It’s Monday Sept. 10, 2010. Our first package for Prof. Jones TV NEWS is due for Group A, not to mention the 2,500 word essay he assigned! Love. Live. Life. Proceed. And Prosper. This phrase keeps running through my head as I continue to grind for the Pursuit of Happiness….. GRADUATION! And even better lord willing a job!
Prof. Jones gave me the topic of Mosquito Dangers in Tallahassee. At first glance, I was wondering how the heck am I going to get a tight shot of a mosquito? Where can I find these annoying little insects? I eagerly embraced the challenge. Being a self-proclaimed Sports Journalist, this was clearly a step out of the box! This would be an informative package for the Leon County viewers to decrease the risk of disease from mosquitoes, boy what a challenge! Thanks Prof. Jones!!!
I began researching everything about Mosquitoes I wanted to know it all. All the ill-borne illness that carry, where do they come from, where do they lay their eggs, how can I get rid of them, I had a million and one questions and I was determined to find out every answer! I knew my focus or what journalist would say, “angle,” but I wanted to know more.
I contacted Dr. Marjorie (Marge) Kirsch, medical director, from the Leon County Health Dept. first just to set up an interview with her. I planned on using her main SOT (sound on tape). She was great! She gave me great information, more than I could ever ask for. She also referred me to my next contact/interviewee Dr. Peter Jiang. Dr. Jiang displayed and showed me over 60 different types of Mosquitoes. He was very knowledgeable about the mosquitoes and I was able to get my tight shots!!! Main Problem solved!!! Now I could work on the lament SOT. God blessed me on this one; I had a customer come into my store complaining about mosquito bites he had contracted from golfing. As soon as I got off work and I drove down to the golf course and started shooting the hole. While I was there I was able to get my Lament SOT with a golfer that was having a bad golf game because of the mosquitoes! Didn’t I say God blessed me!
All systems were a go! Interviews in tack, had enough B-roll, I was ready to give Camille (the camera) a break and head to the studio to play on my new favorite toy Final Cut Pro. As I became more familiar with the software, I could not help but to hear Prof. Jones voice echoing in my head with his unique voice, “Remember your nat sound”…. “Watch that lighting”…..”Make sure your saving your work.” Just some of the many things Prof. Jones reminds his students. I started thinking of him as my General Manager. Asking myself, “would he like this shot?”…. “Is this shot appropriate for my script?”…. “Man I hope he doesn’t take any points off!”
With all that being said the finished product of first ever package for Prof. Jones seemed to turn out well. Time to see what he thinks!!!
