Practicum Final Exam Paper

                                                                                            Austen Snodgrass

                                                            Practicum Final Paper

            So far this semester, I have become very involved with the Interlachen staff at the college, specifically in the video department. I am the video yearbook editor for the 2010-2011 yearbook.  At the beginning of the year, Justin asked me if I would be interesting in becoming the video editor of this year’s yearbook, and I readily agreed.  It is my responsibility to film various events that take place at the college, both athletic and academic, import them to the computer, edit them in Final Cut Pro, and eventually create the video yearbook by the end of the school year.  This gives me the opportunity to both shoot and edit video, which I have had experience with in the past.  So far, I have received a lot of help from Cynthia and Mandy, who have filmed events for me and have helped with any questions I have had.  I personally have filmed both sporting events at the college, such as soccer and swimming, and the opening of the Christoverson Humanities Building.  A lot of the work and time that I have put in so far has been capturing and editing footage.  I try to get as much footage as possible at the various events, so the capturing process can take quite a while at times.  It has been somewhat of a challenge so far determining which shots to use, but I have gotten the hang of it pretty well the more I have worked on it.  At this point, we have a good amount of sports footage, but we are in need of more footage of events around campus.  That will be my main focus next semester.  Talking with Justin, I have already decided that it would be best if this year’s yearbook have tow separate parts: one part for athletic and one part for student life.  In order to achieve that goal, there needs to be a sufficient amount of footage to make each section long enough.  The Interlachen video camera is a Canon HD, which I have used before, so getting fully acquainted with that piece of equipment did not take very long. 

            In terms of working in the broadcast industry, I still hope to find a career within the industry in the future.  Obviously the industry is constantly changing and evolving and implementing more and more internet technology into broadcasts.  Seemingly anyone on the street can become a “journalist” by shooting video with a handheld camera and sending it to CNN.  Many of the presentations in class focused on how a lot of people are getting their news from online sources, and not even focusing on television news broadcasts as much. However, I still believe that there will always be room for good journalism and reporting on television, which is what I am hoping to do.  I have also done some voice over work on the radio this year for Hall Communication and Lakeland Regional Medical Center.  I have enjoyed doing it, and am certainly open to having a career in voice over work.  There is certainly always a need for that.