My First Week Of BDJ Summer Capstone At Syracuse
I told you all that the first portion of my capstone after graduating was to be back at Newhouse for 6 weeks. We just finished our second week of “class” — I say that lightly because it’s class, but it’s not really class. Here is a rundown of how the week goes:
- Monday: Newscast
- Tuesday: Review
- Wednesday: Newscast
- Thursday: Review
- Friday: No class, but prepare for the next week
We operate like a real newsroom does and our positions vary every other day. The first week went pretty smoothly, not too hard. The first day we went over a system called ENPS that we use to create our rundowns and type our scripts in, the Expressions service that we use inside of ENPS to create our graphics, OTS, CGs/lower thirds, and the roles of the newsroom/camera operation for the Dejeros we use in live shots. The next two days were practice shows, essentially going through the motions. Then, week two was the first full week. Now I’ve been through a newsroom class before with Mornings on the Hill, but coming back to day-of reporting like way back in the summer bootcamp almost got me. It wasn’t hard, I just had to remind myself that I could do it.
My roles this week were Producer and Associate Producer; these two roles are things I do not like to do and don’t want to do in my future career. I think they’re great jobs for people who want to do them and have the passion and dedication for them. I personally don’t like these jobs because you have to focus on a little too much for one person to do (again, this is personal) and I’m used to only worrying about my work on me, for me to give to my producer. Though it was a bit harder than I expected, it actually turned out a pretty good show on a slow news day. When I say slow, I mean that the news we worked with that day wasn’t related to the circumstances of a recent event or incident considered to be of general local, regional, national, or international significance that could greatly impact someone. We had about two stories, but the rest was softer news. Going from being a general assignment reporter to associate producer and producer was a little nerve-wracking but somewhat not so much due to being an IA and being exposed to graphics and such. I knew how to work with ENPS since I started here at Syracuse, being an IA and having to help the undergrad students with it, and being able to be a part of MOTH. I kept a level head, continued to ask questions and communicated when needed.
When you get the chance to be a part of your capstone for the first few days or first week, do all that you can. Take in everything that you can, take notes, and ask as many questions as you need to. For me, we only have 6 weeks to get it right until we go to D.C. and work for actual TV stations where the room for error is very small. I am excited to be a part of a great cohort in which we can work well together. I do weather next Monday and can’t wait to tell you about that because I’ve never done that either! Get ready for laughs because I’ll definitely upload the video for that!
