diane sison

Broadcast Journalist Student of Wilfrid Laurier University/Conestoga College

Somebody that I used to know.


For this semester’s 519 online news, I filled a variety of roles including: show host, entertainment host, weather anchor, producer, researcher for international news, reporter, in camera studio and I also added moving graphics to the weather board.

One of the hardest roles I took on was producer. A week before I was up to produce the show, I made sure there were at least three stories in the works, and shot and edited by Tuesday (production day). Tuesday finally came around and everyone showed up with their story either done or 90% finished, the downside was, we suddenly had to save all the stories for the week and cover the fatal accident that happened just outside Stratford.

Half the class drove on the scene, attempted to get footage of the press conference, and got some shots of the debris from the crash.  Although it was an interesting experience, as producer, it made it look like I didn’t have anything put together.

The first week back from winter break, I covered a story on how the lack of snow was affecting local ski resorts. Since I had previously covered a story there the month before, I was able to get in contact with their business manager, and quickly put a story together for our first newscast of 2012.

The only problem I ran into while putting the story together was a complaint made by the business manager I interviewed. She had asked me to send her my final story before I posted it on YouTube…so I did. To my surprise, she wasn’t happy with what I had.

She was concerned at how I framed the story around their business doing badly, and she wasn’t too impressed. She asked me to take that part out, and include more of their promotional events…so I told her I would try my best.

I’ve never had an experience where someone was trying to take charge of how my story was going to go. I talked to my teacher, and he said I did the right thing, and stuck to my story. He also said that if the resort wants someone making high quality advertisements, it’s something they’d have to pay a fair amount of money for. At that point, I knew I was being tested on how lenient I was as a journalist, and I feel like I did make the right decision in still submitting my story. 

Daytime Rogers TV - “get the baby drunk” Job Shadow Today, I job shadowed Susan Cook-Scheerer and Jay Chagnon, hosts for the Daytime show at Rogers TV. I chose to job shadow the pair because I was interested in seeing how two on camera personalities interacted on and off camera. I personally enjoyed Jay Chagnon, because he was very animated and was the same character off and on camera. I like the fact that he was able to get comfortable enough to be himself on camera which made it easier for him to be personable and easy to relate to. After they finished filming their live show, he told me that he had no formal training in broadcasting when he first got into the business. I was shocked and asked how everything happened for him… and he said that he was actually a guest on the show, and offered the station a hand if they ever needed it. Soon enough they were in need of a host, and he was there to fill in for the part. Before meeting Jay, I found him very intimidating with how he carried himself and the way he was put together. Once he started talking, I found myself drawn in by his character. He clearly had a broadcaster’s voice that was easy to understand, and I found that he used punch words to draw emphasis on what he wanted to get across. Susan on the other hand, had a more formal approach. She enunciated her words too, but she wasn’t as approachable as Jay was. She radiated a more newsy presence, which I guess works for a more news type show. They interacted well on camera, and off screen. They both had colourful personalities and looked as though they’ve been hosting for a long time. It was bizarre that their live hosting was better than their pre recorded show. They worked better under pressure and had more energy. I enjoyed the show itself because it was laid back and focused on entertaining issues. They both had interesting stories to tell off camera, which made the hour go by faster. Their guests also felt at ease, with the in studio atmosphere they created. They each talked up the guests before asking them questions on air, which made everyone in the room feel like they were part of the conversation.  Overall it was a great experience, and something to look forward to when getting into the business.

Daytime Rogers TV - “get the baby drunk”

Job Shadow

Today, I job shadowed Susan Cook-Scheerer and Jay Chagnon, hosts for the Daytime show at Rogers TV. I chose to job shadow the pair because I was interested in seeing how two on camera personalities interacted on and off camera.

I personally enjoyed Jay Chagnon, because he was very animated and was the same character off and on camera. I like the fact that he was able to get comfortable enough to be himself on camera which made it easier for him to be personable and easy to relate to.

After they finished filming their live show, he told me that he had no formal training in broadcasting when he first got into the business. I was shocked and asked how everything happened for him… and he said that he was actually a guest on the show, and offered the station a hand if they ever needed it. Soon enough they were in need of a host, and he was there to fill in for the part.

Before meeting Jay, I found him very intimidating with how he carried himself and the way he was put together. Once he started talking, I found myself drawn in by his character. He clearly had a broadcaster’s voice that was easy to understand, and I found that he used punch words to draw emphasis on what he wanted to get across.

Susan on the other hand, had a more formal approach. She enunciated her words too, but she wasn’t as approachable as Jay was. She radiated a more newsy presence, which I guess works for a more news type show. They interacted well on camera, and off screen. They both had colourful personalities and looked as though they’ve been hosting for a long time.

