Flo-rida

Hey everyone,

As I am writing this blog I just wanted to keep everyone up to speed with things happening here in DC and other places as well. Tomorrow I am flying down to Orlando area to help a friend shoot a documentary he is working on. I cant tell you how excited I am to be able to work on a project like this. Being in school and no longer having accessibility to gear like I did in HS. But that hopefully will change soon, details after jump. All I really know about this project is that it we are shooting in Orlando, and it is about paintball. I am down with both of these things. I haven't played paintball since 9th or 10th grade and I miss it kinda. Everything except the cost that is.

I will write more upon returning and having time to digest it all. This brings me to my next little tidbit.

I have made some changes to gear I wish to buy for my senior project. That's probably a sigh of relief to my parents. If you recall, the first camera I had my sights on was a JVC GY-HM700U. This is at the top of the field right now. It shoots to cheap SDHC cards in formats that work with FCP and Premiere Pro. However, the price tag on this is around $7,000.

You - "$7,000? Thats alot of money Drew..."

Me - "Your right, but its awesome. But don't worry, I have settled on a cheaper option. I am hoping to buy a JVC GY-HD200. The difference is that this camera shoots on tape rather than memory cards, and it is older. In fact, its not even made anymore, I would have to buy it used."

You - "So your compromising?"

Me - "Kinda, but I have that covered as well. Instead of shooting on tape, I am going to buy a hard drive that is designed for the JVC camera. The price will be more money, but I will save money on the many tapes I would use to record the film."

So that is that. I still need help thinking about ideas for my documentary, see my previous post for more info.

Thats all for me tonight!

Peace!

I needs your help!

Well, here I am for my weekly blog post, and I am sad to say that I am not posting more.  But I feel like this blog post is something that will be beneficial to get feedback from sooner rather than later. Let me set the scene:

            6:00pm – Start watching “World of Jenks” on MTV

            6:12pm – Start writing this blog

            6:25pm – Stopped writing

            8:00-11:00pm – Watched my Thursday night programming

            11:47pm – Started writing again

Now I have gotten to thinking, mainly because the premise of World of Jenks is this… Andrew Jenks travels the US, his main purpose is to view peoples struggles, joys, and everything in-between.  Jenks get to know the people that are making up this world, and for some reason, something so simple is so addictive.

That brings me to the main part of my blog. As I am planning my senior project, I am beginning to draw up ideas and plans. I have some ideas but I am looking for something more. The ideas I have are pretty basic. And that’s the problem; there is nothing that separates the ideas that I have from the ideas that every other communications student has for his or her senior project.

The thing I love about documentaries is that not only do they tell a story, but they good ones change peoples lives. That is something I want my documentary to do. I have plenty of time to tell a story or to look into a subculture, down the road. My only problem is, I don’t want to do something that’s been done. Part of that is when I watch show like World of Jenks, I tend to picture my documentary being pretty similar, but changing a few things. Now here is where I need everyone’s help. I don’t want to “redo” a project that has already been done. I need your help to give me ideas. What do you think would be a documentary that would affect people for the better, change people, or open their eyes to something? You can either email me ideas at davidsondrew@me.com or put it in the comment box. Really, anyway you want to send suggestions is fine with me.

Thanks for reading!!

The Technical Side of C-SPAN

Well, I cant really think of stuff to blog about, so I am going to be telling you about the equipment used at C-SPAN. 

Cameras

Well, C-SPAN is starting to edge their way into HD video and currently broadcast in HD in New York and Kentucky (Not sure why they choose the state with the lowest TV to house ratio in the US). But they are moving forward and I cant diss them for that. 

So they have a few different types of cameras that they use.

The first one that they mainly use is a standard definition camera. I am not sure the exact model but it is a camera close to the Panasonic AJ-HDX900. Its pretty cool.

They are starting to go HD, I couldnt tell you the make and model of the big cameras. They are starting to do some robotic HD camera stuff using cameras like these Sony's. They have two cameras that are remote controlled, then their signal is sent into a portable HD switcher (which actually may be this model.)

Then they have the ENG style giant broadcast cameras that are HD. Like I said, I dont know the exact make and model but I believe they do have them lol. 

