Resume

Megan Peterson

C: (435) 671-6543 — E: megan.peterson5@yahoo.com — Kamas  Utah, 84036

LinkedIn- Megan Peterson — Portfolio- Megan Peterson

Objective                 Gain a position in the sports production field

Education                Dixie State University- St. George, Utah                                               Fall 2013- Fall 2015             

·       BS in Mass Communication                

·       Expected to graduate Fall 2015

·       Magna Cum Laude with a GPA of 3.92

·       Student of the Semester Fall 2014 and Fall 2015

                                    Utah State University Eastern- Price, Utah                                        Fall 2010- Spring 2013

·       AA Degree Spring 2013

·       Member of the USU Eastern Volleyball team 2010-2013

·       Sports Editor for The Eagle, layout specialist for sports, photo page

Experience             Intern with CEC Television- St. George, Utah                                       Fall 2015

·       Assistant Sports Producer for the Dixie State volleyball team

·       Director/producer for volleyball and soccer

·       Scheduled announcers for each home game

·       Directed the setup of cameras and decided where each needed to be positioned, assisted in tear down

·       Ran replay, directed and technical directed, engineered, ran sound and commercials, updated score

                                    Senior Communication Capstone- St. George, Utah                         Fall 2015

·       Produce and create content for CEC Television

·       Create packages and player profiles, compile footage for an opener

·       Camera operator

                                    TV Production- St. George, Utah                                                        Spring 2014- Fall 2015

·       Camera operator for basketball, baseball, softball

·       Arrive two hours prior to game time to assist in setup. Running cables, setting up audio booth and cameras and, adjusting white balance on cameras

Skills                         Computer

·       Microsoft Word

·       InDesign, newspaper layout

·       Adobe Premier Pro

Capstone Project Analysis

When I first thought of capstone I was initially filled with dread. I didn't want anything to do with a research paper because I know that I am not interested in continuing my education in the research field. After ruling out a research paper I looked into other options, including a professional project. I didn't know what this would entail, but after talking to some of my classmates and advisers I decided to go for it.

I talked a little bit about finding something to do with sports because that has always been an area of interest in my life. During the TV Production class I took in the spring semester of 2015 I realized that I was enjoying my time behind the camera and in the trailer learning all we needed to know for the different sports we were covering. So for my capstone I decided to delve into the production side of TV production and see what goes in to having a successful show.

I wanted to produce some sort of packages for the Dixie State volleyball team that can run on the CEC television station, so home games can be broadcast live like all of the other sports.

Communication Objectives

1- Leave Dixie State University with a better understanding of what it takes to become a producer for a live event. Compare my first broadcast with my last and see what I improved on and what aspects still need work.

2- Give the viewers an enjoyable program to watch. The game outcome will determine most of this, but I want to leave viewers with the impression that DSU has a good website to go to, to watch games when they cannot attend in person. I want the program to be understandable and viewer friendly for even those who do not necessarily understand all of the nuances of the game. One way I could see an opportunity for improvement would be to make graphics of rules that some people may not understand, such as if the ball is hit off the ceiling when is it playable and when is it a dead ball? There are many little rules like that, that I think would benefit the viewers and add some dimension to the broadcast.

3- Prove to myself that I have worked to improve my knowledge and skills in the field of producing.

PLO's

1- Explain and apply concepts from communication theoretical traditions in small groups, business, interpersonal, mass media, and public settings.
2- Create appropriate and effective messages based on skilled analysis of the audience and situation using mediated and non-mediated presentations with a variety of purposes (inform, perused, entertain, advocate, and celebrate).
3- Apply good reasoning, critical thinking and problem solving skills in interpersonal, small group, organizational, public, and mass media settings, while incorporating ethical principles of the discipline.
4- Apply effective skills in researching, organizing, and writing appropriate professional documents, personal communication, and effective communication analysis.
5- Demonstrate effective cross-cultural communication knowledge and skills in achieving a global perspective.