It was bizarre that their live hosting was better than their pre recorded show. They worked better under pressure and had more energy. I enjoyed the show itself because it was laid back and focused on entertaining issues.

They both had interesting stories to tell off camera, which made the hour go by faster. Their guests also felt at ease, with the in studio atmosphere they created. They each talked up the guests before asking them questions on air, which made everyone in the room feel like they were part of the conversation. 

Overall it was a great experience, and something to look forward to when getting into the business.

News Producer This year, my Videography program required us to select an elective, either News Producer, or Documentary. After discussing with my teacher, I decided that the course in News Production was the best for me, since it sounded more practical, and gave us the chance to showcase our two main projects on Rogers TV. Having the class located at the hub, in downtown Kitchener, definitely changed the atmosphere. Being in a professional setting, amongst people who were already in the industry gave me a feel of what it could be like working in the industry. Our class wasted no time. We immediately casted the host in week two, and pitched our two documentary ideas the week after. At first, I struggled in trying to find issues that had interesting characters who had a story to tell. My two original pitches included profiling a post-secondary professor, and asking the question as to why marriages aren’t as sacred as they were back then. I soon came to realize that my two chosen topics were very broad, and would consume a lot of time in order to cover every angle. I ended up dropping both topics, and starting off from scratch. The hardest part of the assignment was finding an idea that would work. After I exhausted all my options, I decided to look back on previous papers I did back in University… then I finally landed on an idea. I chose to do my first seven minute documentary on foreign credentials. The topic surrounds the issue that professional immigrants have when coming to Canada. The conflict in the issue is that the education and professional experience immigrants acquired prior to coming to Canada amount to nothing when looking for a career. It’s a very relevant issue, especially because it still exists and continues to affect a large sum of Canada’s population. I interviewed 10 immigrants who were affected by the Canadian employment standards, and an immigrant lawyer who’s had previous experience in the issue, with his clients and himself.   My second documentary profiles the career of a pastor. I haven’t established which angle I will chose to approach the subject, but it will definitely differ from my first topic. Instead of focusing on a conflicting matter, my second doc will unravel what it really takes to become a Pastor, and the type of responsibilities one must take on, in order to get involved in this type of career. So far I have interviewed two pastors, one who is currently practicing the profession, and another who has just retired. I’m still looking for a third interview to diversify my story, and add another perspective.

News Producer

This year, my Videography program required us to select an elective, either News Producer, or Documentary. After discussing with my teacher, I decided that the course in News Production was the best for me, since it sounded more practical, and gave us the chance to showcase our two main projects on Rogers TV.

Having the class located at the hub, in downtown Kitchener, definitely changed the atmosphere. Being in a professional setting, amongst people who were already in the industry gave me a feel of what it could be like working in the industry. Our class wasted no time. We immediately casted the host in week two, and pitched our two documentary ideas the week after.

At first, I struggled in trying to find issues that had interesting characters who had a story to tell. My two original pitches included profiling a post-secondary professor, and asking the question as to why marriages aren’t as sacred as they were back then.

I soon came to realize that my two chosen topics were very broad, and would consume a lot of time in order to cover every angle. I ended up dropping both topics, and starting off from scratch. The hardest part of the assignment was finding an idea that would work. After I exhausted all my options, I decided to look back on previous papers I did back in University… then I finally landed on an idea.

I chose to do my first seven minute documentary on foreign credentials. The topic surrounds the issue that professional immigrants have when coming to Canada. The conflict in the issue is that the education and professional experience immigrants acquired prior to coming to Canada amount to nothing when looking for a career.

It’s a very relevant issue, especially because it still exists and continues to affect a large sum of Canada’s population. I interviewed 10 immigrants who were affected by the Canadian employment standards, and an immigrant lawyer who’s had previous experience in the issue, with his clients and himself.  

My second documentary profiles the career of a pastor. I haven’t established which angle I will chose to approach the subject, but it will definitely differ from my first topic. Instead of focusing on a conflicting matter, my second doc will unravel what it really takes to become a Pastor, and the type of responsibilities one must take on, in order to get involved in this type of career.

So far I have interviewed two pastors, one who is currently practicing the profession, and another who has just retired. I’m still looking for a third interview to diversify my story, and add another perspective.

