Megh's Blog

For my second documentary I am focusing on eating disorders in the modeling industry. Being in the industry for so long now I’ve seen how the pressures to be a stick thin fashion model affect people, including myself. I wouldn’t say I’ve had an eating disorder but I also wouldn’t say I haven’t either. In regards to eating disorder the blame is always put on the models for being the bad example and self esteem killers, but what about the models themselves? They are the ones who are being told to be that thin and are being tweaked and chopped up in editing.

So far I have only shot one interview, with my older sister. My older sister Miranda had a great modeling career around the age of 20 but pretty much quit it all when they kept pushing her to lose more and more weight. It began affecting her health and she was doing anything to lose it. She finally had enough and I’m so proud of her for being so strong.

This weekend I will be going home to shoot some more of my sister and next week I will be hopefully finishing up all filming and will start editing. Next Friday I will be going to Toronto to film a photoshoot I set up with a model who has had an eating disorder. I will film the shoot process; hair, makeup, shooting, etc. I will then film a sit down interview with both the model and photographer. I’m really looking forward to filming this shoot; I know I can get some really great shots.

This documentary means a lot to me and I hope I will be proud of it in the end. I can’t wait to start editing it and piecing together my interviews and sequences.  

The topic for my first documentary was originally about foster kids and youth leaving care. I planned on interviewing a friend of mine who is a Crown Ward, but also had planned to interview others as well.

Alyssa and I went to Brantford for a weekend as we both had filming to do. We filmed all of her work on Saturday and we’re going to film mine on the Sunday. That night I had food poisoning; it was awful. I’ve never felt that kind of stomach pain in my life and was up all night being sick.

The next day I sucked it up and went to film my friend at her house. Going into the interview I never thought my whole story would change and that I would hear what I heard.

I knew that my friend Shanna had grown up in foster care and I knew that her mother had passed away, but I didn’t know the half of it. While sitting there listening to a friend of mine tell me, “and then she was trying to drown me and my sister” (referring to her mother), I didn’t know how to react. I didn’t know whether to keep filming, to stop and hug her, or to cry. All I could do was continue to film and the interview became more intense, terrifying, and tragic as it went. I’ve never had a more intense interview in my life. I was so grateful that she shared that with me and my camera as she hadn’t before.

Although things didn’t work out as I’d hoped for my documentary, I seriously lacked b-roll, I’m still happy that I ended up doing the topic I chose. It was very eye opening to something I knew nothing about and I can’t wait to finish my next documentary.

Throughout my time in this program I have loved using the cameras we have here. The cameras took some time to get used to filming with, but once I did, it was definitely worth it. Coming from using Laurier’s technology to here has been a huge change and a change for the better. The technology we had at Laurier is nothing compared to all the amazing things we can use and do here at Conestoga College.

I have learned so many new things coming here and at first it was terrifying. I didn’t know how to use any manual settings on a camera, how to use final cut, how to make graphics, or anything like that. It was intimidating coming from such a theory based program to the real, hands on stuff. Once I got the hang of everything I realized how much we need this year to learn the hard skills required to be a Videographer.

During this program I feel that have learned more than my two years at Laurier. I did learn a lot at Laurier, but not the same kind of things. This year I learned so many important skills that I did not have before. I am very grateful that my Broadcast Journalism program at Laurier gave me the option of coming here for this program for my third year. I have been able to use the services and equipment here to create things I am very proud of.

This program is essential for us Laurier Students and I really hope they continue to offer this course. Without it I would know nothing that I do now and wouldn’t have discovered my love for not only on camera work, but also filming and editing.

Above is a screen shot of our amazing show this week. For April Fool’s day Thursday’s 519 Online News show we decided to do a joke show. We did all joke stories, hilarious hosting, crazy commercials, and some very interesting segments.

The show is being edited together as I write this and I can’t wait to see the final product. Alyssa and I did a story about the ‘sleeve monster’. The ‘sleeve monster’ story is about how guy’s sleeves are ripped off their shirts before they enter the gym by a monster. It was probably the most fun I’ve ever had filming and reporting on a story. I even interviewed a hamster! I did three stand ups; one in a tree, one on a chair, and one shoving a knife in a toaster (as you can see in the screen shot).

Dan’s fake commercials were so funny I watched them several times and Viktoriya’s segment almost had me crying I was laughing so hard. I didn’t get to see all of the stories or segments yet but from what I did see they were amazing.

I don’t think I’ve ever laughed that hard filming anything before; it was great. We’ve all been talking about doing a joke show since the beginning of the year and I’m so glad we finally did. I think it helped us let go of some stress and just have fun. These next few weeks are going to be a lot of work. I think we needed today to just have fun filming, editing, and playing with graphics. Sometime you just need to have a little fun.

I have yet to see the finished product, but I’m sure it’s hilarious. Hopefully we don’t get in too much trouble for doing this; at least everything was still shot and edited well.

Starting my internship at Rogers KW I was a bit nervous too be honest. I didn’t know how to get there or what I’d even be doing. I work on Talk Local; an evening talk show hosted by Haley Zimak. When I arrived at Rogers I was given a tour of the studio and control room and was shown how to use the cameras.

