the final shoot of the day and we're going to try and reschedule for when we do the Abbeville Shoot.


Even though the weather wasn't exactly ideal, it was still a great day. I love the days we go on shoots! 

Meagan:

Well helloooo small town Amurca’! Today our shoot was in McCormick, SC… the epitome of small town USA. Upon arriving in the quaint downtown area we veered off slightly to the site of our first shoot, the Dorn Gin & Mill. After 2 hours of cool air conditioning keeping us chill as cucumbers, it was time to embrace the sweltering heat. For the next hour or so we filmed the historic gin & mill… with no air conditioning… in over 100-degree heat. Now in no way am I complaining. Rather, I just want to mention this to anyone who thinks filming is just fun and games. Yes, filming is fun (that’s why we love our internship), but it also takes dedicated people to do weather extreme elements like this.

The interview for this story was rather tricky. For our 1-2 minute “Shorts”, concise interviews work best. When editing you have to re-listen to all of the interviews and decipher what sound bites to use. That’s why we were biting our fingernails at the thought of cutting the 20-minute interview we shot down to about a minute. Since I was running audio, I was trying to remember the time codes for usable sound bites. However, my planned failed after the numbers began to eventually jumble together. Looks like we are in for quite an editing challenge…

After wrapping up the interview, filming b-roll, and snapping pictures for the blog… it was time to “kill time” at lunch. We ate at a recommended hot spot, Little Italy, grabbed some ice cream at another local joint, and were soon on our way to the second shoot! Our second story was at Lake Thurmond. Fun fact right off the bat: Lake Thurmond is located in SC and in GA. Fun fact to add to that: the lake is called “Lake Thurmond” in SC and called “Clark Hill Lake” in GA.  … We interviewed a park ranger about all of the activities and amenities offered at the lake. Luckily our interview with him was spot on. He spoke in short, concise, and complete sentences (an editor’s dream!). Although he was a dream to work with, we had to make him a tad uncomfortable during the interview. We shot the interview outdoors under the bright blazing sun while he wore his park ranger hat. To prevent shading on his face, I was in charge of using the reflector to lighten his face up. So basically it was my job to blind him. But hey, to the eye of the viewer the shot will look so much better!!

Jenny and I shot the b-roll for this story. We used both lenses again to get a variety of shots as we “glistened” in the suffocating heat. We also implemented a few pointers Tabitha gave us from the previous shoots. Instead of only holding our shots for about 6 seconds, we now hold them for 10-12 seconds. The longer time length is much easier to edit with if you want to extend a shot in the package. We also learned the hard way not to speak while shooting b-roll. If you talk when you shoot b-roll, you lose crucial natural sound. I don’t even think we realized we were talking so much while filming until we started editing the material ourselves. (oopsie daisy) Now we try to keep mum and let nature do the talking. Speaking of nature, Mother Nature conflicted with our third shoot so we have to reschedule it.

Our third story was supposed to highlight eco-tourism in McCormick. Unfortunately a storm cell moved in right over the lake. Ironically enough the series of events we were going to film as b-roll were called “Thunder over Thurmond.” With a name like that, we were doomed from the start. We really want the “Short” to feature a picturesque summer day so we rescheduled both the interview and the b-roll for another time. … All was not lost though. On the way home we had a great conversation with Tabitha about filming extra projects on our own. Jenny and I are both intrigued and in love with photography and videography. We want to gain as much experience as possible. Creating independent projects are a great way to get ahead in the field. Tabitha gave us advice on how to start in freelancing and encouraged us to just get out and do it! So imma gunna take that advice and edumacate myself more in the field! 

Thuuursdayyy :)

Jenny:

I've always been a visual person. But today, we got a glimpse into what it might take to be more of an audio person. We took a tour of the radio department within SCETV's TCC building. We got to see the master control panel which basically transfers all the audio out to the different transmitter stations. We met with David Kiser who was preparing for his new program which will include classical piano. We met with Cathy Bradberry who showed us around the whole place and gave us the basic run down of what they do and how it works. It's all so interesting and the more things I'm exposed to the harder it is to narrow down what I want to do. On top of all that we learned that the radio version of Final Cut Pro is a software called Audition. Also, since radio and television function from reaching to the right demographic, there are networks that are made specifically to find out who the programs are reaching. For radio, they use Arbitron, and for television they use Neilson. It's the little terms like this that I keep picking up from day to day that expands my knowledge in this field.


