Reality is coming.

I have less than a month left of school, which means I'll be heading out into the real world soon. This is both scary and exciting, and I think I'm ready to face reality. Hopefully at first I'll be able to find a job in my hometown so I can save up money for the possibility of having to move across the country.

I applied for a camera operator job, and I could have had it if I had been able to start training next week. They said they would keep my resume on file, so that was encouraging.

I finished my PSAs for my capstone, and now I have to present my capstone next Thursday. I am still having YouTube uploading troubles - I might have to go home this weekend so I can upload them on a faster server.

Google and Movies

Google is one of the most well-known sites on the web, and so movie makers teamed up with them so they could help to promote one another. Some of the movies this happened with were The Break-Up


and The Da Vinci Code, in which the movies used some product of Google, such as Google video. The latest movie that they did this with was The Bourne Ultimatum, where Google had the ultimate search for Jason Bourne, at www.searchforbourne.com. The promotion is over now, so now the website just links you to a place to watch the movie near you, but the point of the promotion was to find the website that gave you the location of Jason Bourne. A pretty neat kind of interaction, because it makes you want to see the movie, and you have to use Google to find the website, so it worked very nicely as a collaboration. I was not aware of this promotion until after it was over, but I did go see the movie and it was incredible. The movie Crank also advertises Google Earth in it because they use a shot from Google Earth that still has the logo on it in the movie, but I am not sure if they were doing it to be promotional or simply because that was the only way to get the shot they wanted.



Information from: http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-04-21-n50.html

Simpsonize Me

An interesting use of convergence happened when the Simpson Movie came out. They decided to pair up with Burger King to help promote each other. A website was made where one could get turned into a Simpson character, and the machine used to do this was heavily advertising Burger King by having the burger king be the model for the transformation. It has signs on it that advertise the movie and Burger King, and Homer Simpson is commanding you to "Be Yellow." It's a wonderful marketing ploy, because I have never seen the Simpsons, but I wanted to become one when I found the site. And I did, as you can see. You know you're doing a good job when you can drive people to a website like this campaign has done. Admittedly, I haven't been to Burger King in years and I have not seen the Simpsons movie, but I did visit their site and now have both of these things on the brain. The use of the web for convergence is a pretty good idea because of this generation's obsession with the internet.

movies to video games and back again

It's amazing, the types of media that turn into other types of media. Video games become movies, movies become MMO games, television shows become movies and vice versa, and commercials turn into sitcoms! I was watching Lara Croft: Tomb Raider last night, and I found out that the game came out, and then turned into a movie with Angelina Jolie, and after that all the rest of the Tomb Raider games featured her voice as Lara Croft instead of the original movie.

My favorite movie ever is the Princess Bride, which came out 20 years ago, and just this year I found out it is being turned into an MMO, where you can play it online with many other people and experience life in that world.



And one of my favorite television shows, Firefly, got canceled after the first season, but there was such a following for it afterwards that a movie called Serenity was made as a kind of ending for the series. I enjoy how different types of media are meshed together until you aren't sure which one came first.

Anime and video games?

I met with my clients, the public relations director and the young adult librarian at the new Castle Public Library, on Tuesday this week to talk with them about the PSAs I'm making for them. They were very pleased with my ideas, and loved the radio spot I played for them. They promised to help me in any way they could, and were very excited that I wanted to do PSAs that promoted reading to the people in my generation. Apparently they get the least readership in that area, which is why we decided on that age group. What they're using right now to get young people into the library is anime clubs and video game parties, which is actually what some churches have been doing as well. So I hope that my PSAs have at least some impact on young adults, because I believe reading is very important.

the world had teeth

Yesterday I filmed my PSA that I am making for the New Castle Public Library. Its purpose is to promote reading over video games in the teen to young adult category. I used the Wii as my video game console, and the books in the spot are Stephen King's "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" and John Grisham's "The Last Juror". The place where I filmed it was a fraternity house, and two of the brothers there were my actors. It went very well, although we had to rearrange the room we were in, and the lighting caused some problems. The actors were very good at offering up points I had not thought of, and they have both been in plays before, so I was very pleased that they were willing to do this for me. Two of my friends helped out by being my crew, and I could not have done it without them.

The one actor asked me at the end of the shoot if I would put it on YouTube when it was finished, which shows just how much our culture is into putting things on the internet, even if they were things that, in the past, had only been meant for television. And since this is what my project is also about, I thought it very fitting that he asked that. Of course I told him yes, and hopefully I will soon be able to figure out how to actually get something that I've made onto YouTube.

Sometimes I just don't like computers...

