Recently, I left the world of journalism. The world of “Get up and Go!”. The world of knocking on the doors of the innocent to speak with them about their relationship to the presumed guilty. The world of shoving a camera in someone’s face as they walk into the police station. I also left the world of loved ones hugging as one of them just came home from an overseas war. The world of beer pouring over a victorious race car driver’s head. The world of college football players going crazy over their championship win.
Some highs, some lows. I’ve worked with a plethora of fantastic reporters. Almost all of them are extremely nice. I’ve been all throughout the state of Florida. Drove more miles than I care to think about. I’ve met great people while I was out covering stories. However, it was the time for me to move onto something else, and I took the opportunity to work at a production house.
The two jobs couldn’t be more different. Sure, I still shoot and edit video like I used to. However, when I was in news, I would spend maybe an hour max at a shoot, while I got all my video and soundbites. Now, it takes me half that time just to set up a scene for an interview.
In news, I only had about thirty minutes to spend on editing a piece, because it was usually airing in 35 minutes. In a production house, I spend hours and hours on something and find myself not even half done.
In news, the mentality is, “Get it out the door, and let’s move on”. In a production house, every shot is analyzed. Every soundbite is dissected. Every piece of music is played over and over and over to make sure it fits with the theme.
In news, you are the eyes and ears of what goes over the air. In production, there are many layers to get past in order for the project to be done.
In news, every day is a different day, different sights and sounds. In production, you could spend multiple days on the same project.
In news, there are a hundred people in a newsroom. In production, there are seven in a building.
The two jobs could not be more different, yet in other ways the same.
There is still shooting video with a creative eye, and a focused ear. Both jobs require a drive and an independence to get the project completed. And, both jobs require creativity.
With life one door has closed. Another has opened. And who knows what will happen next?