Other than our Radio tour, we edited some of the Shorts, E-mailed chambers, and attempted to contact the places for our shoots.

Meagan:

You know the song, “Video Killed the Radio Star”? Whether that be the case or not… … I have to say I’m kind of digging the radio scene now. Today, Tabitha scheduled a meeting for us over in SCETV radio with Cathy Bradberry. When we got there, Cathy took us for a little tour and explained all of the operations, equipment, etc. Everything is so up to date and just an awesome work environment. Cathy demonstrated how to record promos and radio segments on audio software called Adobe Audition. Although I hate the sound of my voice, I really want to get in and try it one day myself. Maybe I’ll even give Ryan Seacrest a run for his money. In the meantime I’ll just stick to asking tons of questions.

Cathy had no trouble answering everything! We learned the difference in public v. commercially owned radio stations, how ETV’s radio is transmitted out to other satellite stations in SC, how she programs each day’s segments and so much more. Also, just in case you didn’t know (because I didn’t), ETV’s radio stations stream online too. I think I’ll give Pandora a break and take a listen! … Another cool tid bit of information we learned is about HD radio. HD radio just gives a radio station the opportunity to broadcast more stations on their frequency. The only real issue is the cost of converting to HD and the fact that HD radio hasn’t caught on like HD – TV has.  The conversion may be in the works for ETV but not anytime soon.

While there we met with radio intern, David Kiser. David has a pretty awesome job! He is producing his own radio program featuring classical piano music. Tomorrow he is hosting about 5 classical pianists tomorrow to come and record live audio for his show. Lucky for us (and David of course), we’re dropping by! His program fits in perfectly with the classical music station ETV runs. I was really curious why ETV plays only classic music and news feeds from NPR and other news outlets. I didn’t know if they were under some kind of contract or if they had a grant for classical music. Turns out those are both wrong and ETV chooses to broadcast what they do based on audience demographics and other aspects of the business. What the audience wants is what the audience gets! And speaking of “wants,” just when I thought I could narrow down what avenue I want to take in this wide world of media… radio rocked my world. I love the feeling of being in the studio behind the mic. It seems so secluded and so personal, yet hundreds of thousands of people are listening. After talking to Cathy about it I’m going to volunteer at UGA’s student radio station this year and try to gain experience at the Georgia Public Radio station too! I’ve definitely got my plate full but I’m hungry for more!

After our radio adventure, it was back to editing the Dorchestor County/Summerville “shorts”. Jenny and I divvied up the work. She edited the Coach McKissick piece, I did the “Birthplace of Sweet Tea” story, and we are both working on the Coastal Coffee Roasters project together.  We both finished our individual “shorts”. After laying down music, adding in the ETV intro/outro, perfecting the b-roll to the audio, and cutting out some “ums” and “ahhs”… the “Birthplace of Sweet Tea” is finito! We did run into 2 minor glitches today. First, it turns out we were saving our video sequences to the external hard drive but not our wav forms and render files. This is actually a big deal because of how much space it was using on Jenny’s Mac and because we kept running out of memory space. Once we figured out this issue, we realized another one. The format we were editing our stories as was not correct. After fixing them and rendering all of the projects we were able to finally get back on track. The only thing is every time we edit a sequence now we have to render every tiny change. Because of this we’re just going to start the coffee roaster story over from scratch.  I’m not complaining though. It’s really good to learn this all now, even if we learn it the hard way. I’m a firm believer in learning from your mistakes. Looking on the bright side, now I know all of this editing information for the future! Jenny and I will complete the third story tomorrow and I’m hoping we can take all of the editing lessons we learned from the first projects and create nothing short of a masterpiece.