For the first day I worked one of the studio cameras. It was pretty simple to pick up on.  I only had to work the wide shot camera so I didn’t have to move it very often, which was a good one to start on. I didn’t think I’d be put to work right away and thought I’d just observe the first day. I would’ve liked a more thorough tutorial on everything and maybe a day just to take it all in, but I managed.

Since then I have learned how to use the cameras, do graphics, and also work the audio board. The audio board was the scariest thing to learn. It had so many buttons and switches; it was very intimidating. Another intern at Rogers showed me how to use it and it turned out to be much simpler than it looked.

I have learned a lot so far working on the show and watching how everyone else works. It’s really interesting to see how a live show works and is put together. It seems very stressful but they manage to pull it together every week.

I hope to learn how to do many more things during my time at Rogers TV Kitchener/Waterloo. I’m glad I have this opportunity to learn in a real  studio environment.

 Around six AM this morning my feature story was finally done.  Yesterday was one of the most stressful days of my life, but in the end I’m very proud of my story.

Of course I chose one of the hardest stories possible. No offense to some other people’s stories, but I wanted my story to be a heavier issue. I couldn’t just interview random people or my friends. Getting solid interviews was just one of my many problems.

So originally I called the methadone clinic here in Kitchener, but was refused an interview. I was also not allowed to film inside the clinic, so b-roll was also a problem. I was directed to call the head office by the clinic here and also had no luck there. I did however have an amazing interview with Frank Etherington, a city councillor of Kitchener. He gave me the side of the residents and businesses, but also discussed the importance of these clinics and what can be done.

Although I had this one great interview that covered all the areas of my story I needed another to complete it. I called around everywhere trying to get even just a phone interview with a doctor or nurse, but no luck.

In the end I ended up getting a very personal and incredible interview from a friend of a friend who had previously been using heroin.  When I had lost all hope things started looking up and it all worked out in the end.

http://www.globalnews.ca/video/reality+check+santa/video.html?v=2174160335&p=6&s=dd#video

This story is about how kids want so many gifts and to prevent temper tantrums some mall Santa’s are giving kids the harsh reality.

This is just awful; I understand that the economy isn’t the greatest and that kids won’t get everything that they ask for, but common. When I was a kid I had pages and pages of things on my list to Santa, but I never actually expected to get them all.

This takes all of the fun out of Christmas. I don’t think kids are actually expecting to get everything they ask for. Telling a child that they won’t get some of things they want is just wrong. It ruins the whole illusion of Santa and his magic. I think mall Santas should simply tell children to be good and wish them a Merry Christmas.

From an editing perspective the story wasn’t terrible, but the windmill transition was used far too much and was very distracting. I don’t think those kinds of effects should be used at all in news stories.

The reporter did a good job telling the story and getting the side of the mall Santa and the parents, but also speaking to kids.H 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/the-skinny-on-victorias-secret-are-angels-setting-a-bad-example/article2254785/

So I know this is a print story, but there are many stories like this going around and I just have to get my opinion out. So the Victoria Secret fashion show was this past Tuesday, but the show is raising a lot of controversy surrounding whether or not this show sets a bad example for body image.

I of course understand where they are coming from, but these are models it is their job to be slim and fit. Also, these models are not rails, they are muscular and healthy. Would you rather watch a high fashion show? A show featuring models half the size of the Angels walking the runway with scowls on their faces. Victoria Secret models dance, smile, and blow kisses. A lot of the models say that the show is what they look forward to all year.

Yes we should accept all body types, but we shouldn’t look down on these models for working hard to look the way they do. I just don’t understand it. It’s pretty hypocritical to not want curvier or bigger girls to be discriminated against, but to say the skinny, fit models are a bad example.

I strongly dislike how the story was done. It was full of sarcasm and distaste towards the show and the models. “Two models (sorry, “Angels”),” is one example of the sarcasm in this article. The whole thing is pretty rude.

So many people look forward to this show; it’s a fun and entertaining show. So just enjoy it, don’t trash it. People just try to find the bad in everything.

This week I am the editor of the news show and too be honest I’m terrified. I don’t have a whole lot experience with final cut other than the basics and have no clue how to do the lower thirds or put in our background. I’m sure with some help I’ll manage, but as of now I’m pretty nervous.

I am though glad I don’t have to prepare a story for this week as I’ve been very busy with my feature story. That’s another thing I’m nervous about. I’m not scared that I won’t get it done, but I’m a bit nervous for getting some more b-roll and using my phone interview. I had an amazing interview on Tuesday with Frank Etherington, a city councilor of Kitchener. He was so helpful and gave me tons to work with. His interview was actually not in my original plan, but I think it’ll be my best one. He speaks for the people of Kitchener and goes more in to detail about what was really going on down at the methadone clinic and how the people were reacting. He told me what could’ve helped the problem and what they plan to do about it.

I’m really looking forward to how my feature will turn out and although I am nervous to edit tomorrow I’m sure it’ll all work out.