Final Blog Post

This semester in practicum I learned a lot from my hands-on hours. I worked on the news show and Go Healthy FSC. I think that the biggest issue that I overcame this semester was transitioning from the equipment I was used to working with at my high school to the equipment here. I learned how to operate a switcher again because I was used to a Tri-Caster with a digital switcher. I also learned to troubleshoot when people messed up the wires and lights in the studio. The studio was very different but transitioning made me realize that I have to be flexible and apply what I know to any situation in broadcast.

Working with Go Healthy FSC taught me a lot. First off, I learned to not endorse the use of electronic cigarettes. Second, I learned that I need to include more research in my packages. Third, I know that I should always use a microphone and not let my camera mic pick up sound because it sounds awful with wind in the background. People also get extremely annoyed when you ask them to reshoot an interview so it has to be done correctly the first time. Another thing I learned is that there are no shortcuts in broadcast. Cutting corners only produces bad work and it is extremely obvious to other people who know broadcast. I also discovered my biggest pet peeve in the world – when someone shoots something without a tripod. I don’t work very well with people on packages because I am a control freak but will never speak up. When someone does something such as shooting without a tripod, I always feel bad speaking up but I learned that it is necessary to. Even though it is uncomfortable making suggestions against someone else, it is better to have a good final product. I have gotten better at working with others on projects and packages since the beginning of the semester.

            Working on the news show also taught me a lot this semester. Other than learning how to us the studio, I learned that it is difficult to find new and interesting news going on at Florida Southern. We often ran out of story ideas because there were no events that we knew of or the campus announcements didn’t come out yet. It is easy to report on things that you are involved in, but that isn’t fair to the rest of the viewers. I also learned that no one knows we have a campus channel, or news show, or Go Healthy FSC show. It is difficult to publicize and get others to watch the shows and frustrating that we don’t have an audience. I hope that this changes in the future and we find a way to get the word out to the students and faculty of FSC. It would also be great if the cafeteria and wellness center could have our channel on for students to see what we work on.

            Overall, it has been a very productive semester and I learned a lot in these four short months. I look forward to practicum and more broadcast classes next semester.