Senior Project Thoughts

So I have been thinking a lot about capstone lately and my senior project. Our senior project is supposed to be related to what we want to do after we graduate and in what specialty. Frankly, I don't know what exactly I want to do. I have no idea whether I am going to graduate school and go get a masters or whether I will just go find a job at a news station. And lately I've been questioning if I will even be able to get a job at a news station or radio station. I think I've have come to the conclusion that I am kind of apathetic to what I do because I like doing just about everything. And the way I see, if I don't like it then I will just switch jobs. I personally don't think that you can judge if you are actually going to like something for a long period of time unless you do it. I can say that I love to do camera work but I also don't have to do it for 10 hours everyday. I can say that I like to put packages together but I don't just solely do that either. That is one reason I think internships are so very important, it helps you get an idea of if you really want to do something for the rest of your life or at least a long period of it.

But back to the topic at hand... my senior project. I have always loved to be creative and I am much better at putting colors together then taking and writing news story after news story. So I have come to the conclusion that I want to do some with appearances on air whether it be makeup, hair, body shape and clothes on camera or set design. Basically what color look best on people and on camera what shapes are most complimented by the camera and things of this nature. And as far as set design I would delve into how to design a set that is easiest to work around Such as wheels on a furniture set so as to maximize the different ways to arrange the set. This would also be helpful if you needed to move cameras around... just different things of that nature. I would personally find this enjoyable and fun. Plus, this more creative angle will let me do what I am good at ... making things look good, clean and neat (i mean that in the most humble way possible). I get to be creative is what it comes down to and for me that is the one thing that I HAVE to be able to do as an adult in my job.

blogging

Blogging is like keeping a journal. I have never been one to keep a journal except when i need to blow off steam so this is a new thing for me. When I first started out I honestly thought it was kind of silly. Then I realized that I could be doing a lot of more random things for class. I actually don't mind it and have been able to make a connection of why we do it. I think its actually a good way of just talking about broadcasting and things that happen and influence it. What really surprises me is that i have been able to find something to write about each week.... and I've actually remembered to do it each week. But this week I sat down and realized that I really don't have too much to say. Maybe because I have a lot on my mind or maybe its just that nothing that interesting has happened. Expect for one thing, the writer strike. This week the writers of TV decided that they will come back to work. I know everyone i talked are so excited that their TV shows will be back on. I can't say that i blame them... its hard to stop a routine .... especially when it involves a plot like Grey's. I love how people get so into certain shows that if you walk in and need to talk to them during the show you get shushed. Writers have a an uncanny way of writing and plotting shows to keep viewers hooked. Its amazing the power that the media has. If you think about the media is what people look to when they need to know something important. The news supplies people with events that are happening on an almost minute to minute basis. Thats why being the news channel with the story first is so important because we as an audience want to know whats going on right now. If you give us something that happened two days ago our interest is lost; its not the present. Grammy and Oscars let us in on who's the best at what. It lets us know what music is hip and which movies we should see. Instead of spending our time looking for a good movie or wondering what we should listen to... its handed to us though the media. Yes, we still make our own judgments and yes we all have different tastes but for the most part wheat we think is cool is all based off of what we watch see and hear on the media. I just think its fascinating that the media has such a power over their audience.

Superbowl ... all the angles

Superbowl. So many things come to mind. Some think football, some think commercials, or parties and others think oh that thing with the half time show... but very few would think work. Yes, for many it is work you just don't think about it all that often. For the players and coaches it is work. For the stadium employees its work but even more still for the anchors, camera men and producers at FOX its one of the biggest days of the year. And for me studying broadcasting i found The Superbowl in a whole new light.
After being a Broadcast major and learning all the ins and outs of the industry TV and Movies are pretty much ruined for you. At least that is the way it is for me. You start paying attention to how programs are sequenced, different camera shots, and anchor posture and things like that. There no need to even say sometimes its just hard to watch tv after understanding how it all works.
Well at any rate, the whole reason i am saying all this is because this year was very interesting to watch the Superbowl. I sat at my aunts and uncles party and watched as the camera gave these interesting shots. Most of them were quite good. There was a shot when the marines were playing the drums and it was take from down low and to the side and had just great composition to it! i was so excited.. yes i do excited about things like that. Then there was another great reaction shot of Jordan Sparks before she sang the National Anthem and you could tell she was incredibly nervous. (she did an amazing job but that is a side note) I felt like the sequencing was great and everything was just looking so good and then all of a sudden there was this awful shot it was similar to the one i liked so well earlier but much more drastic. It was straight up into the face of the marine. But it had no compositional value. Nothing was on the third and the angle was so steep you saw mostly ceiling... which the vectors there just didn't do anything for the shot. I was shocked .. i actually think i spoke the words "that is awful" out loud. I was just surprised but other then that i think that it was a good try .. just not quite on. There were two other problems that i had with the superbowl and it wasn't the commercials.
The first problem was with the anchors. They were just boring.. and no personality. The Half time people were fine but the actual hosts were just .. odd i guess. The only other thing that i had a problem with is that they cut off a few commercials before the guy in the commercial was done talking. The whole thing was just awkward but I can imagine that they have so many commercials that they have to play that they have to be on top of it. Overall i thought it was a very good game and show!

