I walked into the studio at 8:30 AM with a bagel and a coffee in hand. With an hour and a half until showtime, I’d be lying if I said that the few things that had to get finished in that span weren’t stressing me out. Being the first show that I produced and had to be in charge of, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect from the morning and in my limited experience up to this point, I assumed that everything was set in stone and would flow as smoothly as a show led by someone with more than one producing credit under their belt. (This next statement is to be read in Ron Howard’s Voice) It did not.
Live TV is a very different beast than I previously had experienced. For TV 1 last semester I was one of the producers for the final show, which, aside from the tags between stories, was mostly preproduced packages. With GMI, there are a lot of moving parts and keeping those parts oiled and running smoothly is critical to the run of the show, and little things can throw wrenches in the gears. About an hour before show, the interview guest that we had scheduled sent me a text informing me that she was sick and would be unable to make it in. My first roadblock had an easy solution: two of our anchors were a part of the same event and it was easy enough to have them talk about the event. Problem solved… until the time in the show came for that segment to air. A confusion as to where in the studio that interview would occur was the second roadblock. We were able to get it moved into the correct location after some scrambling but by then the rundown was already a bit out of whack. I can’t point blame at anyone but myself and I know that, going forward, communication is so, so critical to the show running smoothly because nobody else can see what image I have in my head. My show also could have used another package, about 2 more minutes of content, as we had to fill a lot of time with ad-libbing and rambling.
Overall, however, I would consider this first show of mine to have been successful. The mistakes and the confusions didn’t make it to air, and you would never know that we stumbled from just watching the program. This experience will definitely help me in my process for the next show I’ll be in charge of as I can use the first show as a sort of toolbox for solving whatever problems might arise next time. I’m optimistic that the rest of the semester can only get better. Good Morning, Illini!
Good Morning, Illini! This was my first show ever producing for GMI so I was really excited to get started. I produced in TV-1 and TV-2 but GMI’s show is a bit different from class. The week started off wonderful when people came to me with some really great ideas for their stories. I was so anxious to see how they turned out after the final edits were made. Throughout the entire week, I was so thankful that the team kept constant communication with me and asked questions when they needed to. I think it is extremely crucial to be in contact with everyone and check up on their progress over the course of the week.
For the live guest, we had the Illinois Theater Department come in to talk about their show, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. The cast was preparing for the premiere so it was fun to hear about their rehearsals and all of the hard work they have put into the show. Aside from the guests, some people really stepped up with their stories. Dan Gerardi featured an Illinette captain for a “Who Am I” piece and his video got over 5 thousand views. Producer, Andrea Flores, and Anchor, Erica Finke did a “Senior Bucket List” segment on Pandamonium Donuts that was also very good. Aside from some of our veterans, new people stepped up to provide some awesome content as well. They created VOs for GMI On Campus and a “Get Movin, Illini” and an “I Have A Question.” I was very lucky to be able to work with people who worked so hard to provide some incredible show content.
The show itself went really smooth besides some technical errors, which are always going to happen. I was really proud of the team and how well we worked together whether someone was running a camera, directing, or helping with graphics before the show. It’s so nice to have a team that is willing to help in any aspect of the show. What’s nice about having 3 producers is that we all get to alternate weeks and learn from each other to make our shows better. I am looking forward to my next show for GMI and I know we are going to accomplish great things this semester!
cupcakes. Having them on, brought good visuals and stuff to talk about on the show, as they demoed all kinds of cupcakes and ice creams. Generally, this flowed well with what we had in the beginning of the show, with couples skate, the eternal flame on campus, and lessons on swing dancing.With two shows under our belts, we as producers understand what we can learn and bring to the show. This is all a learning experience to help us get to where we want to go in life. With actual hands on experience, there’s so many different ideas and segments that can happen to this show. I look forward to what this season has in store for everyone involved!
Andrea Flores: February 8, 2019
Good Morning Illini! There are so many new things at GMI this semester, including producers’ reflections about their shows. I’m so excited to share what happens behind the scenes at GMI, since there’s so much going on behind the camera and these reflections will help all of us learn from our previous shows and do even better in the future.
As you may know already, there is a new GMI class offered to any year and major, so preparations for the first show began in the middle of January. That involved teaching everyone in the class how to shoot, edit and the ins and outs of the studio. Almost everyone in the class was fairly new to broadcast journalism and the studio, so that inexperience was definitely an unsettling part going into the show. Volunteers for the show before (and today) typically had studio experience going into GMI, so I worried that the class’s inexperience could be problematic for the show, in terms of camera work or switching in the studio. But, that worry was unnecessary, as everyone learned quickly in the weeks before the show, and during the show I could tell that everyone was getting a handle on things.
Last semester, I was part of GMI as the UI-7 News Correspondent, creating my own content weekly. It’s hard to describe how the transition from creating and producing content feels, but the closest term I can find is “hands off.” I’m not entirely used to letting go of control on things, but with a show like this, you have to let go and learn to trust and rely on others to come through with their own content. Another new thing that came with producing is managing a team, which I’ve always enjoyed to do, and it’s very rewarding to see the finished product of working together.
I am very happy with how my first show came out, but there were definitely some challenges. We unfortunately went over on time by thirty seconds, and there were various technical issues, but these are all learning experiences for the future. With that, I look forward to my other shows as well as Mady’s and Roger’s.