I still have not been able to get my commercial uploaded onto YouTube, and it wouldn't upload straight onto Blogger either, so I don't know what to do about that one. Hopefully I'll get it up here soon.

Another milestone of my capstone is completed. The public relations lady at the New Castle Public Library said they would love for me to do PSAs for them, and so I now have a client for my project. I had been worried about that, because I didn't know who else I would ask if they had said no. So I was very excited about that... and I also defined my target audience. Good things.

Last week I had three radio shifts instead of two because I covered for someone, and it was actually really awesome. Also, I was asked to read the news and do the afternoon news minute on Friday. I enjoyed that shift the most of the three, and I'm starting to think I could be a deejay for a real job. Before I was not very comfortable talking on the radio, but I'm liking it more and more. Of course, the button pushing jobs are more my style, but I could do this in addition on the side.

I'm packing you an extra pair of shoes, and your *angry* eyes, just in case.

Well, I have completed my commercial, but I can't yet post it here because YouTube has refused to let me upload it at this point in time. I'm very happy with it, although I'd like to get someone else to do the announcer voice, because right now it's me. I edited it in Adobe Premier, which is pretty nice in letting you do things with the video aspect, but anytime I wanted to do something with the audio portion, I had to go over to Adobe Audition and fix it there, which got slightly annoying. That gives me more practice in Audition though, so that's a good thing.

Also this week I ran camera one for the interview segment of "The County Line." I love running camera, what with wearing the headset and doing on-air zooms. It's probably my favorite technical job, although I also like doing sound and being in charge of the microphones. Anything where I get to press buttons and move sliders and check levels is okay with me.

Other than that, I just hope to get my commercial posted later this week.

And you thought it was only in movies...

Well, I have much more respect for commercial makers now. It is not an easy job. I was handed an idea for a commercial, and I still had a crazy time putting everything together. Once I got a script written, I had to revise it after being advised against two person shots with dialogue. Then I had to cast actors, and find a time schedule that everyone was free during (including the camera). Luckily it was nice and sunny out during that time, because it mostly takes place outside. Another problem I ran into was having a car to use as a prop, because I don't own one. Luckily, a friend of one of the actresses had one that he was willing to let us use, so that worked out nicely. I'm also grateful to one of the members of my capstone class, because she was my tech person, and she was great at it. It's nice to have people you can turn to for help, because it's impossible to do everything on your own. So now I am relieved to have everything shot, but the next goal will be editing this weekend.

I also made a resume this week, and went to the career center today to help me perfect it. Hopefully I'll be able to get it down to one page and make it look professional. More goals!

Through the Web of the Spider

Picture 081, originally uploaded by B. Weaver.

Last week, for our capstone, our whole class had to do Titan Traverse out in the woods to bond us together as a class. We had to do a number of activities, but they all involved working together as a team. For example, we played a game where one person was blindfolded, and their partner had to use words to tell them where to go and what to do. It's very difficult to be totally dependent on someone else. Another game we played was the spiderweb game, and that consisted of getting all 12 people in our class through some rope that had people sized holes tied into it, only we couldn't touch the rope, and many holes were high off the ground. So we had to discuss our strategy and trust each other in order to successfully complete this task. This is going to be an important part in our actual capstones as well, because as a broadcasting major, it is very hard to do everything by yourself. You have to ask other people for help, work out time schedules, trust that everyone will show up when they promised, and be willing to help others yourself. Many lessons were illustrated during Titan Traverse, and it made me feel much closer to the others in my class, so I am glad we were able to do such a valuable activity.

Ducats

One of my favorite examples of convergence in advertising is a Coca-Cola commercial that used a well known video game to sell Coke, but they twisted the video game so it was the exact opposite mood that you expected. Grand Theft Auto is a highly popular game that is all about doing missions in a car, and it usually involves car crashes and killings and other forms of misfortune. So when the commercial starts it is immediately recognizable as GTA, and the audience assumes bad things are soon to be coming. But the commercial totally switches it up with an upbeat song and good deeds - all, of course, which were supposedly brought on because the protagonist drinks Coke. I don't like the video game, but I loved how Cocoa-Cola turned it around. If there were a video game like that, I'd be all in favor of it.

Project: Treadstone

I have come up with an idea for my capstone - I just hope I am able to do it. I'm trying to combine all types of broadcasting in it so I have more experience in all of them. What I really love to do is take pictures and play in Photoshop, so I made sure that would be a part of it, but I also have radio and television aspects so I stay up to date on those forms of media.

Other than capstone, this semester I will be deejaying twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays at noon, on Titan Radio for "Lunchtime Memories." This is very exciting for me because only oldies will be playing during that time, and the classics are my favorite.

