I kept promising to divulge in what I’ve been up to the past few weeks to a month. As most of you should know by now, I go to the Connecticut School of Broadcasting which from here on out will be known as CSB (unless, for whatever reason, I feel the need to spell it out). Since I’m still there, I know there’s a lot more I’m going to learn and experience. Initially it’s an 8 week program, but it offers a lifetime, career long service. I could talk all day about how awesome the school is, but for right now, I’m just going to explain why I’ve been so busy.
Like I said, the education lasts for 8 weeks. We’re taught by industry professionals (who are still working in the industry they teach) and we learn by doing. We take notes but at times it seems pointless (I take them anyway) because it’s all hand-on training. Grab the camera, sit behind the radio mic, DO IT! It’s intense. They throw a lot of information at you in a very limited time. Fortunately, I have a background in a lot of this stuff so some of it was a refresher, while other parts built on to what I already know. But I’m loving it.
Outside of class, our fearless leader and school director Art takes us out on
what a few of us have called “field trips” where we get to experience first hand what some people do for a living. Long story short, we go out and record live performances. We can’t call it “filming” because we don’t work with film. Especially not on these field trips, everything is recorded on to big memory cards. By the way, those cameras are nice. The ones they make us use… well… it gets the job done. But the point is we have to learn how to use a regular camera before they can trust us with the high end ones.
Anyway, I’ve now gone on three of these event field trips, sponsored be local radio stations which usually feature CSB graduates. There are a lot of them out there and all of them singing praises of what a great school it is and how it got them to the job they are working at now, or at least started them on their way. (By the way, the school specializes in dozen upon dozens of jobs. I wish I brought a few of my friends to at least check out the tour.)
CSB with Egypt Central
So our first event was somewhat of a mini rock concert. I want to have a separate post for that because of all the pictures I took and all the video we shot and experiences we had. That was last Friday. Monday I saw Sugarland. Due to this being a much bigger event, camera work was left to the professionals, which was our teachers. I took a few pics with my phone which I’ll also post later. But check out some of the stuff they shot here. Last night I saw Duran Duran (and a cover band called Kick). I actually got behind a camera this time, but video won’t be up for a few days, but I’ll post it when it does.
Besides that, I’ve been having a blast. My classmates are all very diverse and have their own bursts of awesomeness. I don’t want to call any of them out by name right now, there’s time for that later. All you need to know is sometime maybe in May you’ll get to hear a “morning” radio show online called “The Morning After” and yours truly will be the news anchor. It should be a lot of fun and I’ll also be living my dream. Part of it anyway.
Before I sign off, here is a look at an assignment I had been working on. It’s practically finished, but I was so excited, I wanted to show it off a little. The assignment was simple enough, shoot some footage, edit, add a voiceover, maybe some music, some transitions and have fun. Check, check, check, check, check, and check.
In case you miss the meaning, it’s a self empowering and encouraging song that you can be your own star and you don’t have to let others tell you what you can or can’t do or what you are and aren’t capable of doing. Early on, I felt that the song, or even the whole 6 song album, or Stump himself, was a less eccentric looking male version of Lady Gaga… when it comes to self empowerment and “be yourself” attitude.
I wasn’t expecting to see all artists involved that contributed to this song, but that would’ve been awesome. I was glad to see their names in shiny blinking lights by the end. I already know Rihanna’s wardrobe might be subject to discussion. As a guy, I’m fine with it. I recently read something somewhere about putting a stop to this “suspenders look” that seems to be trending at award shows and photo shoots. And I may not be a huge fan of her music, but she is nice to look at. Kid Cudi continues the trend of being filmed from behind. And of course there’s Mr. West doing his thing and on top of a police car with all it’s lights… as the song suggests.