1- This first one I hope will apply when I am learning to produce a sports show. I can show what I have learned in different classes I have taken during my years at Dixie.

2- This will be the bulk of my project. I know the audience I am presenting to is a sports audience, but I don't know all of the other audiences that will crop up as the season progresses. I want to be able to produce a show that all audiences can relate to. I don't know if I will have to change a design or how the announcers talk, but I want someone who hasn't ever watched volleyball to be able to understand what is going on by watching what I produce.

3- I will have to work with many different people to produce this segment. Using many of the skills we learn in classes, such as critical thinking and small group communication, we will be able to get things up and running smoothly. To remain ethical in all that we do when producing a show I want to make sure that everyone is recognized for the part they played in making the show successful.

4- I think I will be able to apply this concept because I will need to see how effective the show is. I don't know how to gauge effectiveness until I get something up and running. A simple audience poll could be more effective than a full blown survey depending on the different audiences and people I reach with my show. Based on the results I get from the show I can see what I need to change, what can stay the same, and what I can improve on that I notice myself.

Execution of Objectives

This project was more fulfilling that I ever thought it would be when I started out. It was incredible to me how much I was able to learn, and I felt like I have been able to demonstrate that knowledge throughout the semester in every game I have worked on. I started out with basic knowledge of how to run a camera, and now I am capable of directing and technical directing a live show, I can run replay and create a playlist of the game highlights, I know how to set up the audio booth for my announcers, I helped set up cameras and ran cables for each camera, I can white balance and change the iris of the cameras from the van, and last but not least I learned how to work with my fellow producers to create the best show possible.

My first objective was to master the different aspects of a producing a live show and I believe I did so. As I described above I was able to learn and be in charge of many different parts of the show from setup to take down. I will start from the most basic aspects that I learned and go from there.

Camera setup

For each shoot that I went to I came two hours prior to the game time to set up cameras. We had to run cables for power to each camera. After the cables had been run we would begin the setup of the cameras. Setup begins by setting up the tripod and then attaching the camera to the tripod. Each tripod has two arms that attach and then those in turn have cables that attach to the camera. On the left hand side is the cable to make the focus work. The right hand side is the cable for the zoom. By attaching these two cables you make it possible for the camera operator to have the handles at the height they are comfortable with to make it easier to film the game. The next step is to attach a screen so the operator can see what they are focusing on, and what they need to change if they miss something. Finally you attach headphones so the director or technical director (same person in our case) can tell them when they are live, any corrections they need to make, and to tell them when they did a great job and got exactly what you wanted. The last step is important because it allows the director to be connected to each of the operators and they have the ability to communicate back. Tear down is the same process, except instead of putting things together you take each piece apart. 

Audio booth setup

Cables for the audio booth are run in the same cable as the main power for the cameras. Each announcer gets a box that is connected to the van, and they both get a set of headphones with a microphone attached. Power to the booth is run through XLR cables and then the audio goes through the line in and out attachments. The announcers have a screen that is connected to the van that the live program comes through so they can see what is live and be able to announce for that specific play as it is happening. We were able to talk to the announcers through their headsets sometimes, other times it didn't work out as well as we would have liked so we had to use text messages to let them know when they would be going live.

Engineering

I did a lot of engineering for soccer games because that is where white balancing and making sure the irises are functioning correctly is more important. I didn't have to worry about the irises during volleyball because the lighting stays constant. In order to white balance a camera you first have to make sure the camera is set to allow you to access the camera from the van instead of by hand. After that you have the camera operator zoom in on white that is going to be in the field of play so the lighting will be similar for all cameras. After they zoom in they pull focus (make the screen blurry) and you flip a switch in the van that adjusts the amount of light going to the cameras. This will make it so each camera is similar in color for live broadcasting. During the games the camera irises need to be adjusted as the light changes. Most soccer games occurred in the evening, so when we were in the middle of the game half of the field would be in shadow and the other half in the light still. The iris allows more or less light into the camera, so when the ball went into the shadow I would adjust the iris to allow more light in so the picture would be brighter in the shadow, and then re-adjust as the camera ball goes back into the light. This was one of my first tasks, and it is difficult when you have to remember what camera you are looking at so you balance the correct one. You also have to check and see if the camera that needs adjusting is live, and if it is then you need to make sure that you adjust slowly so it doesn't look strange on live TV.

