I know it's been a while, but it's been a busy transition from Fresno to Lexington! I'm now an Assistant Professor of Media Arts and Studies at the University of Kentucky. My main gig is teaching various studio production classes and Comm Tech & Society (what we call New Media Technologies here), but for my first year, I'm filling in as Instructor/News Director (in addition to Production Manager/Live director) for what we have recently rebranded as Wildcat News.
Much like Fresno State Focus, Wildcat News is our student-produced newscast. Depending upon enrollment, we air between two and four days a week live on Twitch and post to YouTube (Fall 2022 edition). You can also find us on Twitter, of course!
In Fall we aired live on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 4pm.
This semester was an adventure as we upended format and added new production elements and a new prof (me!). I am really proud of the work these students put into the shows, not to mention their patience with me as I tried to figure out ALL THE THINGS while still getting the class up and running.
Our current studio is nearly entirely virtual. So. Much. Green. This has been a bit of a challenge, as we are more or less starting production elements from scratch and graphic design isn't my strong point. That said, it's also made it a more creative endeavor as we can play around with our on-air look. You can see in Lexi's pic (top right) what her background looks like to the folks at home.
Now that the semester is done and I can breathe a bit, I've started putting together a new hardscape aux set with the help of colleagues Hailey Salyers, Chris Lamour and Logan Back. This will help add elements to the show without having to scramble for chroma backgrounds and chroma-happy clothing.
Much like I did in Fresno, I also started rearranging the furniture! I came in one day and shoved that news desk into the corner. Some things don't change!
We also have new-to-me control room gear. As I am currently teaching editorial (the on-air storytelling side), my newscast production class (behind-the-scenes) is on hold until we hire a new colleague. At the same time, I'm the person hired to do the studio things, so I got to hire and train a couple of production students and also got to sit in the hot seat myself, usually just as the director (calling), but once as director/td for a special we produced just before Thanksgiving.
I found out 3/4 of the way through the semester, I have what we call a "god mic" (pic on the right), allowing the director to talk over a studio speaker (usually in the ceiling, hence the name) to everyone on the floor including those not on headsets. Total game changer!
Next semester, I will be taking over the non-news studio production class, too. I was co-instructor this semester as I figured out where stuff lived and how things worked. I still got to do my floor directing demo, though. :) That's Rachel on the right of the camera. She's one of my awesome Wildcat News TDs (see pic on the left above).
I will post more as I have a moment. It's been fun, if a whirlwind, so far! But I didn't want you to think I had forgotten about this page. I have more things in the works in the semester ahead. Stay tuned!
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