Blog

Ava Bartinick serves as our show’s director as well as assistant producer.

 Mira Hovis (right) and Samantha Smith (center) interview Del. Hollis Lewis on the House of Delegates floor.

Hunter Kozik is in his second semester of producing Reed School of Media shows. Last semester, he produced the Mountaineer Playbook.

Nate Hite serves as our audio mixer during the studio tapings.

We have now made it through the first show of WVU News for this semester, and my first in-studio experience as the producer for this class. Last semester, I had the privilege of beginning my producing journey with Mountaineer Playbook. That experience changed a lot of what I believed about myself, my passions, and what I wanted to find myself doing after my final semester on campus comes to an end. 

Director and Assistant Producer Ava Bartnicki, standing, in the control room during Show 1 of the semester.

Our last edition of WVU News is a special edition magazine show. We pitched our ideas and voted on the theme as a class. Immediately, I wanted to do a story focusing on the first 100 days of Trump’s administration to see how federal changes affected West Virginians. I am glad that my idea was the winner because I felt it was an opportunity for the class to connect with the community even more than they already had. Over the past few weeks, I could see everyone put so much effort into telling these stories, and it was amazing to get to see that growth from the reporters. 

This week, I have tried to focus on improving my preparation before we begin taping a show. This starts by getting to the studio before everyone else and adding last-minute notes to my script. I then meet with my director, Sean, to go over any production needs we’ll have for the crew. 

This show was packed with shoots, and each presented unique challenges that pushed me to improve as a videographer. With my final show coming up, I wanted to take every opportunity to sharpen my skills and learn from past mistakes, such as battling tricky lighting, getting creative b-roll shots, or adapting to unexpected restrictions. 

After putting together a package for show three, I returned to videography work for show four, and this show really feels like everyone is working as a unit, churning our high-level stories. We had a little extra time to put show four together, thanks to our university’s spring break, and that time allowed me to reach out and help more people than in previous shows.