Good Bye

Wow. It seems like this semester flew by me. It's hard to believe it's over. But it has been fun and exciting. I believe I have gained a lot from this experience. I had a great time and learned a few new things. I think this a great class and that students should be encouraged to take it as a learning experience. I am sure they will enjoy it as much as I did.

Work is Great!

Guess what? I went to the game! And I had fun! And I got to work the camera! It was great! It was a fun environment and everyone welcomed me back. Leon and I took turns working the camera. It was fun yet educational. The game was quite exciting, because there were some people from Prairie View in the press box with us and they just were talking and talking about how great their team is. But when we started winning, they got sort of quiet. Then we started talking. It was all in good sport and no one got offended.
During the week, it was back to editing. And I also got to do the Comegy Show. It was fun because Coach Comegy and Rob Jay are both very nice guys. And I was taught something new. Audio. It looked scary at first with all those knobs and stuff, but as usual, it wasn't hard. All you do is adjust the sound levels to not be too loud or too soft and everything is smooth sailing from there. Needless to say, I am ready to do that again.
I hope the rest of my time at TV23 is as fun and productive as it has been. This week was very exciting. I look forward to trying other new things before my time is up at the interesting place.

It's Official

It's official, I am back and ready to jump in head first and get back to work. Well, technically, it will not be official until this monday when I go back for my follow up appointment and my doctor gives me her OFFICIAL release. But just the fact that I'm not coughing or sneezing so much lets me know I have finally kicked the sickness out of my system. Yay for me :)
When I went to Leon's office this week he acted as if he didn't want to let me in. But I showed him that I was much better, and finally gave up and let me start editing. Man, it has really been a long time!I missed so much while out sick. I actually like editing, so I tried to get a lot done this week, just to get back in the groove of things. Leon was telling me that I don't have to try and do so much in a short time, because there is plenty of stuff to be done, so I will catch up pretty quick. I know what he means, but I'm just anxious.
And guess what! I get to go to the game today! I am super excited and ready to go. I know this game will not replace the Southern game I missed, but hey, it's still game day. It will still be exciting. There will still be work to be done. But more importantly, I will be there!

Down and Out

Well, this week wasn't very productive. Unfortunately, I have come down with a severe cold that I can't seem to get rid of. And it is hindering me BIG TIME. I can't get anything done because no one wants to be around a super sick contagious person. Especially one that coughs a lot. Uncontrollably. I can't blame them, though. I would feel the same way.
When I went to the station on Monday, there wasn't anything major going on. Leon was about to start editing a couple projects. So we talked for a moment and I told him I was starting to feel a little better. He started was telling me about the projects that needed to be taken care of and what needed to be done to them. And then it started up. The coughing. And it wouldn't stop. I was embarassed. Leon had this disgusted look on his face. After I got it under control (meaning when it passed), I apologized and let Leon know I was ready to get started. He told me under no circumstances was he letting me touch his computer and get germs all over it. Wow! And he was serious! So while he edited we just bounced ideas off each other and I was his personal "spell checker." At least I was able to help, right?
On Wednesday, it felt like I was getting worse, so I stayed home and took some medicine. Turns out I had to do that the rest of the week because as some of my symptoms leave, it seems like the cough is getting worse. I already hate feeling like this, but now it is hindering my progress. If it doesn't get any better over the weekend, I will go and see the doctor on Monday. And when I do get better, I will just work even harder to catch up on everything I missed out on.

By the way, I almost made it through this blog without coughing, but that just went out the window. :(

On the Spot

After all of that foolishness last week of being intimidated by the master control room, I ran into a real "situation" this week. On Wednesday, we were scheduled to shoot the Rick Comegy Show. I'm thinking to myself, no big deal. I am helping Leon and Keith get everything together as we wait on Rob Jay to arrive. I was introduced to Coach Comegy, a very nice guy, as we got the set together. When Rob Jay arrived, everything was in place and ready to go. That's when Keith told me to operate camera one. I froze. Was he seriously talking to me? Someone who has never worked with a camera this sophisticated. Yes, it was apparent he was talking to me when I was instructed to put on the headphones and make sure the camera was positioned correctly. Leon then came over to give me a crash course on how to operate the camera. He gave me the basics, and it didn't seem hard. But then again, Leon makes everything seem simple. I took a deep breathe and prepared for the best.
The show started recording, and everything was going fine. I didn't have to do anything but stand by the camera, listen to Keith through the headphones, and make sure I had a good shot on Coach Comegy. And then it happened. Coach Comegy switched positions and kind of leaned forward, messing up my shot. And I heard Keith loud and clear. "Zoom out on Comegy. His shot is too tight." So that's what I did. I took my time and zoomed out carefully. Didn't get yelled at. Guess I did an okay job. Everything was back running smoothly. Then it happened again. Coach Comegy sat back and kind of leaned to the side in his chair. Here was Keith again. "Pan left on Comegy. He's out of his shot." I did as I was told. This time I heard a response. "Great shot on Comegy." I was super relieved. After that, Coach Comegy stayed in place and there wasn't much more I had to do.
After the show was over, Keith came out of the control room and told me that I had done good job. He said that I had done well in getting Coach Comegy back into his shots. I was soo excited. I am now looking forward to other chances when I will get to work with the camera. If everything goes according to schedule, that may be as soon as this weekends' football game. Wish me luck!

Who is the Master?

This week, I was introduced to something very scary: the master control room. It even sounds scary, right? The master control room houses a huge block of machinery that controls every aspect of what is being played on a television network. Surely they didn't want me to do something in there. Wrong. Leon told me to go in and add some commercials to the shows that were already scheduled to play later that day. I just stood there and looked at him, then the machine, then back at Leon. He started to laugh and told me that he was only kidding. What a relief! There was no way I was going to touch that machine and risk ruining everything that had already been programmed. That would have been a tragedy!
After going over the different sections of the machine, I sat down with Leon to see exactly how to add stuff to the program line-up. It actually turned out to be pretty simple. All you have to do is find the item you are looking for in one column and drag and drop it into the center column. Sounds easy enough. The tricky part comes in when you have to time everything to flow smoothly. Just one second can throw you completely off schedule. In this world of media, timing is everything.
Unfortunately, with my hectic schedule, timing is everything for me as well. And as usual, just as we were getting started, it was time for me to leave. I didn't get a chance to actually put something in the line-up, but I was promised that next time it needed to be done, I could help out. This was a major step in learning something new this week, because going over Final Cut Pro was getting kind of boring. (Don't tell that to Leon, though.) So it turns out the master control room isn't scary at all. I guess you can say I am learning to "master" it.