This past week had several projects that required strong teamwork and adaptation quickly out in the field. Between getting adjusted to my first show as ENG, trying to help my classmates make their stories better, to learning how to be the technical director for playbook, I had plenty of struggles to overcome, but I have learned a lot from the experience that will be helpful for the upcoming shows.
One of the first reporters I helped was Jarrett Wilson. When we went to the wrestling pavilion. He was doing a story on Payton Hall and Muhammad McBryde recently drafted to the Championship League of American Wrestling, and they have been training partners for years. They were going to train together at the Wrestling Pavilion at 9:00 am. So, Jarrett picked me up at 8:30 and we went to the facility. We filmed b-roll of them practicing and were able to interview both of them. Thursday after Jarrett’s writing conference, we went back to the Wrestling Pavilion to film his stand-up and SOTZ’s again, since he had microphone issues when he had filmed them the first time. Both of our microphones were having problems once again, so he used my phone microphone and was able to get the audio working properly. Jarett was able to quickly get his SOTZs done, and then we filmed his standup. For his standup, he had Tony Demodna and me act out being wrestlers at the beginning of his standup, and then he delivered his standup as we wrestled off-screen.
Then, Thursday night, I helped anchor Parker Szwejbka when I went with him to the New Hope Gas Ice Rink at Mylan Park. We arrived there on Wednesday afternoon to work on his story highlighting the new arena and how it would impact the community. There were some restrictions on what he could film, so we got his interviews and some b-roll, but he did not get the stand-up he had wanted and had to return when he got permission to do it on the ice. Even though everything did not necessarily go as planned, we were able to adjust quickly and still get valuable interviews and b-roll that got used in his final story.
On Friday, I went to Summersville, West Virginia with adventure reporter Brandon Kubiak, where the Gauley festival was taking place. It was a two-hour drive there, so we left at 11:00 am and got there at around 1:00 pm. Once we got there, we went to the point of the Gauley River where most rafters were getting out of the water. Here we filmed b-roll of Sotz’s, his standup, and one of his interviews. We then went back to the festival grounds, where we got another interview and b-roll of the festival itself.
The next week, as packages were getting closer to being finished, I helped Logan Callender go to the new practice facility for the pride of West Virginia, where we filmed his stand-up and sotz’s. On the same night, I went back to the new Hockey Rink at Mylan Park this time to help Hank Misson film his stand-up, sotz’s, and an interview with an intern coach for the hockey team. Both of these were shorter tasks than the other reporters I helped, as they were correcting stand-ups and sotz’s to make sure that their packages were ready for the show.
When it came to the day to film the show, I was nervous because I had little experience in technical directing. Even though there were some bumps in the road, by the final take, I was starting to get into more of a groove and was establishing a good rapport with Director Logan Callender.
I arrived at the editing lab at 2:30. At first, I did not do much because reporters were mostly settled in on their editing. But this quickly changed, and I took an active role in helping reporters make edits and helping them manage their audio levels. Since the graduate assistants, Ty McClung and Nate Hite, were primarily busy checking if reporters' stories were ready to be turned in. I turned my attention to helping reporters with their smaller fixes who were not ready yet, and also watching their packages and giving feedback. This led to me leaving the editing lab feeling accomplished, as I was able to help my classmates improve their stories and put forward good stories.
In conclusion, even though my first show for Mountaineer Playbook had its ups and downs. I am thankful for being able to learn on the fly on the field and to have time to look back at what I have to do to make my second show better. I look forward to improving in future shows and am looking forward to what Mountaineer Playbook has in store for me.