Newscast #1 - Ian Miller - Spring 2019

Here we are at the beginning of the semester for WVU News. It’s an exciting time for all of us as it’s something new and unknown. We are all excited to bring you the news as students and possible future journalists. I’m the executive producer of WVU News and I want to show you a closer look at how we prep and film the show. I’m excited for all of you to see our improvements over time from the first shoot to the final one. Let’s get cracking.

Our reporters and anchors work hard to bring you what you see on screen. They put in hours of putting together scripts, getting approval, editing, and tying up any loose ends. For the first go round, I was proud of them for putting together what they did. The Monday morning before filming is a pretty chaotic time, as people are getting their finals cuts approved to be put up for show. The editing and voicing over is a tedious process, and they will only get better at it from here. Our Studio B anchor, Shayla Klein, ran through her part of the show as well.

Monday evening we had our first run-through to prep for the first show. With some help from Meg Weissend, I sat with the anchors and prepped them for how they should sound and what they should do on screen. We went through the script and made some minor changes to tidy up how the newscast would sound. This is the type of teamwork we need and will only get better from here.

Monday, 8am. The crew arrives at the Waterfront Studio to work on the show. Our main anchors, Claudia Sessa and Christine Robinson, showed up shortly after our sports anchor, Chris Marzullo, and I. The rest of the crew filed in and we were ready to get to work.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to those who made the show as packages. Claudia, John Lowe, Shayla, and our Social Square anchor Carly Vaniver, nailed their packages. If it wasn’t for them doing such a fantastic job, the newscast may have not gone so smoothly. That is especially for the first time.

Wednesday, 8am. The crew files into the Waterfront Studio for our first taping. Our main anchors, Claudia Sessa and Christine Robinson, are ready to go but relaxed at the same time. They did fantastic with not letting the pressure get to them and for the most part, were smooth in their deliveries. We were able to have some laughs in between takes to stay loose, which is something I really enjoy about our crew. They stay loose yet focused so they stay on top of their game.

Back in the control room, we had some help with Bri Clark, while John, Mitchell Blahut, Shayla, and I were running the controls. John is our director and does a fantastic job with operations in the back. He stays on top of the rest of the control room crew and keeps our graphics running smooth. With Gina Dahlia not there to help, the control room crew did a great job keeping everything in check. We went through four takes, each being better than the last.

This crew is going to improve immensely over the next several weeks, which is telling of their high ceiling of talent as a whole. Stay tuned, you won’t want to miss what’s next.