As we wrapped up our first show for Mountaineer Playbook, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat relaxed. Sure, things didn’t go perfectly over these past two weeks, but now that one show cycle is complete, I feel significantly more prepared moving forward. I was definitely stressed as the first show cycle started, but I looked at our schedule, made sure I was prepared for what was coming up, and I think that things went pretty well.
In order to make up for points I couldn’t earn with in-studio producing, since that was handled by our producer, Zoey Watson, I was assigned one VOSOT or two VOs per show as backup material. This became a slight worry for me since I’m not overly confident in my abilities to produce content and especially do effective interviews. But since I knew the positive impact it could have on the show, I agreed to the idea.
We had our producers meeting on Thursday before show week, and while we didn’t get out until midnight, it did reinforce the idea that Zoey and I work well as a team, as we were able to keep each other on track and correct each other’s mistakes while filling out fix sheets. After the content struggles we had throughout the producer meeting, our professors let us know that my VOs were no longer backup and that they needed them for the show. With that in mind, I was slightly more stressed going out for footage on Friday, but the teamwork Zoey and I displayed turned what was supposed to be a stressful experience into a fun one. We were limited in shots for the press box story, but we ended up having a ton of fun on our baseball assignment. We took turns getting shots, and what began as a worry for me turned into a product I felt confident enough to be in the show.
What this show cycle taught me is that my time management skills are better than I expected. All in the same week, I began a small job, had writing conferences to attend, producer meetings, VOs to shoot and edit, scripts and rundowns to help write, and all my other classwork as well, but I still made some mistakes throughout the weeks. On Monday’s fix day, I submitted the pics for the show late because I messed up the sizes twice, but now I know exactly what I need to do going forward. While I felt confident in the script that Zoey and I produced, it was clear after meeting with Professor Trinone that even just paying attention to some small things moving forward can make a huge difference. I had some spacing mistakes in the teleprompter for our first run-through on show day that slowed down some of the VO readings, but now I am even more confident for the next show that my preparation won’t be an issue for anyone else.
Going forward, I know where I can improve, and I also know now that I am completely capable of taking care of what is needed without it being a burden. While we had some content issues for this show, the effectiveness of show day and everyone fixing mistakes on the fly proved to me that my classmates are hard workers. I hope that the content we have for our next show is so good that we have to cut a good package because we have too many great ones, and I hope to be more efficient and avoid small mistakes that become issues for other people. Zoey and my ability to work together also gives me more confidence, as I feel we helped each other stay on track and effectively take care of our responsibilities. I hope to see a lot of improvement from the class as a whole, myself included, for our next show!