Some new appreciations I developed was having connections. I am 98% sure that I would not have had this opportunity if my mentor had never taken my mom’s class or had she worked here a long time ago. I learned the characteristics of teamwork. My life views didn’t really change during externship. I’m not curious about anything either. I’m not going to learn on my own time because I will be spending lots of time learning in the next four years. Externship hasn’t influenced my direction in life. My collaboration ideas haven’t been influenced because we collaborate at school.
During this process, I measured my success by the feedback of the employees here. I made meaningful contribution by editing videos for them, making phone calls, and being a messenger. I made a semi-meaningful contribution to San Diegans by informing them. The work was meaningful to my education because now I will never go to black ever again (I hope). My project went from an idea to a final product by doing the work that needed to be done. I learned that my work ethics are perfectly fine.
Once Upon A Time, there was a land called University of San Diego. In this land, there was a great legend that had been passed down amongst the knight-wanna-bes. Though many knew this legend, others were not so fortunate. See, those wishing to be a knight must first conquer some challenges. The first was called "Intro to Media." From a semi-young age, men and women began their training. There were two instructors. The first was a Noble who was known to give Awards to his trainees. The second was an evil old witch with a wicked tongue. She exposed the fools of the land and put them in the stocks. Everyone was so terrified of this cruel being.
One day, a semi-young man had to decided to go study under the witch. There was something different about Enrique Lopez. While some of his fellow trainees were either fools, lazy, or lazy fools, Enrique was not. He worked hard and didn't make excuses. A term later, he had successfully completed the first task. Though the witch didn't Award him, she did Bestow him. Getting a Bestowal is as honoring as getting an Award in any other instructor's mind. He continued onto "Media Writing." There, he also got a Bestowal. The witch saw Enrique's greatness and helped him get an apprenticeship at NBC in the kingdom of San Diego. When Enrique finally graduated to full knighthood, NBC decided that he was worth keeping around. Most people who become full knights became part of small kingdoms in places such as Armpit Nebraska. A few years later, and he is still fulfilling his knightly duties with NBC. The end. I have advocated for myself by asking for help when I need it. If I find a problem I can't solve, I ask my mentor or one of his colleges to show me. I would've taken a picture of me self advocating, but I didn't because that's just weird. Plus, it's not technically required.
For the 11pm show, I edited 3 stories, a toss, a tease, and a header. Everything went really well except for the second piece. One of the worst things that can go wrong in news is going to black, which I did. The biggest rule of editing for the news is padding. Padding is when you put extra clips at the end of a voice over in case the anchor goes off script. I thought I put enough pad, but I was wrong. The only other reason I can think of is that I gave the production crew the wrong TRT (Total Run Time). Either way, I really messed up, and May is a Sweep Month. Hopefully, I'll get the chance to redeem myself.
I'm so glad I chose my internship. Tonight, I have a VO/SOTVO that I edited that will air at 6pm. I also edited a toss for the 11pm show. On the one hand, I wish I had more pieces to edit. On the other hand, I'll take what I can get. I wish I had more time here, though.
So far, I haven't done a lot at the studio. I talked to the digital people. They showed me how they post to social media. They have to write articles and cut short videos. I've also watched people write scripts and edit pieces. Mostly, I hang out at the desk practicing editing while listening to the scanners. I did catch a good story last night. I heard that a man went through his windshield and died. During a live shot, you could see me walking in the background. Also, I'm in the background of a video on NBC's Facebook video. If all goes well, I will get to cut a piece that will show on tonight's news. I don't really have any questions because I've already done this internship before. The mission of NBC is to bring the news to San Diego. I haven't learned any new skills yet, but I have improved on old skills. My externship can't come conduct any site visit.
Yesterday was my first day of externship. When I first got there, Enrique, my mentor, gave me a tour of the new station. It's a lot nicer than the bungalow we were in last year. After that, I sat in on the meeting of all of the team for the night. It is surprisingly laid back at the station. Perhaps it's because it's the weekend. Since the first live shot was at 6pm, the crews were assigned to their story. One crew went to Torrey Pines High School for the memorial of the kid who got shot by the police Saturday. The other crew went to the border to track the weather. My mentor was assigned to "the desk," so he had to listen to the scanners for news stories. It's really hard because there are about 7 different scanners going at once. When he finds something good, he calls the police for verification of information. If it's good enough, he sends a crew to check it out. I wouldn't want to do that because it's a lot of responsibility, and it's not stimulating. Since there wasn't anything he needed me to do, he set me up on a computer to practice editing. I was given scripts and b-roll and had to cut voice overs. I'm excited for a chance to edit real pieces, but I'm worried that I won't get the opportunity. I got to sit in the booth during the 11pm show. It really shocked me how the anchor stage area only has the talent. All of the cameras are manned from the booth. See the image gallery for pictures of the work place.
This coming week, I will begin my externship with NBC San Diego. Last January, I shadowed a field photojournalist. Two weeks in, and I knew I wanted to come back for externship. During that month, I decided that I wanted to be a news editor or a documentarian. I got frustrated with how shows had to do take after take of the same scene. Also, in news, you get something new everyday. With documentaries and movies, you could be working on one project for years. Unlike last year, I will not be out in the field. The pros of that is that I won't be freezing my butt off at 5am in the morning. The downside is that I don't know how much editing I'll be allowed to do at the station. In total, I edited 4 pieces that aired. Those were my "projects." I don't think I'll get the same opportunities. Also, in the field there's the cameraman (my mentor) and reporter. Both were extremely helpful and nice. At every step, they explained what they were doing. They answered all of the questions without getting irritated. This year, I'll be seeing a lot more people, so I'm nervous they're going to treat me like a pesky kid.
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