The Gaston College Broadcasting Program continues to grow and improve. New equipment and program updates are elevating the program to a professional level preparing students for entering the media industry. The program allows students opportunities to participate in field trips to top media outlets, like WSOC, WBT, WBTV, NASCAR, and many more production studios. This gives you a broader prospective of the opportunities available to you and opens your eyes to some of the requirements. It is very inspirational in directing you into the specific area that may interest you. Often times during the field trip, there are always questions that enlighten you to things you don't even think about. Students should always take advantage of the opportunities to visit the local media outlets.
Next semester will be even better when the new video recording studio will relocate to the CASS building with the other Broadcasting Programs. Having all the Broadcasting classes centralized to one location will benefit the students and staff as well. New students in the fall will have the new restructured program which has been updated where the classes flow better. Many of the classes will now have prerequisites that will enhance the learning in other classes.
The video section uploads their work to youtube. There has been a lot of progess and improvements over the quality of work that has been produced. I am sure this will continue as improvements are made with equipment and curriculum.
Thanks to our program directors for your efforts in continuously working to make the Broadcasting Program at Gaston one of the best in the area. It is such an asset to the student when we have a staff that continues to try to improve the program.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Life Lesson-Handling Adversity
The life lesson of handling adversity was put to the test on Tuesday. It was my scheduled day to record my final video project in the tv studio. When I entered my writing class first thing Tuesday morning, I was told my host would not be able to be there until 1:00 p.m. and my recording was scheduled to begin at Noon. No problem, we would use someone else to host the first interview. This was not the end of the conflicts that would arise, just the beginning. I should have stayed home, but if it did, then I would not have experienced the adversities and made a better person by handling them, one at a time as they occurred.
Entering the studio at noon, I began to get the studio and crew in place for the shoot to begin. It was great to see Phil return and he graciously accepted the request to be my first host. When I noticed we were one camera short, Phil volunteered to go to the Broadcasting Department and get us the additional camera needed for our shoot. One problem, it didn't have a faceplate for the tripod, so we had to improvise and use a podium. The cameras needed blank tapes to recored different angles and having enough footage to use for editing. Next challenge, the tape deck ate my tape, so Kyle had to disassemble the tape deck and remove the bad tape. Ok, now we are ready to record the first interview. We had to move cameras during scenes to be able to get the shots needed. Recording went great after we were able to overcome the many adversities. But we were not clear of them yet. Many more were to arise.
At 1:30 my second guest arrives and has brought over a tripod with a faceplate. This eliminates our issue of having to move cameras around. Now we start recording, batteries are dying and there are no back up batteries. Finally we find a battery with enough charge to start our interview. After we begin, there is a major problem with the sound. The sound technician can't figure out the problem with the mic. Troubleshooting, it is discovered the sliders controlling the lapel mics are reversed on the audio board. At this point, anything is possible. My tape had run out of room, so I had to get a new tape. Finally, we put in a new tape and started the second interview. Soon after we began, a piece of equipment started in the sound room and it was so loud we couldn't hear the audio. There was nothing we could do about that, so we just continued. A few minutes later, we were informed the battery on camera "C" was dying and we didn't have any more charged batteries. Luckily it held out for us to finish the interview.
What a day of adversities. The studio was like a sauna and everyone was so gracious, doing their role and putting up with all the roadblocks, and stuck in there until the very end. Thanks so much for being such troopers. The recording didn't wrap up until after 2:30 p.m.. I feel confident we were able to get some great footage and two great interviews. I am so grateful to everyone for their patience and to my hosts and guests for hanging in there til the end.
But, you ask, did the adversities end there? Nope, when I went home and began my blog, halfway through this blog on adversity, my battery dies on my laptop. Little did my laptop know, I am a person of perseverience and I will continue to handle those little life interuptions as they occur - one at a time.
I leave you with this thought on the life lesson of adversity. When life hands you adversity, don't let it get you down, don't get angry, or throw in the towel. Just handle it in a postive way, one issue at a time. You will become a better person from your experiences. Remember, life is all about how we handle the adversity that comes our way.
