Media Observation #2

             Coming into the meeting, I was confused as to what eagle vision actually does and where the production center is. I’ve been there a couple of times, but I always get lost. Luckily, as I was on my way to the production center, I saw a friend of mine, Elizabeth Mak. She is working with eagle vision this semester and was on her way to the meeting as well. We went together and I ended up not getting lost. We talked about how I was interested in what eagle vision does and how they make packages. We also talked about a package I saw on my favorite graffiti artist, Banksy.

            The meeting was in a mini theatre I never knew our school had. I walked in and met the director of eagle vision, Stewart Olsen. He was really friendly and really excited to show up what they had been working on. Instead of a “story” like the articles they have in print, in broadcasting they call it package. We got to review some packages and point out good things and bad things about them. This is when I learned that broadcasting is pretty similar to print. They go through different categories like weather, media, sports, world new, campus news, etc.

            After we reviewed a whole episode of news, the executive producer, Taelor Smith checked in with each person to remind them of which package they needed to work on. I didn’t know it took so much preparation for someone to record a small story. I also learned how flexible you need to be in order to do eagle vision. People aren’t assigned to a package on one certain subject and are stuck with that forever, but you must have variety in your packages and learn to do all different kinds of stories. Smith also went through questions people had on their assignments and wanted to know where everyone was so far.

            There was also a lot of enthusiasm in the room. Everyone loved to be at those meetings and really enjoyed each other’s company. They weren’t so strict on the outcome of the packages but would laugh at the little mistake that they made. There optimism really made the vibe of the room comfortable to be in.

            Coming in, I didn’t really do much. I just took a seat and really observed what we were doing and the different personalities that were in the room. There were very big personalities that were part of this broadcasting crew and I found it a little intimidating to talk. One thing I could see from them is there love for news and broadcast. They really live and breath eagle vision, and their hunger to go out and do this for the rest of their lives was very evident to me.

            My experience here really opened up something like this for me. I came into the major of visual journalism wanting to emphasis on photojournalism, but this definitely puts video journalism into perspective. There is even an interest in being involved with broadcasting as an anchorwoman. Maybe I will even consider doing my first practicum with eagle vision. There is so much I learned about broadcasting that I never knew. Now that I know, it puts me in this position of wanted to explore it a little but more.

            I don’t know if I feel as strongly about it as I do photojournalism, but something about telling the news and helping others with health issues sparks an interest inside my heart. I feel that for now, I will stick to conveying a message through images, but really making an effort to learn more about eagle vision will help me to really understand exactly what goes on behind the scenes. I’ve only touched upon what eagle visions is during this meeting, so I really have no idea what it takes. This was a really good experience and I hope to have more like this.

Why it is important to record tragic events.

               Having visuals connected to a story shows real emotion in what happened. When we read about 9/11 and the tragedy that happened on that day, we experience the actual destruction in little ways. But when we see videos of the Twin Towers actually crashing down, or photos of people running away from the building, we can see the fear and distraught of the whole thing. They are not fake emotions or just a building falling down. In videos, we see the planes crashing into the buildings, the smoke coming out of the building, the building falling with people inside, and all the people yelling and running away. It is America experiencing a disaster.
              These things need to be recorded in order to help us remember those lives that were lost and the hardship America went through together. So many people had passed away which can only mean so many other family members, friends, and loved ones were affected by this as well, whether they are from America or overseas.

               The 9/11 tragedy specifically could have been used as a source to find who did it all, and who helped out. It was video footage to prove to the world that there is someone who doesn’t like us and is against us. Certain events can lead up to the way America or the world is today, and other generations that are coming may not understand those things. This is also when the past events that have been recorded are useful. Younger generations can better understand why we are the way we are.

               Not only do they help younger generations understand what is going on, it also helps the average non-news reading American to easily understand what is going on with the world. With the detailed, straight-forward writing of journalists and the clear, emotion-based photos of photographers, readers can easily grasped the news and what is being recorded.