Running the Replay Machine



This was my one of my favorite tasks. I was able to learn on two different machines and see the beauty of each machine and the differences that they had. The machine in the picture above is called 3Play, and it was the newer version of a replay machine that I learned on, and I barely scratched the surface of what this machine is capable of. We could do so many different things with this machine, but with only a semester to learn it was better to learn the basics first and try to expand from there. The screen in the top left is the program screen, and this is what camera is live at the time. The screen at the top is is each of the different cameras in operation for that game. This was a soccer game and we had three cameras. We usually had three cameras for soccer and volleyball. The screen right beneath that is the playlists and camera angles that the replays you are working on pop up on.

The function buttons on the replay machine are in the bottom of the picture. The buttons that I used the most are the buttons in blue and the toggle switch right above them. The red button is the record button. That function is pretty simple, push the button and the clips you generate during the game record and save so you can see replays and highlights from the game without having to watch the entire game.

The important buttons are right underneath the toggle switch. This is your set in and set out button. Those buttons are how you create the replays. When you hit the set in button you start creating a new clip, when you hit the set out button the recording stops for that particular clip. If you don't hit the set in button and instead hit the set out button the clip automatically goes back four seconds. You create a list four second clip of that period of time on all of the cameras. Then your job as the replay person is to chose the best angle for live TV. This was the most difficult part for me as I started out. I couldn't watch all three angles at the same time. I spent too much time watching the main game camera that was pulled out wide, and I often missed the replays that were the better angles. As I continued to work replay I knew which camera to use for the different types of plays. For blocks I used camera three that was down on the floor because they had the best angle on the net. For serves I stayed with camera one as the main game camera because you could see the play from start to finish. For hits I liked to use camera two because they were zoomed in closer on the play as it developed. I got better at keeping my eyes split between screens and by the last game I was able to tell what camera would have the shot I needed for my replay and get it set up in less time than it actually took to see the replay. The toggle switch is the equivalent to the play button. I preferred to use this because that allowed me to play the replay at whatever speed I wanted. We usually played them at 75% speed, but sometimes you could slow them down even more for critical calls or something that the announcers wanted to see again slower.

The three buttons in the middle on the top are the live, play list, and clip list buttons. These allow you to switch back and forth on the screen above. Live lets you view the game as it is happening from every camera angle. Whatever they are focusing on, if you are in live mode you will see it. The play list button lets you view any of the clips you have made during the game. This is the blue section you see on the screen with the little camera angles above it. I found out that the blue section is full by the end of the game and oftentimes it isn't amazing highlights it is little things that happened throughout the game. The third button is the one that is lit up and that is the clip list button. You only use this button if you have plays that you think are amazing. If they get a particularly good hit or serve or dig in volleyball, or someone scores in soccer I would drag that play into the clip list section that is orange. The orange section is much smaller than the blue section because it is all the clips that you think are the best. These are often the highlights that the announcers want to see during game breaks or time outs. This is where I would put the clips that I thought were the best plays so I could use them for the opener and highlights that I made.

The first game I ran replay for was the first game of the season. We were playing Notre Dame de Namur and we were set up using an old system instead of the new one. This led to a lower quality on the cameras, but I was still able to figure out how to run replay on the old machine. My replays were very slow when we started out the game. I was only watching one camera instead of three angles and most of the time I was watching the wide main game screen. This led to replays that were the same angle as what viewers had already seen. By the time I got to games four and five I was getting a replay after almost every play, but I still wasn't utilizing all of the different angles. One of my later games at the replay machine was against Point Loma and I felt like I really had it down at this point. I was able to use the best camera angle for the play that happened and it was even better because I knew which camera operators would give me the best replays so I could watch their camera and know that I would get a good replay from them.