ABOUT ME When someone asks me what career path I chose, they are often curious about my answer. “Why journalism?” … For a while I asked myself the same question, as I got into the program, I grew to love it, and formed a reason halfway through. Not many people understand what it takes to be a good journalist, and I feel that it involves developing a character that is well-rounded who always has the interest in educating themselves and others about issues that should be questioned… most importantly, in an objective manner. I’m currently in my third year of my post-secondary program of Journalism at Wilfrid Laurier University, in the stream of Broadcasting, which involves spending a year at Conestoga College to gain the hands-on experience. I believe that visuals are one of the most powerful ways to draw people in. So why broadcast journalism? Well, if you met me a few years ago, you probably would’ve never guessed that I’d ever aspire to be part of this industry. For the most part, I felt that it was one of my greatest weaknesses, standing in front of an audience delivering a message, with the hopes of drawing people in… In fact it’s what I dreaded all throughout grade school. I know most people usually stay away from what they’re worst at, but for me, I felt that it was important to overcome something I always struggled with… I felt that it was time to face my greatest fear. We go to school to learn, and that’s exactly why I’m in Journalism, it’s a career that will continuously educate me in all sorts of issues, overcome my fear of intimidation, and most importantly deliver the news to those who need It most… you.

ABOUT ME

When someone asks me what career path I chose, they are often curious about my answer.

“Why journalism?” …

For a while I asked myself the same question, as I got into the program, I grew to love it, and formed a reason halfway through. Not many people understand what it takes to be a good journalist, and I feel that it involves developing a character that is well-rounded who always has the interest in educating themselves and others about issues that should be questioned… most importantly, in an objective manner.

I’m currently in my third year of my post-secondary program of Journalism at Wilfrid Laurier University, in the stream of Broadcasting, which involves spending a year at Conestoga College to gain the hands-on experience.

I believe that visuals are one of the most powerful ways to draw people in.

So why broadcast journalism? Well, if you met me a few years ago, you probably would’ve never guessed that I’d ever aspire to be part of this industry. For the most part, I felt that it was one of my greatest weaknesses, standing in front of an audience delivering a message, with the hopes of drawing people in… In fact it’s what I dreaded all throughout grade school.

I know most people usually stay away from what they’re worst at, but for me, I felt that it was important to overcome something I always struggled with… I felt that it was time to face my greatest fear.

We go to school to learn, and that’s exactly why I’m in Journalism, it’s a career that will continuously educate me in all sorts of issues, overcome my fear of intimidation, and most importantly deliver the news to those who need It most… you.

Getting my foot in the door. I’m 70 hours into my Rogers TV internship, and all I can say is, I’m looking forward to continuing the hours throughout the summer vacation, and hopefully until I find a job. I originally applied for five different Rogers TV locations, MTV Canada, Much Music and the Discovery Channel Network. Out of those, I only heard back from Discovery Channel’s the Daily Planet, and Rogers TV in Kitchener. Since the Discovery Channel Network didn’t hire interns until the summer, I went for Rogers TV.  During my interview for the internship, I had chosen to be part of the Roger’s mobile team, barely having any idea what that involved other than on location shooting. After arriving at the station for my first day of interning, I met with videographer, Sarah Monette who’s had two years of experience working for the company. She toured me around the station, and demonstrated how to use their cameras, and their massive tripods. Only a few seconds after showing me the ropes, she decided to test me on what I just learned by having me set up the equipment myself. Since then, I’ve done shoots with her, including interviews, ‘steeters’, and b-reel shots for her stories. All her stories were for the show, Talk Local. Usually, our days consisted of shooting in the morning, then heading back to the studio to edit the footage, just in time for the evening show that airs at 7. It was definitely interesting to see the different editing programs she used, such as AVID, and their prehistoric DV tapes. I was taken back by the equipment they used. I assumed that being an aired station would automatically give you access to the latest editing software and equipment. I got to have some of the shots I filmed air on television. I’ve learned about many issues just through covering numerous stories with her, issues that in most cases wouldn’t draw my interest. During my internship at Rogers TV, I was able to get involved in a variety of duties. Some of the duties included in camera studio for Talk Local’s live show, and promotions at the OHL playoff games. One that I least expected to undertake was hosting an entirely separate show just a week after I started. The producer of Grand River Living, Derek Roberts approached me the first day. At first I was hesitant to take on the offer, but then I realized that it would be hard to get this kind of opportunity again. A week later I was in front of the camera, shooting throws for Grand River Living’s ‘Best of’ episode. Up to this day, I’m still learning so much. Especially working with such a easy going group of people at Rogers TV Kitchener. I’ve met very personable individuals at the station, and hope that in the future will help me in networking, when I actually aim to find a stable job in the industry.  

Getting my foot in the door.

I’m 70 hours into my Rogers TV internship, and all I can say is, I’m looking forward to continuing the hours throughout the summer vacation, and hopefully until I find a job.

I originally applied for five different Rogers TV locations, MTV Canada, Much Music and the Discovery Channel Network. Out of those, I only heard back from Discovery Channel’s the Daily Planet, and Rogers TV in Kitchener.

Since the Discovery Channel Network didn’t hire interns until the summer, I went for Rogers TV.  During my interview for the internship, I had chosen to be part of the Roger’s mobile team, barely having any idea what that involved other than on location shooting.