Entering the studio at noon, I began to get the studio and crew in place for the shoot to begin. It was great to see Phil return and he graciously accepted the request to be my first host. When I noticed we were one camera short, Phil volunteered to go to the Broadcasting Department and get us the additional camera needed for our shoot. One problem, it didn't have a faceplate for the tripod, so we had to improvise and use a podium. The cameras needed blank tapes to recored different angles and having enough footage to use for editing. Next challenge, the tape deck ate my tape, so Kyle had to disassemble the tape deck and remove the bad tape. Ok, now we are ready to record the first interview. We had to move cameras during scenes to be able to get the shots needed. Recording went great after we were able to overcome the many adversities. But we were not clear of them yet. Many more were to arise.
At 1:30 my second guest arrives and has brought over a tripod with a faceplate. This eliminates our issue of having to move cameras around. Now we start recording, batteries are dying and there are no back up batteries. Finally we find a battery with enough charge to start our interview. After we begin, there is a major problem with the sound. The sound technician can't figure out the problem with the mic. Troubleshooting, it is discovered the sliders controlling the lapel mics are reversed on the audio board. At this point, anything is possible. My tape had run out of room, so I had to get a new tape. Finally, we put in a new tape and started the second interview. Soon after we began, a piece of equipment started in the sound room and it was so loud we couldn't hear the audio. There was nothing we could do about that, so we just continued. A few minutes later, we were informed the battery on camera "C" was dying and we didn't have any more charged batteries. Luckily it held out for us to finish the interview.
What a day of adversities. The studio was like a sauna and everyone was so gracious, doing their role and putting up with all the roadblocks, and stuck in there until the very end. Thanks so much for being such troopers. The recording didn't wrap up until after 2:30 p.m.. I feel confident we were able to get some great footage and two great interviews. I am so grateful to everyone for their patience and to my hosts and guests for hanging in there til the end.
But, you ask, did the adversities end there? Nope, when I went home and began my blog, halfway through this blog on adversity, my battery dies on my laptop. Little did my laptop know, I am a person of perseverience and I will continue to handle those little life interuptions as they occur - one at a time.
I leave you with this thought on the life lesson of adversity. When life hands you adversity, don't let it get you down, don't get angry, or throw in the towel. Just handle it in a postive way, one issue at a time. You will become a better person from your experiences. Remember, life is all about how we handle the adversity that comes our way.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Post for Wednesday, March 30 - Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida has become one of my favorite places. I am sitting in the newly remodeled hotel room of the Holiday Inn Resort. The Holiday Inn Corporation has told all of the hotels in the chain they have to upgrade to the new design and upgrades or they will loose their franchise and Holiday Inn name. The new upgrades are comparable to a four star hotel and the room reflects this. Our room is on ocean front and close to the Daytona Beach pier. I can hear the ocean in the background and the Ohio and Kentucky basketball game is currently on television. My husband was watching the game but his eyes were too heavy from the long drive down.
There is a car show at the Daytona International Speedway this weekend and we are planning to visit it tomorrow and spend some time relaxing on the beach. Spring break is winding down and there are still some college students enjoying their time off. We saw some really interesting sights driving up the beach today. I wish I had checked out a video camera and brought it with me. This would be some great and interesting video. The fashion always grabs my attention and leaves me with the puzzling question of, Why? and What are they thinking? Tomorrow when we sit on the beach I plan to photograph some of the interesting fashion statements. We always have to visit the famous Zeno's and get some salt-water taffy. They have so many unique flavors. This time we just got blueberry, cotton candy, and maple, which is our favorite. After walking on the boardwalk we ate at Pepper's, a nice Mexican restaurant.
After a three hour drive to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday we leave for the Caribbean. I hope my cameras work and allow me to get some great photography. There are so many good opportunities in the Caribbean and I can easily take over a thousand pictures. It is so exciting just thinking about it.
Well, I must go and get some rest and try to catch up on my sleep. These last couple of nights of only three and four hours of sleep are catching up with me. Happy blogging! Thanks for visiting.