Directing and Technical Directing



The director is the person who calls the shots. They ultimately decide what goes live, what they want the cameras to focus on, when replays are shown, and many other little tasks that you don't even realize you are doing until it is over. The technical director is in charge of pushing all the buttons on the switchboard to make the directors vision come to life. In my case, the director and technical director were one in the same. We were often short handed and there is very little space inside the van, so the technical director had to be the director also.

This task was the climax of my capstone and when I first started this seemed like an impossible task. The buttons on the switchboard corresponded with the screens above and it was daunting to think that those buttons decided what went live and what didn't. The first time I learned how to do it I was about ten minutes away from game time and just jumped right in with both feet. I made a ton of mistakes, but looking back now I don't think I did that bad at all.

Starting with the screen in the top left and working clockwise around the picture, this is what you see: the preview screen, the program screen, the live monitor, down to the bottom right: The Mac that has the spots (commercials) on it, and last but not least the switchboard. I'll explain what each of these are for in the next couple paragraphs.

I am going to start with the switchboard because it is the heart of what you do as a technical director and a director. I already explained that this was something that usually happened with two people but in our case we used one person. I think this streamlined the process because I could think of exactly what I wanted to see, and instead of having to tell someone to do it for me I could do it myself. I was able to act as soon as I had the thought instead of creating a delay by telling someone else what I wanted. While this created a faster process, it also left me with a lot on my plate as a director and TD.

The bottom row of buttons that are highlighted in green are the preview buttons. These buttons allow you to flip through the camera angles and determine which camera you want to go live without disrupting the live feed. The buttons right above that are the program buttons, or the buttons that go straight to live TV. Each button corresponds with a camera, and if you push the button the red light goes on and that camera becomes live. The first game I TD'd I kept hitting the live switching buttons instead of the preview buttons so some of the cuts were very jumpy and not a smooth transition. In order to have a smooth transition I had two options. Those two options were the buttons directly to the right of the bottom row of buttons. Those two buttons allowed a jump cut, where you went directly from one camera to the next; or they allowed a transition where the switch between cameras was blended together to make it smoother. I tried to use the smooth transition more than the jump cut so the live program looked more put together. In order to remove the score bar the buttons that are lit up in red on the far right are the ones that are used. One is a jump cut and one fades it out. The final button I learned to use was the FTB or fade to black. This was for the end of the program and it simply took whatever camera was on the screen and faded it out. This allowed us to put credits at the end of the show during post production so DSU and CEC TV were recognized for what we did.

My first game as the TD was on Oct. 7, 2015 and it was the game against Chaminade. When I went back and watched I realized I was a slow in my camera switches and I had a few times when I would forget to take out the score or forget to do one thing or another, but overall I felt like I improved as the game went on, so when we got to games three and four I was already more confident in what I was doing. The last game that I was the TD for was against Cal Baptist. We had a few glitches in this game, but I knew what I was doing and how to handle any mistakes that happened. One of the mistakes was when I accidentally hit FTB instead of switching the score out before a commercial. So instead of transitioning smoothly to a commercial the screen went black for a few seconds before I figured out what I had done. Another glitch was when the commercial we were trying to run didn't have sound. We had to jump back into the camera coverage sooner than expected, but we got that figured out and were able to run that commercial, with sound, later in the game.

Working with the crew

This was one of the most satisfying parts of my project. I was able to work closely with students and my producer to create a memorable season. Most of the time I was in charge of deciding who did what for the games. I was the one in charge of who went to what camera, and I told them exactly what I wanted them to shoot. I also got to decide who was working out in the van with me. Most of the time it was Lauren and Marcus outside with me. When I was more comfortable working with them I would tell them what I wanted them to do instead of asking them what they wanted to do. I felt like I could do anything in the trailer, so I could direct and TD if I wanted or I could run replay and score.

