Quiz 1: Discussions

I like the idea of a news show that combines that aspects of Shepherd News, Local News and Student News. It can help reach out to people both on campus and in the community about current events that are happening in the area, on campus, and with other students. The first segment can be the Local News as it helps give exposure to the whole area. The second segment can be the Shepherd News portion where it talks about upcoming events on campus and gives students reminders of important events such as Finals schedules, advising and perhaps some tips on certain things on campus. The final segment of Student News can be a short segment where a different student organizations are able to go on and promote events they're doing or even help promote their fraternities or sororities. I also would like a quiz show idea that is similar to Jeopardy on terms of categories, with points substituting for dollars. There would be 5 categories with 5 questions each. The easiest question would be worth 2 points, then a slightly difficult question for 4, even more difficult for 6, another even more difficult question worth 8, and the hardest question would be worth 10 points. The 5 categories would be 5 different academic topics (ex:Mathematics, Chemistry, Sociology, Psychology, and History) and the way it would work is that each team would have to "win" categories by gaining the most points from that category and whoever wins 3 categories first would win the game. Here is a catch though that I like, while the teams are together, they are also competing against their own team mates to get points for themselves. Because the winning team gets prizes, but the person who scored the most points on the winning team would get the primary prize which can be something like a PS3 or something similar that would be considered a "high priority" prize for any player to win. The secondary scorer would get something that's below it, although I'm not very sure what that would be while the 3rd place player would get the smallest prize which can be a gift card or a DVD or something. A music show would be brilliant. I feel that the time constraint of 14:30 could be a little bothersome but I think there is enough time to do at least 3 songs and an interview with the performer afterward whether it be a local rock band, a classical music player, or perhaps even a beat poet (which I know is rare but they still exist). It can help give local musicians exposure in this area and help them promote their music. I know a band from my old High School who I know would love the opportunity.

Blog 6: TV Production

In the last month or so of class since our return from Spring Break, we have been split into three different groups to work on our own television production. One of the biggest things I learned during this process is how much work goes into the production of a TV show. In TV Productions, there are 3 different stages to it. The first of the stage is the planning stage. This involves meeting with the television production team, discussing who will do which job, the theme of the show, how the set should looks, and who the speakers shall be. The second stage of this process is the actual filming of the production itself. What this involves is the camera being set up so that the right focus and white balance is there, the floor manager making sure that everything is okay on the set, and the camera on-stage being connected with the monitors so that the show is being recorded. Finally once the production is filmed, we move onto post-production where the show is edited so that the introduction and the credits are added, mistakes are corrected, and the show is completely produced for all to watch. Throughout this process there were a few things I did like and a few things I didn't like. What I did like was being able to meet up with the production crew. It may just be the writer in me but I do like being able to interact with the group prior to filming. I feel that it helps build group chemistry and allows all of us to express our ideas. I also enjoyed being able to work behind the camera. I like having the ability to frame my own shots and put together art in the form of film. I do wish to do more camera work in the future as it is something I very much enjoy doing. What I did not like about the process was that while I did enjoy camera work I would have much preferred to have been directing or hosting. I say this mainly because I feel that I need some practice in both of those fields. When I did both jobs in this semester I struggled with them. On terms of hosting I had a hard time trying to stick as just the "host" and not try make myself a guest on my own show. I feel that is something I need to work on in the future. On terms of directing I had struggled earlier this semester with it as I had become very nervous due to not having directing a live show before. As mentioned in earlier blogs it is an entirely different process than film or stage due to the fact its all rapid fire and has to be done on the go rather than planned in advance. I would have liked an opportunity to do either of these but I trust the group's decision in letting me just do camera work and I did enjoy it. Another thing I didn't like was how short our show ended up being. I feel that because of how vast our topic was (2012 and other end of the world theories) that we needed to go 30 minutes instead of 15. In spite of that the show did work but at the same time I felt it could have been longer and more detailed in what we were discussing. Overall, it was a very good experience that gave me the insight of what it takes to work on a television program and has been one of my better experiences in college. Going forward I look ahead in anticipation of working on other programs in the future.

Blog 5: Production Blog Group B

Over the last couple of weeks in Studio Production, the class has been divided into three different groups with the task of putting together our own studio show. It was 2 weeks ago that we first met up to discuss the plans for our shoot. During the process we decided that a great topic for us to discuss was 2012 and other Apocalyptic theories that are going around. The reason we selected this is because the 2012 phenomenon is a very popular one that has been going around the last couple of years and now that we are eight months away from that date, December 21, 2012 it is more than appropriate that we discuss this now to help inform and educate the viewer. Within that first meeting we decided that the 2012/Apocalyptic topics we wanted to discuss were: past predictions, climate change, man-caused apocalypse (World War III scenarios for example), the Sun exploding, Mayan predictions and others.

We originally intended on bringing in a Science and History professor to give us insight on the scientific and historical aspects of end of the world scenarios and the possibility of any of the words discussed coming to fruition. The issue we came across was that we could not find a history Professor to volunteer in our time slot (12:25-1:40) and so as a result we decided instead to have another member of our group speak alongside our host and the science professor. After some discussion we worked out who was going to do what and while I did want to be either a director or at least the host, I ended up working on Camera Number 2, a position I accepted as I feel learning the proper camera work in the studio is just as important as working on my hosting and directing abilities. On Tuesday, April 3rd we finally met in the studio to film the show with Dr. Conley, a Biology professor at Shepherd University as our science expert. The actual shoot itself went incredibly well and from my own personal prospective was well shot and well performed by our host and guests. I look forward to the editing process of the production once we get to work on it.