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Katie at Newseum
By Dean’s Intern Katie Parody at Newseum
When people think of the Newseum the first thing that probably pops into their heads are the exhibits. This amazing, interacitve museum covers everything from the history of media to how news stories are made today (and you even get the chance to do a report yourself!) With beathtaking exhibits including a 4D theater, parts of the Berlin Wall, and a peice of the antenna to the World Trade Center, I can see why these are the things that come to mind. But you know what’s also really cool? The magic that happens behind those doors that say “Staff Only”, the stuff that goes on so that you have this wonderful place to enjoy. That’s where I go when I swipe my staff ID three times a week, and I am so lucky to be a part of it!
When I first started my time at the Newseum as Assistant Video Production Intern I was not entirely sure of what to expect. I was nervous, but that quickly changed on my first day when I realized how friendly the staff was and how patient they were to teach me. This was my first time being in a professional office environment and it has been a wonderful and welcoming experience!
My first assignments included digitizing old VHS tapes containing news broadcasts from the 1960s and marking down what was on them. From there, the Senior Producer selects which footage is useful for the final video. The Newseum has been working on a documentary covering the anti-war movement on Viet Nam and I have actually been able to edit peices of the documentary myself while following the script I’ve been given. I get so excited every time I’m in the editing room!
Speaking of editing rooms, the broadcast department has 5 editing suites. When I oringally started interning here I was only hoping I would get to spend some time in them. Now, I am happy to say I spend almost all of my time in them – I’m rarely at my own cubicle and I love it! The staff has had me helping them on various film projects by cutting footage, sound, or adding subtitles. But the biggest reward and project I’ve been given so far is working with Avid.
Avid is a very sophisticated editing software, and I’ve been wanting to learn it for some time now since I know most professional studios use it. My supervisor has been more than happy to teach me Avid and I can say with certainty that I’m getting the hang of it! I’ve recently been given my own project to do on Avid which includes finding sound bites, specific clips, and of course editing it all together with music, color correction, transitions – all that jazz! This has been a great opportunity to show my supervisors what I can do on my own, and I’m proud to say they like what I’ve done! Throughout the process of me working on the video (which is based on an event for the New Hampshire Primary held at the Newseum) it has been critiqued by staff who suggested changes here and there. I really appreciated the feedback and set to work on the changes. The project is almost done now, and I can’t wait to get started on the next one!
I suppose to finish off here I’ll recount something small but extremely motivating from the other day. As I was returning from a lunch break I wandered around the Newseum a bit and came across an exhibit featuring a video I helped work on. A group of kids were watching it (probably a school group) and they were saying things like “Woah what? That’s cool! Hey wait I didn’t know that!” I just had a big smile on my face and made my way back to the office upstairs, knowing I was going back to work on other film projects like the one they were currently enjoying.