I found out that I liked to run replay because I was able to find the shots more quickly than Lauren did when I asked her to run replay. She would watch the whole replay before giving it to me and often that was a missed opportunity because the next play was already happening. She had a lot of experience with TD and directing, so I would put her in charge of that and I would run replay so we could have a quick replay ready immediately following the play. I also knew which operators I would most likely get the best replays from and I would put them on the replay cameras. Candy and James were some of my favorite operators and always gave me amazing shots so I would put them on the replay camera and used a lot of their shots. I also liked to used Emily and Terrance on the handheld cameras on the floor. They had a knack for giving me great shots of blocks and hits right on the net that the cameras in the stands could not get. I would occasionally get inexperienced operators, so I would start them on the main game camera that stayed wide and simply moved back and forth. Volleyball is a fast paced game, and it can be overwhelming for those who haven't done it before. I tried to make it as easy as possible for them, so when I was the TD I would tell them what I wanted to see from their camera and have them run through it before the game went live.

I learned a lot about how to talk to different types of people during the season. There were those people who wanted to do things their own way and I would have to explain to them why I wanted the shot that I did. I learned to praise people for what they did right instead of pointing out what they did wrong. No one wanted to be called out on something they did wrong, so I would suggest something they could do better instead of criticizing what they did. This led to a great working relationship where they could express to me what they felt was going on and how we could resolve any conflicts that came up.

As for myself I learned to ask questions about anything I didn't know. Lauren, Marcus and James (the main staff at CEC TV) would all help me when I wasn't sure about something, and instead of just doing it themselves they would let me do it and point out where I needed improvement. I would not have learned a lot of the information I did if I hadn't asked them questions about what was going on. They were always so patient with me when I messed up and this lead to a growing confidence in my abilities, instead of a fear of failure. I learned through trial and error and they were always willing to help me fix those errors.

Pre and Post Production

Creating an Opener

    

This was the start of my work for my professional project. I was tasked with creating an opener for the volleyball team. Before I even started putting anything together I had to watch hours of game film. I wanted to watch multiple games to get the feel of how the show had been put together in the previous seasons. While watching game film I noticed that there were some camera angles that worked better than others and I wanted to use those angles for my opener. I would watch the game and take notes on the highlights from the game and record the times when they happened. I was glad that I took the time to write down the times of the plays because I was able to use those when I finally put together the opener.

I started work on the opener by getting game film that I had previously watched and putting it into Adobe Premier Pro. This step is where I would again watch game film and cut out the clips for each highlight that I was looking at. This process took several hours because I had to either watch every second of the game again, or input the recording time of the game and fine tune each clip from there. All of the games that I watched had two forms. One of them had a time code on them and the other didn't. I would use the game with the time code to initially get the clips because it was easier to find them on that film. Then I would find the same clips on the footage that was not time coded and add it to my final compilation.

In addition to finding clips from the games I needed to find complementary music that could run in the background of my opener, and record a voice over to announce what viewers were going to see. I listened to music from warnerchappellpm.com to find what sounded best with my clips. The song I ended up choosing has a good mix of down beats that coincide with clip changes or kills. For the voice over I ended up asking a member of the CEC staff to record a script that I sent him because he was the voice for the softball and baseball openers. I wanted volleyball to be similar to those and show that the same company produced them.

New Opener

Halfway through the season I wanted to make a new opener. As I watched the games from this season I realized that the film quality was a lot higher with the new cameras and setup we used this year. I think you will be able to see what I mean when you see the new opener I created with footage from the 2015 season. I used the same music and voice to start, just pulled new highlights from this season.

