Potential: The World's Most Dangerous Word

According to Merriam Webster,  po*ten*tial means existing in possibility, capable of development into actuality.

When I first think of the word, I'm thinking of an NBA or NFL team or player.  LeBron James, who at 16 years of age was called "The Chosen One" by Sports Illustrated in 2002.  James not only lived up to the hype but exceeded it as he currently has two championships on top of four MVP awards.  My mind then flashes to Vernon Gholston, an athletic freak who was expected to be a dominant defender.  He ended his NFL career after three seasons and 0 sacks.  The gap between James and Gholston is larger than the Grand Canyon, but at one point they were the same, linked to the same word: POTENTIAL.  After my initial thought of professional athletes, a new word creeps to the forefront of my head.  Danger.  I have to believe that knowing you are capable of unlimited human potential and not realizing it is both scary and dangerous.


Personally, I believe human potential should not just be categorized to athletes; it should be looked at in every way.  How efficient do we live our lives?  Could we go to the gym more?  Did I do my best at my job today?  What about that class project?  Potential is a scary word because it means you may never realize it.  It might never happen, just like it never happened for Vernon Gholston.

I can bring this topic of conversation to the class I'm writing this blog for: CMAT 466.  In our class, Dr. Burns has gone over white balancing, lighting, audio, etc. and yet, everyone myself included, always makes a little mistake that adds up.  A little bit too much leading room, not enough sequencing, shadows are too harsh.  Some projects are very well done, but we all know we could've made it better, just like I could probably make this blog a little bit better.  Often, he'll show us a news video professionally done, he then asks us "Does anyone here think they can't make this?" We all know we can, it's just that damned potential.

Part of the reason I wanted potential to be my topic is because this will be my last post.  I won't stop blogging, but my page here will not be updated.  I think potential will be a big theme for all of us about to graduate college.  We have a clean slate now, but do we have what it takes to realize our potential and make it in the real world?  We'll see.

It's been a lot of fun everybody, 

Cheers.

Procrastination (s)kills

It's happened to all of us.  We've had a project assigned early on the semester that's not due for several weeks.  All of a sudden, you're thinking "Eh, I don't have to worry about this.  I have ages to complete it."  The weeks pass, you party crazy , head to the beach, and essentially put your projects and work on the back burner.

After weeks of fun, you're back in class and you're teacher tells you your major project is due the following lecture.  Cue the freakout.  Where did the time go?  Anxiety begins to rise, and you literally start to lose your shit more than Jack Nicholson.  How can I get this all done so quickly? And how did it get to this point? The answer is PROCRASTINATION.

I'm sure most people reading this have been in similar situation as procrastination is considered to be very common among people.  In fact, a procrastinator's motto may be "Tomorrow's the busiest day of the week". Personally, I have a procrastination problem with school.  I usually wait until the last possible moment to start on a project, it's not healthy and it's caused undue stress on myself.  However, despite my procrastination issues, I do have a work ethic.  I do a decent enough job with grades (3.25 GPA), working at the same time (SGA), running my own website (Pulsefeedz), and helping run the family shuttle business (IMJ Shuttle LLC).  Although, I probably bite off more than I can chew, although that's a story for another day.  Anyway, back to the issue at hand: procrastination. It affected me strongly on my last project for my CMAT 466 class.

My trend story was due on Wednesday. On the Sunday preceding the due date, I still had no story approved.  As you could imagine, this was my reaction

By the grace of God, I was able to have a story approved midday Monday on the effect of Pawn store reality shows on the actual industry itself.  Seeing as it was about time for close,  I called owners of local pawn shops to schedule an interview for early Tuesday morning.  I went to the cage, checked my equipment twice over (no time for mistakes) and set an alarm early Tuesday for some B-roll shooting.

Tuesday arrived and I was ready for my interview.  Unfortunately, issues arrived early as my wireless microphone (With new batteries!) was having a weird humming that busted the audio more than Young MC.

These audio issues mean I was forced to use the awful camera mic, which definitely lessened the production value of the piece.  By 12 PM on Tuesday I had finished shooting my B-roll and my main interview.  Then I had a 3 hour Audio class that pushed me back farther.  I shot my second interview at 4:30 PM meaning I had approximately 7 hours to have an approved script and edit my final piece.
I ended getting my script approved by Dr. Burns at around 8 PM (the script was rushed so it was far from perfect) and got to my editing.  Except I couldn't find the video I logged in before.  It seemed I had lost all my footage.  Once again,  I was like...

Thankfully, I found my footage in a drive I had no clue existed after 2 HOURS OF LOOKING.  I laid down the base narration and interviews before time ran out.  I only had two and a half hours in the morning to finish my piece.

It took around 2 hours for me to make my edits.  I was relieved to have it done.  When it was time for me to show my video to the class, the video played.  The audio didn't.  I had forgotten to consolidate the narration (Basically the first thing we learn).  Yes, I felt really dumb.

I don't know what grade I received on that project yet.  But I can tell you I was capable of producing a package a lot better than that.

In conclusion, procrastination has killed me, specifically in this class.  I do not want to be looked at as lazy and had I not procrastinated I would not have audio issues, or narration issues, or some off shots.
It's something everyone seems to have a problem with and it's a big problem that I continue to work on it.

