Our second newscast is officially in the books! This week in the studio I think I did a lot better with coaching, even though we had to stop twice and try to get in five takes… It was definitely a lot more polished and people were eager to start since we all knew exactly what to do. I made sure I focused on the anchors more this time around, concentrating on their tone, the way they were sitting and their pacing. I was much more hands on this week and Dahlia even let me take the lead in criticism after each take. The anchors were supportive and tuned-in to making sure they fixed what I told them, which finally made me feel like the leader I’m supposed to be.
Writing the script went so much better this week than I thought! I cut down my mistakes to only 16, when last week I had 76… Maybe I shouldn’t be admitting that publicly, but I’m so proud of my improvement that I’m not too embarrassed to share that number. Once I got into the zone, I couldn’t stop writing. I discovered that I find it easier to knock out the script in one day, rather than only writing half one day and half the next because I feel like I lose the continuation of flow from story to story. So, as soon as I get into the groove, I start to enjoy myself. Even though it still may take 7 hours to write, I think it’ll get a lot easier by the time the last newscast comes around.
Another thing I focused on this week was trying to have fun! At the beginning of the semester I was really stressed and overwhelmed, but now that I understand due dates, when I need to send out emails, and how exactly to help others with their packages, I made sure to enjoy it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely putting 100% of my time and energy into this position, but I’m making sure I’m having fun with it since this is what I want to do with my career. For example, I try to be lighthearted and funny in the reminder emails by including a meme or a joke here and there. If my classmates and reporters think I’m strictly business all of the time, I think they’ll be nervous to come to me and ask questions, which is the opposite of what I want.
Next week, I plan on focusing more on making my lower third teases more creative while trying to perfect the script overall. My feedback from Professor Dahlia this week had a bunch of tiny errors that I missed, like thanking the reporters or forgetting a camera return. I’m confident that I can drop my mistakes down to even less this week...with the help of some coffee of course.