There is a car show at the Daytona International Speedway this weekend and we are planning to visit it tomorrow and spend some time relaxing on the beach. Spring break is winding down and there are still some college students enjoying their time off. We saw some really interesting sights driving up the beach today. I wish I had checked out a video camera and brought it with me. This would be some great and interesting video. The fashion always grabs my attention and leaves me with the puzzling question of, Why? and What are they thinking? Tomorrow when we sit on the beach I plan to photograph some of the interesting fashion statements. We always have to visit the famous Zeno's and get some salt-water taffy. They have so many unique flavors. This time we just got blueberry, cotton candy, and maple, which is our favorite. After walking on the boardwalk we ate at Pepper's, a nice Mexican restaurant.
After a three hour drive to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday we leave for the Caribbean. I hope my cameras work and allow me to get some great photography. There are so many good opportunities in the Caribbean and I can easily take over a thousand pictures. It is so exciting just thinking about it.
Well, I must go and get some rest and try to catch up on my sleep. These last couple of nights of only three and four hours of sleep are catching up with me. Happy blogging! Thanks for visiting.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Dancing With The Stars
Tonight is the premiere of Dancing With The Stars. It is hard to believe this is already the twelfth season. It will be interesting this season as Kirstie Alley will be dancing with Max. Kirstie has received a lot of media attention in recent years because of her weight. Sugar Ray Leonard and Hines Ward are two sports personalities competing in this season's competition. These are the only three stars I am familiar with. It is disappointing to see that Derek Hough is not returning this season. He is one of the best choreographers on the show.
Dancing With The Stars is an excellent show to get a good idea how lighting and camera work can add or take away from the show. Sometimes the dances are so quick and all over the dance floor which requires a good camera operator to keep up with them. They do a lot of different camera angles. Lighting is a major challenge because each dance is different and there is always constant changes in props. This also plays a large impact in the camera work. To make the challenge even more intense the show is live.
The three judges, Len, Carrie Ann, and Bruno are all returning this season and always bring entertaining comments as they critique the dancers. Tom Bergeron and his assistant, Brooke are also returning. In my opinion Tom makes the show, with his quick, off the cuff, witt and one-liners.
This should be another exciting season of Dancing With The Stars as the stars and dance professionals compete each week to see who will take home the famous mirror-ball trophy.
Dancing With The Stars is an excellent show to get a good idea how lighting and camera work can add or take away from the show. Sometimes the dances are so quick and all over the dance floor which requires a good camera operator to keep up with them. They do a lot of different camera angles. Lighting is a major challenge because each dance is different and there is always constant changes in props. This also plays a large impact in the camera work. To make the challenge even more intense the show is live.
The three judges, Len, Carrie Ann, and Bruno are all returning this season and always bring entertaining comments as they critique the dancers. Tom Bergeron and his assistant, Brooke are also returning. In my opinion Tom makes the show, with his quick, off the cuff, witt and one-liners.
This should be another exciting season of Dancing With The Stars as the stars and dance professionals compete each week to see who will take home the famous mirror-ball trophy.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Trip to Nascar Media Group
Today Video II toured the NASCAR Media Group. Their top-notch facility is equipped with the latest technology. It provided valuable insight to the many opportunities available in the media industry. From receiving the media from the field to the editing of the images, adding graphics, and working with the colorization and audio to sending it out local and international clients was very fascinating. Touring the production studios and hands-on in the radio studio provided a different perspective into broadcasting.
Lighting always seems to be a challenge in studio production and in one of the production studios there was an unbelievable amount of lights. Another studio on the street level was surrounded by windows so people on the street could see the live productions. We discussed different aspects of the lighting dealing with the changes in the outside lighting from the windows as it changes throughout the day. There were curtains that could be shut as well.
Another topic was the challenges surrounding the screen aspect ratio of 16:9 versus 4:3, that is still being dealt with by producers. Producers take into consideration those that have not upgraded their televisions to the 16:9 ratio. Some stations just provide black banners on the sides and will put their station logo's or other graphics to compensate for the shows that are still produced in the 4:3 aspect ratio. One of the challenges that the NASCAR media group contends with is having room to add graphics or banners at the bottom of footage when the camera operator has framed the shot too close and not allowed enough room.