Senior Highlight Video

At the end of the season I felt like I had accomplished a lot, but I wanted to leave the volleyball team with something special. I talked to the two seniors on the volleyball team and decided to make a highlight video of the two of them for their final season. I went and interviewed them to get all of the voice overs, and I realized how difficult it is to take an eight minute interview and turn it into something usable in a one-minute video.

I did something a little different than what had previously been done for a highlight video, but I thought it would be interesting to see. I wanted to create something that looked like the stats that pop up before you choose a character in a video game. If you have never played a video game this means nothing, but I wanted it too look like you could choose the two seniors to play for you and to the side I created graphics that told their basic stats like hometown, height and position. Then I created a graphic that had their most impressive stats for the season. This was something new for me, but it was fun to see what was in my head come out perfectly. I got exactly what I was envisioning, and it was great to see it all come together.

I choose different music than I had used for the opener, but it is still something upbeat and fun to listen to. Then I re-watched hours of game film to find highlights of only the two seniors. I didn't realize how big of a task this would be, and in their last game as the replay person, I made sure to create a clip list of their highlights so I would be able to at least find a few easier. It took me nearly six hours after I had all the clips that I wanted to create something I am proud of. I got rid of a few highlights and found more that I thought were even better, I tweaked the voice overs so they began right when I needed them to, and I tried to make this something the seniors would look back at and be happy they got to play for DSU.

Analysis of Objectives

I chose to do a survey to gather data about the effectiveness of my project. However, I failed to ask the right questions to get the information I was seeking. I will present the screenshots of the questions and then my analysis on what went right with the questions and what I would change if I did the survey again.



This first question I thought was fine. It really opened my eyes about the number of people watching our production. Only 18 out of 87 people knew we broadcast volleyball games at DSU. That was a disappointing number, but I did open the survey to everyone so there is a good chance that people taking the survey were not even in St. George. This made me feel a little better, but I should have asked if the people taking the survey were affiliated with DSU in any way. This would have given me a base number to see how many of the participants were part of the Dixie community and could have watched.



This question brought a little better response, and I figure those 31 people had to be associated with Dixie. The 18 from the previous question looks better when it is 18/31 instead of 18/87. My next question should have been: What sports at DSU have a live production? The answers would have been a list of the sports and DSU and they could have selected any of them they thought had a live production. Some of the sports would have been sports that don't get coverage to see if they actually knew or were just guessing. This would have provided me with information regarding volleyball too.



This question wasn't terrible, but it needed to have a section as to why they hadn't ever watched a production on SUL. The three responses in the Other section were people saying they answered no to the previous question. I also realized I should have included watching it on CEC TV through the local cable station because that was how I had previously watched the game. I didn't go through SUL at all so it was shortsighted of me to only provide one channel for watching the games. It was still sad to note that only seven people had ever watched something on SUL. If I had provided a comments section I might have answers as to why they didn't watch. This was also a chance to weed out the people that knew about the productions because I asked for people who responded yes to the previous questions. I needed to have an answer for the people who said no to the previous questions. This would have given me the number of people who knew about volleyball or other live productions at DSU.



I don't know that this question accurately reflects people's answers. Considering only 7 people said they watched a live production in the previous question, and 11 people said yes or no to enjoying the experience I think my answers are off. Somehow my question was confusing so people answered yes to a question they had previously said no to. I did get some responses from people who said yes, and most of them looked like this.



Most of the people who said yes wanted to hear knowledgeable commentary and that is something I wanted to work on through my objectives. I was tasked with finding commentators for the volleyball games, and I know they were better this season than last. At one point last season I muted the television because the announcer had no idea what he was talking about. I made sure that I got one announcer that knew the game of volleyball, and the second was to provide stats and some commentary throughout the game.





