Life as we know it…
…changes tomorrow. I am writing this post as I sit in the last of many hotel rooms on the trek to Colorado. Tomorrow, I move into my first apartment; Wednesday, I start my first job.
It seems fitting to use a Google Search Story as this entire journey is the product of searching… searching for a career, a home and the right opportunity.
Phoenix14News Wins College Emmy!
Although the awards ceremony was more than a month ago, I am just now getting the chance to blog a bit about a wonderful weekend in Los Angeles for the College Television Awards. I find it difficult to boast, so I’d rather just aggregate some of the media from the event and share it here.
Quick round-up of events leading up to this award: As the executive producer of Phoenix14News, I worked with our news director Drew Smith to apply for the College Television Awards in December and upload our newscast in January. In early February, I was notified we had been selected as finalists and needed to overnight more DVDs for the final judging. Being named a finalist was enough of an honor, so when I got a phone call two weeks later announcing we had won first, second or third, I just about fell out of my chair (I was producing live SGA coverage at the time).
With that, we made plans to send myself, Drew Smith, Nick Ochsner and our anchors Mallory Lane and Jasmine Spencer, along with our adviser Rich Landesberg, to Los Angeles for the ceremony the first week in April. It was a black tie affair and exceeded all expectations I had. We were already feeling like winners, especially when we found out the two other finalists: WEIU and Arizona State’s Cronkite Newswatch. Then the announcement… You’ll need to watch this highlight video to understand the excitement surrounding the evening!
http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtv.com:649672
It was a star-studded evening with Gena Davis, Elijah Wood and Darren Criss to name a few. In addition to the student awards, the Academy Foundation also honored the creators of Glee for their cutting-edge casting of marginalized groups. KABC anchor David Ono presented the award to our team for best newscast. After the win, we had the opportunity to take this picture with him on the Red Carpet.
Perhaps most exciting was returning to Elon and presenting the award to the entire staff at Phoenix14News. It was an honor to be recognized by the Academy Foundation and it energized our entire staff to know we had been selected from an incredibly talented pool of student newscasts. Our award finally found its way home as our staff presented the award to the School of Communications Dean Paul Parsons before we went live Monday. Here is an image from the presentation:
As I prepare for graduation next week, it is only appropriate to look back and be proud of what our team has accomplished during these four years. This is certainly the culminating event of my college experience and as a soon-to-be alumni, I cannot wait to see where the program will go from here. I am honored to be a member of this incredible team!
Real-World Trial Run
Monday was a day off for the university, but not Phoenix14. Instead of having our editorial meeting Tuesday to assign stories to reporters, we had our editorial meeting at 9 a.m. Monday and produced all our content day-of. It was a wonderful experience for our staff, but it was a glimpse into my future career. The day passed quickly, and there was very little stress. Here is the full newscast from April 25th.
Updated Producer Reel
This is my latest producer reel from the February 28, 2011 Phoenix14News live student newscast. The reporter packages, commercial breaks and sports blocks have been removed to highlight my production elements and writing.
“Portrait of a Portrait-Maker”
To the average person picking up a camera… a picture is made with a click of a button. To the man you’re about to meet… it is so much more. A nostalgic process of the past is still alive right here in Burlington, North Carolina and we’re introducing you to the man that has preserved it. Here is a portrait of the portrait-maker.
Producer/Reporter: Kirsten Bennett
Photographer/Editor: Tim Mollen
About the assignment: Tim Mollen and I were given a small semi-circle in downtown Burlington and told to find a story. We channeled the CBS News, “Everybody Has a Story” segment stopped at a random small business within our area and talking the owner, Joe Robertson, into an on-camera interview.
Learned so much in so little: Journal from a “60 Minutes” intern
Week 1 (January 4-7, 2011):
Watching 60 Minutes, you recognize how much research goes into each of the pieces, but you don’t realize how much planning also goes into not only the logistics of interviews and shooting, but also into the storyline itself. During my first week, I had the opportunity to sit in on multiple editorial meetings for two stories. The discussions weren’t centered around the logistics of the story per say, but were much more sophisticated in determining all questions concerning the issue and how to get an answer out of a potentially difficult interview. The producers spend many months to upwards of a year on each of these stories developing the necessary elements and ensuring all the facts and information have been sought out. The editorial meetings are a way of brainstorming the troubled issues of the story and the issues the viewer will expect to hear the answer to.
I also had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Radutzky and discuss the role of a producer and how prepared and organized one must be. The producers are responsible for coming up with their own story ideas most of the time and are responsible for developing them into what Radutzky called a “gem.” 60 Minutes doesn’t generally do overview pieces, but rather takes a current issue and finds the special angle not covered by daily news programs and really delves deeply into it. This requires that the producer know the story so well as to find that “gem” that is interesting enough to merit a long piece and also that will captive the audience with important information and a compelling character. The producer also writes out interview questions and works with the correspondent to make the interview not only informative, but compelling. In the coming weeks, I look forward to learning more about turning multiple lengthy interviews into a short, yet detailed story and watching as the producers begin to write out their pieces and craft the story.
Covering the President’s visit to North Carolina
The President’s visit to Winston-Salem last week was an adrenaline rush; as it should be for any journalist the first time they are just a few steps away from the leader of our country. Drew Smith and I made the hour long trip to Forsyth Technical Community College to cover the President’s first visit to North Carolina since he was elected two years ago.
We were at the college by 7:15am to find out spot on the riser and set up our equipment. We were asked to leave at 8:00am and couldn’t return until after the equipment sweep was finished at about 10:30am. This was when we got check-in and received our press credentials, sadly we didn’t get to keep them.
The President spoke for more than 30 minutes about the economy to a group of about 150 students, staff and community leaders, including Governor Bev Perdue and Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr. He focused his speech on the economy and the important role of technology in moving the U.S. forward. He also discussed the reasons behind the extension of Bush tax cuts and his plans to help small businesses develop.
Here is the completed story Drew and I produced for the 6pm show that day:
Field producing tomorrow for POTUS visit
I got the email yesterday approving our credentials for the President’s visit tomorrow. President Obama will be visiting Forsyth Tech and making remarks about the economy. Drew Smith and I will be there to cover his remarks and visit to the area for Phoenix14News. This will be the first time I’ve covered the President since his inauguration almost two years ago. It will be an early morning though as we must be there and have our equipment dropped off no later than 8 a.m. The program starts just after noon and Phoenix14 will be producing live coverage of his visit starting at 12:30. After his remarks are done, we will cut a story for our newscast at 6 p.m. If you aren’t following me already, follow me on Twitter for updates throughout the day. Wish me luck!
First live broadcast production: Election night 2010
This year, Phoenix14 was fortunate enough to form a relationship with WCWG, the CW affiliate in Greensboro, NC. They contacted us about creating local election coverage that focused on Forsyth, Guilford and Alamance counties. In addition to an election special aired two days before the election, Phoenix14News also produced two live cut-ins and a live 30-minute show on election night. Here is the election night results show:
Here is the rest of this show:
If you would like to watch the pre-election special, which aired two days before the election, go to the Phoenix14News website.
November 22, 2010: Phoenix14News
Here is a view of the November 22, 2010 newscast I produced for Phoenix14News. I line produced this show and also directed it during our live newscast. This show is a winner of the 2011 College Television Awards.
Here is the A-block of this show:
