Super Semester- The Beginning

The Beginning

Starting super semester again has been a lot less of a shit show than it was for me last semester. That is obviously only because I have seen it all happen before. I could see everyone else have that deer in the headlights look as they tried to grasp what was about to happen throughout the semester. But it’s not their fault, I was the same way last semester.

The truth is we could spend an entire semester just explaining everything that we will be doing and making sure everyone understands how to do it right. But nobody has time for that. Everyone is using super semester as a way to get all the experience they need to put on their resume in one semester. So the only way to do it is to jump right in.

Figuring It Out

Just after doing one show everyone got to that “ah ha” moment and figured out that this is what we will be doing everyday. I think that’s why it wouldn’t even work to have a bunch of classes where we sit down and talk about what we will do. Because there’s so many pieces and aspects to it that it’s hard to understand until you just do it. Once you have a final product, you finally understand how you got there. Maybe I’m doing a little too much speaking for everyone else but I know that’s how I felt on my first day.

My First Package

This semester has been a lot smoother for me, like I said, because I’ve done this before. So I knew from day one that I needed to start finding stories and setting them up to get them done. This is why I was able to have a package other than my practice package on the first show. The Soulard Pet Parade was a lot of fun. I think it was a great story to do my first package on because it wasn’t so serious. I was able to experiment with different camera shots since I was trying to shoot dogs of all different sizes. With it being a fun event a lot of people were willing and even excited to do interviews, unlike some hard news stories where it’s hard to find people willing to talk. Hopefully this completed story will be on LUTV News YouTube and Lindenlink this week.

My Focus

Since I graduate in May, my main focus is getting ready to apply for jobs. That’s why I’m trying to capture hard news for my next two packages. Even though demo reels aren’t due until the last day of class, I want to have it done way before then so that I can start sending it out and hopefully have a job by the time I graduate.

Since I covered the Mizzou protests in the Fall, I thought it would be a good idea to do a follow-up story. I drove to Columbia on Friday to get the story on Mizzou’s low enrollment rates. I was able to interview two people in the admissions office and a student who is only a freshman. This means his first ever semester in college was at Mizzou, during the protests. It was interesting to see how he was effected by the comotion. I’m hoping to be able to use some of the b-roll from last semester in my package to tie it all together. I also have a stand-up from both times in Mizzou and I think it’ll look good in my demo reel to put them back-to-back.

What’s Next, Hopefully

The next story I have planned I actually started working on before I thought of the Mizzou follow-up. It is about the Edward Jones Dome and the remaining cost of it. St. Louis Alderman President Lewis Reed is proposing that the NFL pay for the remainder of the dome. I would really like to package this story and luckily I think it’s somewhat timeless but it’s proving hard to get in touch with the right people. So hopefully I’ll have an update on that next week.