Only 48 people answered this question, but it still gave me valuable information. Too bad I waited too long to put this survey out there. I could have tried to make sure I implemented these comments and suggestions. Most of them were great suggestions that I wish I could have had time to work on this semester. I can at least give this information to the staff at CEC so they can continue to improve and work on this for next semester and the years to come. This question made me realize how big this production could become if we had more staff. For the most part we did have the components that they were looking for. We had the replays, the scoreboard, and some highlights from the game.

Overall this quiz was not the most successful, but I think we were able to create a show that at least had some of the things people wanted to watch. I would ask a few more questions and be more clear on some questions if I were to create another survey.

My Analysis

As I look back on the semester I know that my project was a success. I have been able to learn much more than I thought I would. I increased my knowledge in so many different aspects of production that I know I could be a valuable asset to any production crew. I learned that I have the ability to pick things up quickly and ask questions when I'm not sure of something. By asking questions I learned much more quickly than I would have otherwise.

I also picked up on the fact that there is so much more depth to this project than I was able to give it. One example of that would be with the replay machine. If I had time to learn every aspect of the machine I would have been able to create highlights of every player in the game and label them accordingly so if we ever needed highlights of specific players we would be able to find them easily. I also would have loved to create a graphic for each player and have their position, year, and a specific stat pop up whenever they subbed into the game or even as the starters were announced. This would have given the program a little bit more depth than it has right now.

All in all I felt like this was a success, and if I had more time I think I could have implemented more of these aspects. It was a great learning experience that I am glad I could have. I now have something I can add to a resume and tell future employers about all of the experience I have in the production field. I know I just scratched the surface of everything that goes on, but it is exponentially better than writing a paper that I do not care about at all.

Where to start with a portfolio?

I am not sure where to start with a portfolio. I have had many different duties this semester with CEC TV and am wondering where I should begin.
I have been in charge of directing, technical directing, running replay, engineering, scoreboard and camera operating. Should I do a section of all the different duties I have had? Starting with replay because that is the first thing I learned? I was thinking of putting together a clip list of some of the best replays that I gathered, then some of my best camera switching when I was directing and technical directing. Those three things are what I have been focusing on the most for my project so I think that would be the most fitting.
Do I need anything else with the clips though? Any ideas on what I should be doing? Any suggestions? I will gladly take all the help I can get. Until then, I will be watching film and gathering clips!

What do you think about my quiz?

I needed to do something to see if students, community members, or other people are watching and benefitting from what I am doing with my capstone project. I created a five question quiz on survey monkey to see what kind of results I would get. I thought I should post the link here too so you all can take it too!

Here is my quiz!

Let me know what you think about the questions. If I should have changed them, what could I change? Did I need to ask more questions? More specific questions?

I had to think of questions pretty quick because there was a lot of hype yesterday (Nov. 5) with the team because they had a big game against Cal Baptist to remain in first and I wanted to put the quiz out with that so more people (in theory) would see it.

The team won its game, woo woo, and I ended the day with 32 people taking my quiz, which is more than I expected.

Some Confusion

Working on my capstone getting hours has not proven to be the most difficult part of my project. The difficult part comes from the rest of the steps.

I have been working as a consultant or assistant student producer for the volleyball team under Lauren Cummings. She has been fantastic to work with, but I am not sure if I have given her anything specific to look at concerning the work that I have done. I am not sure how to evaluate the success of the my project at this point. I have been watching film, creating highlights of the games, and going to the games and learning what it takes to produce. However, I don't know how I will measure the success of my project. Is success measured by how much I am able to learn throughout the course of my project? When I started I did not know how to do anything except set up and take down cameras. Now I know how to run replay, engineer the cameras (white balance and changing iris settings), set up the audio booth for announcers, and put together video clips on Adobe premier. I am only halfway through the season, so I know I will learn more as I go.

I don't have anything to base my success on because this has not been done before at DSU. I am comparing to last season and, I would say that the biggest changes have been having an announcer for each game and having an opener to run before the games started. I have been in charge of finding announcers for each game, and I put together the opener from old footage. Does this mean my project, thus far, has been a success?