In the archive library we saw a new and unexpected process. They take the old video tapes from the 70's and put them in a convection oven for several minutes. Over time some tapes deteriorate because of the breakdown in the glue or binder that holds the oxide on the tapes. Baking the tapes temporarily restores the tape so it can be copied to another format.
Other areas we experienced were editing of the live in-car radio on race day which is on a three second delay to allow the editors to "sanitize" the audio to make it acceptable to the young audience, and the live radio broadcast for Sirrus satellite radio. This was a very informative tour that provided a greater vision of the opportunities in Broadcasting.
Lighting always seems to be a challenge in studio production and in one of the production studios there was an unbelievable amount of lights. Another studio on the street level was surrounded by windows so people on the street could see the live productions. We discussed different aspects of the lighting dealing with the changes in the outside lighting from the windows as it changes throughout the day. There were curtains that could be shut as well.
Another topic was the challenges surrounding the screen aspect ratio of 16:9 versus 4:3, that is still being dealt with by producers. Producers take into consideration those that have not upgraded their televisions to the 16:9 ratio. Some stations just provide black banners on the sides and will put their station logo's or other graphics to compensate for the shows that are still produced in the 4:3 aspect ratio. One of the challenges that the NASCAR media group contends with is having room to add graphics or banners at the bottom of footage when the camera operator has framed the shot too close and not allowed enough room.
In the archive library we saw a new and unexpected process. They take the old video tapes from the 70's and put them in a convection oven for several minutes. Over time some tapes deteriorate because of the breakdown in the glue or binder that holds the oxide on the tapes. Baking the tapes temporarily restores the tape so it can be copied to another format.
Other areas we experienced were editing of the live in-car radio on race day which is on a three second delay to allow the editors to "sanitize" the audio to make it acceptable to the young audience, and the live radio broadcast for Sirrus satellite radio. This was a very informative tour that provided a greater vision of the opportunities in Broadcasting.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Change of Seasons
Change of Seasons The last couple of years has taught me there is much more to the term "change of seasons" than the weather. As seasons come and go and we live our lives day in and day out, the world around us continues in it's routine schedules. Spring brings us March Madness with basketball fans daily checking their brackets and baseball's spring training. Then summer comes with a season of baseball and family vacations. Followed by the long anticipated football in the fall, which takes us through winter to the SuperBowl. Then we're back to Spring! Different from the seasons of the year are the seasons of life. I turned the corner at age fifty a few years ago and it brought new experiences. After working since age sixteen, I was laid off two years ago and my mother suffered her first stroke the same month. Nothing in life prepares you for the task of caring for a disabled loved one. My children are grown and the house gets very lonesome and quiet at times. I now have a beautiful grand baby that continues to attract my attention and bring me so much joy. This new season of life has brought many changes, but the one thing that remains the same is the love and closeness of our family. I am very fortunate and blessed with a wonderful family. So summer will come and go along with the other seasons, and our routine schedules will continue, but I look forward to the future as new seasons of life will continue to bring new experiences and lots of joy.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Commercials
After all the focus on commercials in the last couple of weeks I have arrived to this conclusion. It all depends on the individual watching the commercial how persuasive it is. If I am hungry and a O'Charley's, Chili's, or pizza, etc. commercial comes on - it motivates me to want to go there. I will try some of the new menu items because they make it look so good, only to get aggravated at myself because it is never as good as it looks.. If I have just had dinner, then the food just isn't appealing. I just went and bought cereal because of the commercial. Commercials that use babies, people, and animals in unrealistic circumstances tend to be comical and become some of the most popular ones. For instance the Budweiser horses playing football, the Budweiser frogs, the Etrade baby, the mayhem commercials, and the woodchucks chucking wood, have all been very popular. We pay attention to the commercial that pertains to our interests. There are some very "cheesy" commercials too. The Tennessee Pride Sausage commercial was so ridiculous. The setting was a science classroom and the teacher was interacting with a student. Every time the teacher ask the student a question a person dressed as a crab would come over and smack the student on the head. After he had the sausage the student answered questions normal. It's one of those commercials you tend to scratch your head and say, "what was that about?" I wish there were more regulations on the number of commercials allowed during a break. Sometimes there are too many commercials played back to back.
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