Hopefully this motivates everyone to get their work done...early!  If you have any tips or other procrastination stories I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Until next time,

Jerrad

Practice Makes Perfect

Last week, I was skyping with a friend from back home when the topic of Sims, a popular computer game, came about.  My friend casually explained how addicting the game quickly became and how she was trying to have her 'Sim' level up its strength by continuously working out.  Eventually, her character became a professional bodybuilder and at the top of their career.

This casual conversation revved up the gears in my brain and had me thinking "Is practice the key to being successful in a certain area?", or is there more of a natural element in being skilled in a certain area.  I picked up a basketball at the age of 3; since then, I've never let go.  After 13 years of organized basketball, I left high school with county and school records.  This supports my first point of thinking.  Practice=Success. Right?

Not so fast. My freshman year I took a general education marketing class which required students to compete in a DECA marketing competition.  Now I was a freshman in high school going through puberty.  I thought about sex not an S.W.O.T analysis.  Anyway, with limited experience, I qualified for the DECA State competition after placing high in the regional competition.  At the State competition, I placed even higher against hundreds of students.  So which is it? Talent or hard work? And how does it apply to media production?


After the raging internal debate seen above, I believe that a combination of talent and hard work are the basis for forming a skill.  However, with most areas I believe hardwork is 75% of the equation with talent filling out the last quarter.

"There is no substitute for hard work."- Thomas Jefferson

I would have to agree with our 3rd president.  Talent is advantageous, but you can never progress if you do not work with your given skill.  I don't think it could be any truer with media production.

I will not lie; some people have amazing talent with the camera.  They are able to take shots that I wish I could even think of.  However, this field is drilled with knowing not only the camera but also editing software.  All the natural talent in the world with a camera will not teach you what settings to best optimize a shot.  The same goes for editing.  No one is going to walk-in to a studio for the first time and know what they're doing.  The only way to become an expert in this field is by constant practice and experience.  It's not magic, it's hard work.

Until next time,
Jerrad

Behind the Scenes of My First News Story

Before delving into the specifics of my first two news stories,  I'll share some background of your beloved author.  My full name is Ranjeet Jerrad Pawar, although I universally go by Jerrad.  The name "Ranjeet" is commonly found throughout parts of northern India, which as you may have guessed, is part of my heritage.  I'm a 50/50 split on Indian and Irish.  Hell of a mix, as I always say.

Regardless,  I'm a junior in college and recently turned 21!  I have two majors.  One, is as you could probably derive from the title, a media production major in the communications department.  My other equally loved major is Marketing.

OK, enough of a biography, if you want to know more about me, check out my Facebook profile!

So, for my spring semester, I am taking essentially an all-communication class schedule-3 to be exact. Two of those classes are video based with Dr. Burns and require me to do a minute and a half piece on a story that is news.

This brings me to my first story which is...

UNIFIED SPORTS

I can already imagine the look of confusion on reader's faces when they read 'Unified Sports'.  Simply put, it's a branch of Special Olympics.

The video above is a promo for the 2014 games taking place in New Jersey (my home state!).  Now, I don't know about everyone else but that video gave me chills.  But the chills I got from doing the Unified Sports story was on a whole other level...

Unified Sports was brought about by the Special Olympics in the 1988 Special Olympics convention in Reno, Nevada.  Unified Sports changed the dynamic of Special Olympics by essentially saying let's these special needs people compete with the general population and put them on an equal footing pedestal.  It was crazy.  It worked.  Today, Special Olympics has ESPN and Walt Disney Corporation partnering with them on there Unified Sports Program.

But back to my story!  I had scheduled to meet with Chris Emge, the coach of unified sports at the local school.  I talked to Chris and I immediately noticed the passion he had not only for the sports but also the kids.  It was the first sign to me that there was something big happening here.

I set up the camera on the far side of the gym where they were practicing and began filming basic b-roll.  One of the kids, there were only four total there that day, began using the elliptical.  I turned around and started filming various machines, when I heard it.  Laughter.  And it kept going, it didn't stop.  I turned around and the kid just kept laughing and smiling, and there was something so innocent about it all.  It was pure unfiltered happiness, because let's be honest when you hear laughter while people work out I'm usually thinking they're having a breakdown.  But no, he was having so much fun just running, just practicing.  I'm almost sure that if he became a trainer, America would've fixed it's obesity problems a lot sooner too.

As the practice continued, I realized the laughter wasn't a blip on the radar.  All the people on the team had essentially the time of their life working out.  The funny thing is I didn't find any of the exercises particularly fun, and I love the gym.

However, the biggest takeaway, for me at least, was the interaction between the unified sports athletes and the football players.  They were laughing, hanging out, dancing, and being friends.  And it wasn't just one or two of them, it was everyone there, like they were all long lost brothers.  I found that shocking because I've been out of high-school three years and I just don't recall an atmosphere like that... between anyone!

After completing my interview,  I was surprised at how early the practice had ended, it felt like a half hour, 45 minutes top.  I glanced at the clock, two and a half hours had passed, and that's when I knew how special of a story this was.

Although my end video wasn't perfect, out of focus interview, lighting issues, non-white balance b-roll, I don't think I'll ever forget this story, even 20 years down the road.

Until Next Time,

-Jerrad Pawar