Then they have the basic lighting kits, Arri and Lowel DP sets. They have the field audio mixers, some type of Shure model. CUC actually has the same model but uses them in their audio room. I was taken back to think CUC actually had something that professionals use. They also have their portable racks which contain tape decks, a few monitors, and a switcher. One portable rack holds half the equipment, so two are required for each field use. 

So on a one camera shoot, the gear that is taken is a smaller portabrace bag with cables, gaffers tape, and odds and ends; two Lowel DP lights; a tripod; a camera; and a push cart thing.

For shoots when we take the portable racks, we take a giant crate on wheels with the cables and such, the two portable racks; two tripods; and the cameras. 

Now with my internship I get to see some pretty cool stuff. For instance, I got to see the best view in DC(in my honest opinion) Now, I have a video that I uploaded, and I will give it a few days if it doesn't work then I will take it down. But here (hopefully) is the view atop the Hall of States Building

Now, I hope that is enough to tie you all over until I have my next post. Maybe Ill upload some pictures this week(end)

Stay Classy

Drew

Irregular Sunday Blog Posta

Whats going on world.
Its Sunday, not much is new. Watched the Browns game in a bar with the Browns Backers in DC. That was fun, I posted up in a little upstairs by a big projector and the bathrooms. This turned out to be beneficial fr my fellow Browns fans as they could now relieve themselves, while knowing a sober someone was there to fill them in upon exiting.

The internship is going good. just going day to day. However I have alot of downtime to think about things like film school, cameras, and my future. Which I am all excited about, and I wont bore you with all of that.

But just know I am doing fine, making my way in this city... (I thought I would hyperlink that but I couldnt think of a good video)

Drew

Sunday's Fun Facts

The Rosslyn escalator measures 437 feet.

Wikipedia says is it the third longest continuous span escalator in the world. I doubt it though, those Asians are always building bigger things.

I timed the trip up the escalator the other day, standing on one step takes two minuets and six seconds... That's a long time for an escalator.

Drew The Intern

As you all very well should know, I am spending this semester interning at C-SPAN. Now in most internship situations, I would be making copies, taking out the garbage, and making coffee. Now ask anyone at my Church, as I am sure I make awful coffee. My method is to pour a lot of those little brown granules until I feel as if I have used way to much for one pot. This leads me to believe I am not qualified to be making the beverage of choice for today top television hosts. This rules out any clerical positions for me.

Now let me enlighten you with this story.

Setting: Political Communication Class

Time: about 7:30PM, Wednesday the 8th of September

Near the end of our first class, our professor hands out a packet of three to four pages, stapled. She made herself clear that this would not be graded, and I let go a sigh of relief. To me, this meant it was super easy, or super irrelevant. So this paper turned out to be an assessment of things "related" to communication while being politically correct (this is what I thought the class was about). It was, more or less, a pop quiz to make all the Non-Poli Sci majors(me) realized there is a good reason they are not Poli Sci majors. There were probably 10 ID questions, Name-The-Chief-Of-Staff (of the last 5 presidents), What is each company associated with (Enron, ect.), among other off the wall things.

Now over the course of this assessment, I probably "guessed" 3 or 4 answers right. So that kinda proves I am not cut out for any position where I would be required to show my budding knowledge of anything related to politics.

So that pretty much left me with one option. Well, it actually left me with a few options, but I wont get into that. Ok, I'll get into it a little. There is one internship opening the field of programming, and within that there is something called Field Operations. This is right up my alley. So I applied, and BAM! here I am today, well kind of. After interviewing I was offered the internship.

Yesterday was my first day on the job. It was orientation day. No orientation day is complete with out a cheezy Welcome Video. Now the video we had to watch wasent bad at all, I just found myself laughing the entire time. Now, I am not quite sure what I can talk about and what I cant, dumb I know because I am not at the FBI or anything, but I am just playing it safe. So when I find out if I can talk about EVERYTHING. I will have one awesome post for you all.

In the mean time, the shoot I was at today, probably had... 15 camera crews there. It was legit. I remember one guy was talking about how he spent the past two weeks in Afganistan, and I think he mentioned Shepard Smith, Hillary Clinton, and General Petraus. That was pretty cool.

I have to run out and buy some clothes and some new shoes. So I will have a new blog post maybe over the weekend.

Drew

Wordless Wednesday (with a few words)

This is something my sister does on her blog (still waiting for my shout out...) and apparently you just post cool pictures... which is good because I take cool pictures... so enjoy...