Media Ambitions

So I am in this Cluster Course that I am really enjoying. I personally like it because it combines my major and minor ( Broadcasting Major with a Marketing Minor). Plus, it is two very interesting classes. The Cluster consists of a Communications Law class and a Communications Ethics course. Now, you make stop and think how can those be so interesting? Well, from a broadcasting perspective it's hard to write or talk on air when there are so many boundaries that you have to be careful not cross. Granted, the media is all about pushing the limits, but when you have all kinda of information at your finger tips how are going to decide what is relavant to the audience and what is too much. You have to understand the law and ethics of communications to provide the best stories to the audience. For example, Heath Ledger's death blew up the radio waves and made the T.V.s Blaze. Everyone wants the big story and to be the one with the "story first" ... I am all for that, but make sure that the information you are putting out is correct without assumptions. I am a big advocate of not jumping to conclusions. Not to say that they were but if they were they presented it like it. There weere so many stories and i know that is the way it is for most celebrity deaths but still there still needs to be some class to the media. Am I wrong? For the most part I think the media does a decent job of keeping the information correct but in the case of Heath Ledger i think that everyone just jumped to conclusions. Was it suicide or just an accidental overdose... so many questions and not enough real answers. In the end it just confuses people. In my mind, the job of the media is to give correct, real, and entertaining information. Journalists dothis pretty well... sometimes thye just get ahwad of themselves I guess. I would like to think of myself as an ethical journalist. I would like to think also, that i don't give people information unless it is the truth. With the classes i am taking it is making me so much more aware of what the audience has to go through. When they hear all the jumble of information and its hard to decide what truth and what are lies or assumptions. Until college I had always just gone through the motions when it came to what the media had to say. I took the informationa and never questioned, but never actually took too much too heart either. Now with more awareness i feel like i am a better at broadcasting and much better at being an audience.

Everyday is a new Adventure

OK my first post illustrates the what happens when you ask questions. You see i was on Choir tour with the Concert Choir from Westminster College (obviously) and we had some free time in Memphis, TN. Well, a bunch of us were walking down Beale street towards late int he afternoon and this homeless man walks up to a us and asks if he can show my friend Chris a magic trick. Well we stopped and watched and let him show us. As I was watching this trick I was also looking around and checking out the atmosphere of Beale street and I found a camera man filming this interaction of the man and the magic trick. He was standing in front of a van marked FOX 31 NEWS. This sparked my interest further and I decided to investigate. After the man had got done showing us his trick he asked for money. We all didn't have cash on us so politely said sorry. Surprisingly, the man was kind about it and just said he hoped we had a good evening. As my friends walked away I walked toward the man with the camera who had since finished filming and turned to the van. I walked up to and inquired about the filming and explained my curiosity because i am a Broadcast major. He told me him and the reporter were doing a story on panhandlers and so he was getting clips. As it turns out, the reporter came over and i did Introductions and ended up interviewing my friends and the rest of us got on camera for cut away shots and such. I thought it was so interesting to watch them do their job. The reporter and I talked for a few minutes and she told me about her internship and how it was the best thing she ever did because it made her realized what she liked to do and what she didn't. Since I am Junior and haven't had an internship I was super excited to hear about her experience. We finished our conversation and I finished my time on Beale street thinking about how exciting it will be to have an internship and learn what i really want to do after college. And don't you know later on that night they played the story! So funny how life brings just what you need to know when you know it.