Day 43 as an intern.
Today was by far the most exhausting day ever. Did I say ever? Right. EVER.
From the first minute I was in there until I left, I was busy. Sounds like it would be great right? Well I mean it was because I was doing stuff, but all day I was sweating and just trying to catch my breath. Yeah, it was that busy.
Well, to start off with, there were a few video projects that had to be completed and dubbed off. So I helped out with that and dubbed the videos off to DVD, and then dropped those off to the right people.
Next, we had to set up some shots of still jerseys for an upcoming high school all-star game. So we went into the studio and spent a while setting up those jerseys. By the way, whenever you see those elaborate shots of "stuff" in the background, whether it be jerseys, basketballs, pennants, flags, whatever, just trust me that those are HARD to set up. You would think the way they are set up that you just put them down and start rolling. Not true...at all. We spent a while just trying to figure out which position we wanted the jerseys in. Once we got that down, we started putting props in the empty spaces like basketballs, nets, and even a rim. It took us a while to figure out the right positioning of those items as well, because you want your shot to look as full as possible. Finally, we got that all situated and shot the jerseys a little bit, which looked really good. Turns out that's not exactly what the cameraguy wanted so we ended up changing it again. This time we propped up the jerseys so you could read the names on them and switched the camera angle to a floor view. That angle went 10 times better and coupled with a pan, ended up looking great!
So we did about 4 different shots like that with the jerseys, replacing the former jerseys with different ones in order to represent the most schools as possible. Once we finished up those shots, I was informed that we needed to shoot the jerseys again but this time in a locker room. So, we carried our lighting equipment and cameras to the locker room, where we had to hang and position them perfectly, much like in the first shoot. I set up the lighting to its best quality and the shots actually didn't turn out that bad! Then, just for a dump shot, the cameraguy had me draw up a "play" on the whiteboard. That was actually cool for me because I've always seen them being drawn up but never did it myself. It looked good and official...ish.
We wrapped that up and took the equipment back to the studio. By this point I was already tired. Then I was given the tapes and told to capture them into the computer. That's no problem...I could do that with my eyes closed now! That took a little bit but I finished and afterwards got to rest a little bit. Emphasis on little. I took my lunch break afterwards and immediately after that was put back to work.
There was some more video that needed to be put to tape for tonight's game. Just a couple of features that we were going to run during the TO's and stuff. I started to do that and did a fine job, I thought, running off 3 features onto a tape. Then one of the upper level guys came in and wanted changes to one of the features I already ran off. We fixed it and ran it off once more, and I had to go back and erase the first one...no problem. Then, about 2 hours before the game I was told that one of the features I ran off didn't have any sound...perfect. My semi-manager and I got into a little tiff about it because I told him I heard it when I was running it off and that every edit bay is set up completely different than the other. He was very firm and told me basically that I was wrong and that I needed to check each time for audio on the Avid (which I didn't this time.) I apologized and quickly ran that off for him once more.
Immediately after that I was told that I need to go film the pre-game interview with Coach Vincent. Perfect! I have never had to tape anything with the "big" cameras before and now I have to go set up this shoot and record it. Not to mention that I only had a window of about 20 minutes to do it all. So I quickly grabbed all of the equipment, ran down to the interview room, and started setting things up. Too bad my tripod was acting up and it took me like 7 minutes to set that up when it should have just taken me like 2. Camera's on? Check! Tape in? Check! Mic set up? Doh! I went up to the podium to put the mic in place and connect all of it's peripherals to the camera, plugged up the headset to the camera, and had someone to talk into it so I could soundcheck it. As he talked...no sound came through the headphones!!! WONDERFUL!!! Not what I needed! So, I ran out of there, hustled back to the broadcast studio and grabbed my semi-manager and asked him if he could help. We hustled back and fixed the problem after a quick levels check on the camera.
Not a second after that, Coach Vincent walked through. Whew! Just made it! Luckily it was a short press conference and as soon as it was over we grabbed whatever we needed and hightailed it out of there. I gave the tape to our cameraguy and he loaded it into the com. I was so relieved when he gave me the OK on the footage, cuz I had no experience with that.
Well once that was finished with, I hustled upstairs because, as was mentioned, tonight was GAME NIGHT!!!!! And a very special one indeed for 2 reasons: 1) We were going for a 4th straight win tonight against Atlanta and 2) because 2 of my best friends were coming into town to see the game. SO I went up to meet them and was soooo happy that they were there to enjoy the game! We walked around, went to the team store, they got some gear, and I took them to their seats. There they watched our team...GO 4-0!!!!! NICE!!!!
Afterwards we stayed a little to get them some player autographs. One of them wanted a specific players' so I walked back to the locker room and saw him and asked him straight up if he could sign something for one of my friends. He was extremely nice to me and said if I could bring it back to him, he would be happy to do that. IT really made the night for my friends and I for him to do that! It was a great night!!
And with that, the day was over. You know, some days are forgettable and then others, like this, are full of stories and events I will never forget. Thank God for these days...no matter how much I was sweating.
Until then, today was great!
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