Reflection for 465
As a senior in college, there are not many courses that I can look back on with a positive attitude. I mean, I have enjoyed many different classes during my time as a student but there always seems to be something missing. While getting an A in a class or writing a nice paper is a good feeling, it goes away quite quickly. This class is different. Not only do I have the skills to be a better digital journalist, I also have some tangible proof. I would much rather have a piece that I can look back on proudly, than a simple letter grade.
I came into Comm 465 with a lot of anxiety. How will I work a camera? How will I learn Adobe Premiere? Am I good enough to make it in one of the most competitive industries in the world? And while my anxieties have not disappeared completely, I feel much more comfortable and confident that I can make it. My abilities as a digital journalist before this class all seemed like theories. Could I report a newscast? I think so. Could I learn how to film and edit using Adobe Premiere? I hope so. But it wasn’t until I actually got the hands on experience of doing all of the things that it takes that I was actually confident in my skills. I don’t have to just say I can use Adobe on my resume, I can show that I can use Adobe.
There are so many things that I’ve learned from this course, whether it be writing, filming, editing or presenting, this course challenged me in a multitude of ways.
Writing: It’s a common misconception that broadcast journalists do not need to worry about writing, in fact, writing may be even more important in television. Now that may sound crazy but an awkward sentence in a 1,000 word piece can easily be forgotten while a confusing sentence in a news piece can destroy the flow and ruin the entire story. There is just not enough time to not get every word right. There is less writing but every word counts in a way that might not be said about longer pieces. I’ve found that writing can be the most difficult part of a project as getting B-Roll or getting quotes are rather simply, one can spend hours trying to make the script sound just a little bit better. It’s frustrating, playing a sentence over and over in your head just because it doesn’t sound quite right. Fixing it can be integral to the success of a story.
Filming: I came into 465 without a lot of prior knowledge with working a camera. I had an internship with Penn State athletics where the instructions were bare bones: point and shoot. Now, I had to learn and maybe more importantly, remember, how to set shots, fix lighting, keep things eye level, white balance and check for sound among other things. Now when we filmed our first project, there was an issue with the camera, which we hadn’t learned how to fix as a prior student who checked out the camera had it on black balance for some reason or another. So we weren’t able to shoot and had to return the camera. The best advice I would give to someone would be to learn how to reset the camera, as it made the course ten times easier. Learning how to reset the camera also relieved a ton of stress because, worst-case scenario, you had the answer. The other advice I would give it to just relax. This is a tough course that takes so much time and effort but it is still a learning environment. Messing up is fine so long as you learn how to do things the right way. I think everyone gets so concerned with messing up that they forget that they did not know how to work a camera or use Adobe just a few months prior.
Adobe Premiere: Now while I may have come into 465 with some camera knowledge, I had absolutely no clue how to work Adobe Premiere. I had heard many things about the awesome work that could be done but at the same time, it was a different language to me. Learning how to use Adobe Premiere has made me so much more confident in my abilities.
Not Just a One-Man Band: One of the most important things I think I learned in this course is how to work with others. Working in groups may seem easy but there can also be drawbacks. There will be disagreements that can either make or break how well a team performs. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to work with someone that I got along with, which made the experience a good one. Working in a big group can be difficult as everyone wants to share their thoughts so I was happy enough to work with just one. While working alone has benefits, one needs to learn how to work with others in this industry. In many cases, there is just too much riding on each story for one person to have all of the power. Learning how to work with others, divvy up tasks and communicate are all important skills needed for Comm 465.
Being on Camera: Like I said before, I was afraid of a lot of things coming into this class. One of them was being on camera. Now I was lucky enough to be able to anchor for my CBS This Morning intern project but even then, I was shaking and felt butterflies all throughout. A similar thing happened when we had our anchor reads and I botched it. I was nervous and failed. I immediately questioned what I was doing here. I thought I wasn’t good enough and that I should probably think of how I could just become a political science major. Professor Zhong pulled me aside and just calmed my nerves. He was nice enough to give me a second chance and I believe I got it right the second time around. I quickly noticed that the more I was on camera, the less I felt uncomfortable. Now I can’t say I won’t be nervous if I somehow get on camera for Centre Country Report but I can say that getting a second chance to refill my confidence in myself is something I’ll always have.
I will always look back on Comm 465 as a positive experience, one where I finally started learn some of the skills that it takes to work in television. I think the abilities of not only my group member, but also my classmates pushed me to become better. I think it just shows how talented and hardworking this class is which in turn displays the type of effort it takes to be great. I will miss the inspirational speeches and can only hope that I can strive to one day make professor Zhong’s PowerPoint.