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.

So Many Thoughts

I have had so many thoughts on capstone and I'm trying to figure out which thoughts I need to act on and which ones will not be related to what I am trying to accomplish with my project.

First thoughts. I need to create some type of video or graphics for the audience to view during breaks in the game between games two and three, this is usually a ten minute break. If I create this is it something that is going to count as my capstone project for a portfolio or will it count towards my internship hours?

Second thought. After I am done what have I accomplished? What am I going to leave Dixie State with after I leave. Will this be something that I am proud of? I hope so, but I think I will need to iron out some more concrete ideas in order to have the lasting impression that I want. This is the main goal of my capstone project I think. To leave my mark on Dixie and be able to prove that I learned something useful.

Third. I need to look through old footage and put something together, but I'm not 100% sure about my ability to put something together right now so I need to find people to collaborate with me. Talking to other people is not my strong point, so this may be one of the biggest challenges I face.

Fourth. Finding the hours that are required. I don't think I will have any trouble finding the required amount of hours for my project, but I will sleep easier at night if I figure something out that will let me do the math. I need to figure out how many hours count for one thing and how many would go towards another. That way as things wrap up I will be able to see where all of my time was spent and how I could have used it differently or what I did correctly.