By: Danika Green
On the first day of my internship, I got introduced to a bunch of the employees at Wavy. They were all very kind. I then got settled at a desk in the Promotions department. My first task was to shadow an employee named Jason Ruel as he worked on a topical in AVID. I learned that a topical is basically a promotional for news stories that will be on air later. Being familiar with Premiere Pro, AVID was very foreign to me. However, Jason explained certain parts of the software, and I have found similarities between the two.
After shadowing Jason, I got to work with another member of the Promotions department. His name is Antonio Jones. Antonio showed me how to write the dialogue for topicals in a software called INEWS that the whole station uses. This software allows writers to time out their dialogue so that the content can fit into a 15 or 30 second topical. Some key advice that Antonio taught me was to write the dialogue in such a way that the audience will feel involved in the story or content. That way, they will want to watch the story on television when it comes on.
As a few days passed, I observed that time is a very important aspect when it comes to the industry. It is especially important when it comes to news broadcasting. Reporters come in with their stories in the morning, and by later that day the station must broadcast the story. This means that preproduction, production, and postproduction on stories and news must be created and aired all on the same day. Time is of the essence when deadlines are fast approaching.
Another aspect of the news station that relies on time is the creation of the rundown sheet. I got taught by Mike Booth how to read the rundown for the show. It is timed to the last second. I was informed by Antonio that when videos are edited, they must be exact on timing. They can’t even be a few frames over or under. I learned from Mike that if a segment is cut short or goes over, in case it is done live, then a second or two may be added to other content later in the day.
Besides learning the works of the news station, I have had the opportunity to go on quite a few shoots with Lisa Greene and Zak Khaliqi as well. The first commercial shoot we did was for a roofing company. I acted more as a Production Assistant on that set. However, the second shoot we did was for a restaurant and I got to work as First Assistant Camera. It was a very stressful but beneficial experience for me. I was worried about focus but was glad that I was given the opportunity. I went out and shot a few things with Symone Davis as well. Most of the content was promoting Harbor Fest, but I got to shoot other stand-ups that she did too.
I’ve mostly spent my time learning to write topicals, working with AVID, and going out on shoots. I look forward to the opportunities that are yet to come!