I guess for me I would count success as anything that makes watching volleyball on CEC TV more enjoyable. Last year for several of the broadcasts I noticed that some of the announcers didn't know how volleyball games worked. They ended up repeating themselves or saying something that didn't fit with what the viewers were seeing. Having an announcer, who is knowledgeable of the game, makes it easier to watch the game and know what is going on. I also found that having an opener gave us as producers a starting point to begin recording the game. In previous years the footage would start after the national anthem, after the starting lineup and sometimes after the game had started. By producing an opener I was able to give us a solid starting point. I plan on updating the opener with highlights from this year, so the opener accurately reflects the 2015 volleyball season.

Anyone with any insight on the last three objectives feel free to leave a comment or to text me at 435-671-6543. I can use any help on those that I can get.

Beginning Work on Communication Objectives

Communication Objective 1

Produce content for Dixie State University volleyball team in the 2015 season.

How I Accomplished my Objective

This was the start of my work for my professional project. I was tasked with creating an opener for the Dixie State University volleyball team. Before I even started putting anything together I had to watch hours of game film. I wanted to watch multiple games to get the feel of how the show had been put together in the previous seasons. While watching game film I noticed that there were some camera angles that worked better than others and I wanted to use those angles for my opener. I would watch the game and take notes on the highlights from the game and record the times when they happened. I was glad that I took the time to write down the times of the plays because I was able to use those when I finally put together the opener.

I started work on the opener by getting game film that I had previously watched and putting it into Adobe Premier. This step is where I would again watch game film and cut out the clips for each highlight that I was looking at. This process took several hours because I had to either watch every second of the game again, or input the recording time of the game and fine tune each clip from there. All of the games that I watched had two forms. One of them had a time code on them and the other didn't. I would use the game with the time code to initially get the clips because it was easier to find them on that film. Then I would find the same clips on the footage that was not time coded and add it to my final compilation.

In addition to finding clips from the games I needed to find complementary music that could run in the background of my opener, and record a voice over to announce what viewers were going to see. I listened to music from warnerchappellpm.com to find what sounded best with my clips. The song I ended up choosing has a good mix of down beats that coincide with clip changes or kills. For the voice over I ended up asking a member of the CEC staff to record a script that I sent him because he was the voice for the softball and baseball openers. I wanted volleyball to be similar to those and show that the same company produced them.

Figuring Out Communication Objectives

I watched one game from last season. The game was Dixie vs. California Baptist on October 25. They went to five games, and I took a page of notes that I never would have even thought about before beginning my capstone project.

I tried to look at the game through the eyes of a producer, and through the eyes of viewer. I don't know all of the ins and outs of producing, but I was able to figure out what I liked, and some things I want to change. This was a good start for me because I was able to analyze what I saw and figure out a way to make it better. This leads me to a couple communication objectives for my project. (I think)

Communication Objective

1- Leave Dixie State University with a better understanding of what it takes to become a producer for a live event. Compare my first broadcast with my last and see what I improved on and what aspects still need work.

2- Give the viewers an enjoyable program to watch. The game outcome will determine most of this, but I want to leave viewers with the impression that DSU has a good website to go to, to watch games when they cannot attend in person. I want the program to be understandable and viewer friendly for even those who do not necessarily understand all of the nuances of the game. One way I could see an opportunity for improvement would be to make graphics of rules that some people may not understand, such as if the ball is hit off the ceiling when is it playable and when is it a dead ball? There are many little rules like that, that I think would benefit the viewers and add some dimension to the broadcast.

3- Show my professor that I have worked to improve my knowledge and skills in the field of producing.

Notes and Observations

I attached some of the notes that I took while watching film so I could see what I needed to work on and what I wanted to implement (if they are possible) when I was producing.

I still don't think I am hitting the right mark with my communication objectives, so I will still need guidance on figuring out exactly what they are.