Another large part of my semester will be spent stage-managing A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is going to help me with my leadership skills. Balancing classes and everything will help me focus on my priorities.

Those are the latest updates in the life of Sky.



"Well, it's not a prybar."

Dog days of summer.

This semester is going to mark the beginning of the end for me. With any luck, I will be graduating in December, which means I'll have to start job hunting soon. But first, I will have to complete my capstone. And for that reason, I have made this blog to document all of my broadcasting trials and tribulations (and also hopefully joys and successes). I'm still unsure what my capstone will be about, but I hope to have that figured out very soon. I'll be keeping this blog updated about that subject and many others, so if for some reason you have an interest, you can find all such information here. Thanks for stopping by!





"No. Not without incident."

It's been awhile...

Okay, so I posted last almost a month ago. Not much has happened since then - I've gone to my news shifts and written stories and made commercials and all that good stuff, but nothing majorly exciting. Last night I went to the borough meeting, and since there were no mini disk recorders, I couldn't get sound from anyone, which is sad because I could have gotten some wonderful sound from the police chief, but alas, all I could make was a voicer. Also, the meeting lasted forever. But now all the people there recognize me so we all exchange looks during the meeting; it's pretty fun. So I did a story on tasers, because that was the only remotely interesting thing that was talked about in 2 hours. Anyway, got to get ready for Commercial Production...







"I never said I was a golden god. Or did I?"

No soy zurdo.

So today was ridiculous.
Costa Rica, Mass Comm test about video games and cable TV, writing a story about high school dropouts, going to the borough meeting and almost going to the wrong building, seeing Chuck at the meeting (instant story!), and then hanging out in the radio station for a long time while I wrote/recorded my story. Crazy, crazy day.

One thing I must say: Only fools rush in.







"I'm telling secrets to the one guy you don't tell secrets to."

66 degrees. Feels like 66 degrees.

Today is a beautifully wonderful day.
I woke up at six in the morning. Not so wonderful.
It was my day for a morning news shift again, and of course it went just wonderfully, with my faithful reporters and the awesomeness of the AP wire, and the lovely fax machine.
Pretty slow news day, but we did okay. My only problem was pronouncing my words correctly during the nine o'clock news. The eight went just fine.
And then in Commercial Production, we learned the Dan O'Day way of making commercials, and I must say it was not very easy for me. I wrote a horrible commercial for this place that sells T-shirts, but I know it will never be used, so that's all right. I can be much more creative when I don't have to follow exact guidelines and I don't have someone talking at me the entire time.
On an upbeat note, Leanne and I finished our Broadcasting department spots yesterday, and it is pretty darn good if I do say so myself. Which I do.




"I am a golden god!"

The possibility of panic.

I had my reporting shift today, and I was worried for awhile that my producer wasn't going to show up. So I called Liz and we worked something out, but then Poodle showed up and all was well. I did a voicer on the possibility of hunting license fees going up next year, and two random readers: one on a diabetes cure and one on e-filing. It turned out that Poodle and I were writing a reader on diabetes at the same time though, so we used hers. That was my fun broadcasting clip from my day; I had to leave at 4:30 to go fill out a survey. Oh, and tonight I have to record my part for our broadcasting department spot... I'm going to be the narrator. Hurrah.






"Does anybody remember laughter?"

Hyper and more.

I learned how to do a blog in my mass communications class today... that's right.


I re-wrote a script for my commercial production class today... that's right.


I re-did my hot AC commercial for commercial production class today... that's right.


I fixed the board when it was going wonky in the radio station today... that's right.


I need to learn how to be a deejay and TJ said we should do a shift together next semester, but I'll be in Spain... that's right.





"Who are you with?" "Me? I'm with myself."

Ten times fast.

I did the 8 and 9 news this morning, but only one of my reporters showed up. Thankfully, he wrote three stories for me, so it went pretty well. I did an ACT on the dwindling deer population in Pennsylvania. The PA House media center website is quite a handy resource for sound bites. Other than that, the 9-11 deejay never showed up, so I had to leave the station running on automation. I didn't want to do that, but I had a class at 9:20. Commercial production, in fact. We learned about copyright infringement and all that good stuff that had to do with our commercials, and then we had meetings with Dr. B for our 60 second department spot. Hopefully Leanne, TJ, and I will be able to get ours done soon. We need to find someone with a good narrator voice.




"It's all happening."

It starts.

This will be me talking about my life as a broadcasting major: my hopes, my dreams, my goals, my day to day life (in the broadcasting aspect), and more.

Hopefully it will be informative, a learning experience, and at the very least, amusing.

Stay tuned.