Ms. Producer: Put Your Pens Down

From the very first day of my very first broadcast class, I knew things were going to get interesting. The first words out of my professor's mouth: put your pens down.

Now for those of you who went to college, or specifically the SMAD (school of media arts and design) major, you know that is never something you hear. We all got up and went down to the studio. It was a broadcasting studio, tucked in the basement of Harrison Hall. It had a control room, a studio set, cameras, the whole works.

We all piled in, oohed and aahed, and then the words that have never left me: "You will never watch TV the same. Ever." I didn't think there was a way. But believe me, there is.

I went home and cut the television on. I was watching a show and instead of laughing, smiling, even mouthing the words....this is what I did. "That was a jump cut, look at that camera angle, is that a close up or a medium shot, oh the director didn't mean to do that, I bet the prompter messed up.....I was never the same again.

It is still much the same way today....even worse now because I know more than I did then. Instead of enjoying a great show, I pinpoint every thing that went wrong or even looked off. At the end of every show, you get to fill out and tell the whole news department everything that went wrong in your show. Glorious huh? So to appreciate the good, you have to correct the bad.

Tonight for instance...everything was going smoothly....through what I assumed was the worst of it....until we got to the Apple Blossom Festival pictures. My thought process as a producer is, it's always better to have visuals, than nothing. So the only thing I had were pictures I found of the Festival. But the story was about a firework display gone wrong.

Let me stop you there.

My producer thought process was as follows: If we got video of this event....it more than likely would be old video of the festival or generic festival video. So I thought pictures are the same thing.

Well only the first picture that came up was of two zebras. Yes I know zebras....firework story....they don't quite mesh. Especially when your director thinks they are for the wrong story. Even worse, when that's echoed by everyone on headset going, zebras?

Looking back, maybe the pictures weren't a good call. Either way it's live and learn in this business. Lesson learned tonight: zebras, fireworks....confusing to everyone except myself.

The rest of the show was great....but I tell you about what wasn't. Oh the life of a producer.