Thursday, July 17, 2008My Last Saturday...
Sorry, I know it's late. I get distracted by shiny objects and have been dealing with some frustrations.
Anyway... My last Saturday, which was last Saturday... It was just my last Saturday shooting, I still work there, but in case you haven't been keeping up, I was demoted (sorta) to editor. Sidenote: I can't drive still, so the reporters have to drive and it apparently ticked one of them off, so I got sent to editor. However, I didn't receive a pay cut, which is why I say demoted (sorta).
Anyway, I get in and we're sent out the door almost immediately to Okmulgee, OK to cover a homicide that happened the day before. Nice 40 minute drive. Once we get there, we make a wrong turn, which was fine until we cross some train tracks that failed to warn us of a nasty drop on the other side. Doing the speed limit (30ish), it felt like a Dukes of Hazzard jump!
Stuff in the back got knocked around, but didn't seem to be a big deal. Till we got to the police department that was. My reporter went in to find the cop we needed to talk to while I decided to get some b-roll of police cars, since I wasn't expecting to have much at the scene.
I set the camera on the tripod and flip it on.
Nothing happens.
I groan and assume my battery is dead, so I take it off. About that time I look at it and groan. One of the clips has broken off and is still attached to the battery plate! D'oh! I pull that out and get a different battery. Flip the camera on.
Nothing happens. Again.
"WTF?" I ask. Yes, I said W-T-F because that is how much I used to instant message and chat.
I pull that battery off and notice that one of the power connectors has actually broken off from the battery.
"D'OH!!!!!!!" I cry out. Several Okmulgee police officers look at me and move their hands towards their tazers. I assure them I am harmless and tell my reporter the bad news.
"They are going to have to send someone with a different camera."
Let me tell you something about Saturdays. There is no one there. One producer, one editor, one reporter and two photographers. And I was unsure what time the second one was off.
Luckily he was still on the clock and grabbed the only unsecured camera and headed our way. We spent the next 40 minutes listening to the police make fun of us for having broken gear. Once we were done there we headed to the house where it happened. We managed to find some nice neighbors who were happy to go on camera and tell us how nice the victim was and stuff. Beats knocking on doors, I'll tell you that much. We returned back to the station at about 6:30 and got to work on getting the story put together for the 9.
But wait, there's more...
Weather started to roll in, a big chunk of it severe. And it was headed right for Pryor, OK, where Rocklahoma - a rock concert, duh - was going on. Thousands of people and many, many bands.
And the weather knocked over two stages.
Minor injuries, but it was BREAKING WEATHER so my partner and I loaded up in the Nomad and hit the road.
Pryor is outside of our microwave range, so we needed a sat truck. I am not trained on the big one (even though when I started I told them I ran the SNG trucks in Vegas, they still didn't bother to train me on this one) so we took the Nomad, which is what I lovingly refer to as a sat truck for dummies.
Seriously. All you have to do is point it south, turn it on and hit deploy. The satellite transmitter finds the bird on its own and the guy at the sat center turns it on, adjusts the power, all that stuff.
However because of its simple nature, it's prone to failure. Add in storms and well, I think you can see where this is going. Another 40 minute drive later, and after I had stood in a foot of water to shoot what was left of the stage, the fucking thing would not work. So my reporter did a phoner with the sheriff, while I - drenched from a new line of storms rolling through - broke down my live shot.
Final result, NEITHER story got on air. Well, the homicide did a little. They ran a VO/SOT. However, they planned on doing a package on it Sunday; community reaction! Perfect! An easy day for me! Or will it be? Find out in our next installment!
Anyway... My last Saturday, which was last Saturday... It was just my last Saturday shooting, I still work there, but in case you haven't been keeping up, I was demoted (sorta) to editor. Sidenote: I can't drive still, so the reporters have to drive and it apparently ticked one of them off, so I got sent to editor. However, I didn't receive a pay cut, which is why I say demoted (sorta).
Anyway, I get in and we're sent out the door almost immediately to Okmulgee, OK to cover a homicide that happened the day before. Nice 40 minute drive. Once we get there, we make a wrong turn, which was fine until we cross some train tracks that failed to warn us of a nasty drop on the other side. Doing the speed limit (30ish), it felt like a Dukes of Hazzard jump!
Stuff in the back got knocked around, but didn't seem to be a big deal. Till we got to the police department that was. My reporter went in to find the cop we needed to talk to while I decided to get some b-roll of police cars, since I wasn't expecting to have much at the scene.
I set the camera on the tripod and flip it on.
Nothing happens.
I groan and assume my battery is dead, so I take it off. About that time I look at it and groan. One of the clips has broken off and is still attached to the battery plate! D'oh! I pull that out and get a different battery. Flip the camera on.
Nothing happens. Again.
"WTF?" I ask. Yes, I said W-T-F because that is how much I used to instant message and chat.
I pull that battery off and notice that one of the power connectors has actually broken off from the battery.
"D'OH!!!!!!!" I cry out. Several Okmulgee police officers look at me and move their hands towards their tazers. I assure them I am harmless and tell my reporter the bad news.
"They are going to have to send someone with a different camera."
Let me tell you something about Saturdays. There is no one there. One producer, one editor, one reporter and two photographers. And I was unsure what time the second one was off.
Luckily he was still on the clock and grabbed the only unsecured camera and headed our way. We spent the next 40 minutes listening to the police make fun of us for having broken gear. Once we were done there we headed to the house where it happened. We managed to find some nice neighbors who were happy to go on camera and tell us how nice the victim was and stuff. Beats knocking on doors, I'll tell you that much. We returned back to the station at about 6:30 and got to work on getting the story put together for the 9.
But wait, there's more...
Weather started to roll in, a big chunk of it severe. And it was headed right for Pryor, OK, where Rocklahoma - a rock concert, duh - was going on. Thousands of people and many, many bands.
And the weather knocked over two stages.
Minor injuries, but it was BREAKING WEATHER so my partner and I loaded up in the Nomad and hit the road.
Pryor is outside of our microwave range, so we needed a sat truck. I am not trained on the big one (even though when I started I told them I ran the SNG trucks in Vegas, they still didn't bother to train me on this one) so we took the Nomad, which is what I lovingly refer to as a sat truck for dummies.
Seriously. All you have to do is point it south, turn it on and hit deploy. The satellite transmitter finds the bird on its own and the guy at the sat center turns it on, adjusts the power, all that stuff.
However because of its simple nature, it's prone to failure. Add in storms and well, I think you can see where this is going. Another 40 minute drive later, and after I had stood in a foot of water to shoot what was left of the stage, the fucking thing would not work. So my reporter did a phoner with the sheriff, while I - drenched from a new line of storms rolling through - broke down my live shot.
Final result, NEITHER story got on air. Well, the homicide did a little. They ran a VO/SOT. However, they planned on doing a package on it Sunday; community reaction! Perfect! An easy day for me! Or will it be? Find out in our next installment!
posted by ewink at 10:09 PM
ewink's FUNKDAFIED Ranma 1/2 Site
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