Well, thus far I’ve failed to give regular updates about my experience as an intern at TC Media. So here I’m going to dump 5 weeks worth of updates in one post. From here on out, it’s my goal to give weekly updates at the end of the week.
Week 1: This quarter I started by just jumping right in. I walked in on my first day back after the break and, after a brief discussion about schedules, proceeded to edit a program that someone had shot the previous week. The next day, I got right back into the government meetings which I had been doing last quarter. However, aside from the all the usual things, I wrote and got approved a pitch for a documentary which I’ll be working on all quarter long. Entitled “Community Media Matters”, this doc features interviews with community producers and station staff members about why community media is important.
Week 2: This week I had my first opportunity to do a Tumwater City Council meeting, which means using the mobile production truck. It was quite an experience driving out to the city hall, plugging this truck into the building’s wall mounted robotic camera system, and connecting it into the truck which acts as a portable (and very cramped) TV Studio. Then, I got commissioned by TC Media’s Community Relations Director, Andrea, to make a 30 sec promo video for the upcoming NW Media Summit, organized by the Alliance for Community Media. Finally, on Friday I worked on a studio for Thurston County Connection.
Week 3: A bit of a down week, I started by shooting the Media Summit Promo, featuring Andrea. I spend the rest of the week editing this video. Additionally I did the usual government meetings that Tuesday. I got to spend some time doing pre-production for “Community Media Matters”.
Week 4: After reviewing the promo, Andrea decided it needed to be reshot, so I began my week with a reshoot of this promo, and a re-edit. Also this week, I shot my first footage for “Community Media Matters”, an interview with one of TC Media’s Community Producers. It was quite an experience to write, direct, shoot, light, and record an interview on my own. I’m still learning, but from I’ve been hearing the industry is moving more and more toward one person doing all of the work themselves, so I think I’m on the right track. I finished the week by working on a contracted production in the studio. A series of interviews shot in an all black null space. Very intimate and intense.
Week 5: This week began with a practice session for the Tumwater Council Meeting in the mobile truck. The usual director of these shoots was out of town, and we decided to go a night early to practice to complicated set-up process. The following evening we executed it well! And, aside from a bit more work on the Media Summit Promo, I did an all morning field shoot on Friday with our creative director, Susan. We shot footage of the “Poverty and Economic Development” conference sponsored by the city of Olympia. It was an interesting process to craft a video out 8 all day-long small group discussions. I shot B-roll all day.