After arriving at the station for my first day of interning, I met with videographer, Sarah Monette who’s had two years of experience working for the company. She toured me around the station, and demonstrated how to use their cameras, and their massive tripods. Only a few seconds after showing me the ropes, she decided to test me on what I just learned by having me set up the equipment myself.

Since then, I’ve done shoots with her, including interviews, ‘steeters’, and b-reel shots for her stories. All her stories were for the show, Talk Local. Usually, our days consisted of shooting in the morning, then heading back to the studio to edit the footage, just in time for the evening show that airs at 7.

It was definitely interesting to see the different editing programs she used, such as AVID, and their prehistoric DV tapes. I was taken back by the equipment they used. I assumed that being an aired station would automatically give you access to the latest editing software and equipment.

I got to have some of the shots I filmed air on television. I’ve learned about many issues just through covering numerous stories with her, issues that in most cases wouldn’t draw my interest.

During my internship at Rogers TV, I was able to get involved in a variety of duties. Some of the duties included in camera studio for Talk Local’s live show, and promotions at the OHL playoff games. One that I least expected to undertake was hosting an entirely separate show just a week after I started. The producer of Grand River Living, Derek Roberts approached me the first day. At first I was hesitant to take on the offer, but then I realized that it would be hard to get this kind of opportunity again.

A week later I was in front of the camera, shooting throws for Grand River Living’s ‘Best of’ episode.

Up to this day, I’m still learning so much. Especially working with such a easy going group of people at Rogers TV Kitchener. I’ve met very personable individuals at the station, and hope that in the future will help me in networking, when I actually aim to find a stable job in the industry.  

DeGeNeRaTiOn NaTiOn: 519 Online News: Point of View

degenerationnation:

I’m sure by now that most of you have seen the very special segment included in Tuesday’s newscast. What started as a random conversation between Oje and myself has now become a reality…one to be seen by the world wide web.

It originally started as something that Oje and I had planned to do…

I think I had just as much fun or even more… just watching you guys try so hard not to break into laughter while I filmed your takes for the show. It’s definitely the kind of risks the class needs to be taking with our news show. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to learn how to do the conventional news cast, but now that everyone in class is all warmed up and more comfortable with their roles each week, I think it’s time to change things up, and you guys have.

Great chemistry with Oje on camera by the way, keep it up.. Next semester is just around the corner!

Which breed are you?

VIDEO: http://watch.ctv.ca/news/top-picks/shopping-style/#clip582385

I enjoyed how the reporter started the story off as a metaphor calling the eager shoppers, animals referring to them as, ‘hoards of Christmas shoppers’ , and goes as far as calling them a specific breed of shoppers such as ‘hunters’ and defining it as, “one who searches for or seeks something”, and another breed as ‘gatherers’ and ‘picky’. Picky shoppers were defined as, “excessively meticulous, and fussy”.

 The story is light and almost humorous, with shots of the hunters diving into the stores, while the gatherers sit on benches and look after the bags. I think the story is solely to hype up everyone for the shopping season and to begin the countdown to Christmas day. There were no formal interviews, only streeters.

They used great b-roll showing the exact breed of shopper while the reporter’s voice over defined it. They also used graphics to define each breed, which I thought was creative and made the story seem like a discovery channel episode about animals. With shopping stories, I always wonder how the reporter gets permission to do video recording in the mall.

The story was well put together, and although it lacked serious content, I think it went well with the holiday season spririt, and the fact that people probably have enough stress on their mind to process a serious story. 

Looking back on my feature

I’m going to be honest, I didn’t think a three minute feature story would’ve take me as long as it did.. and it definitely doesn’t help when your hard drive crashes two days before it’s all due. 

The hardest part of it all? Coming up with a topic, and then having to figure out what to do with it. There are a lot of issues out there to cover, yet this assignment asked for something more unique, something that would keep people hooked.

I’ve gotten so used to putting together a story with a group of people or at least one other person that I almost forgot how hard it is to get all the sources yourself, get all the good interviews, and shoot the perfect shots.

I felt so lost not having a solid topic a week into the assignment. Even after looking through current issues in the news, nothing stuck out to me or at least seemed good enough for a feature story.

My original topic was related to the 7 billionth baby story, and how the earth’s population is rapidly surpassing the amount of natural resources the earth can reproduce in order to support our way of life.

I found it difficult to figure out who I was going to interview, and what stand point I’d take in the story, so I decided to move on. I pitched my topic on student housing affecting residents, right after I came across an article in the Kitchener Post. The article talked about residents who have decided to move to a different house, due to how much the students were disrupting their peaceful neighbourhood.

It sounded to me like the perfect story, since I am currently living in a neighbourhood and a city with three post-secondary institutions drawing in 50 thousand students every year, who in most cases are choosing to live away from home, and into student housing.

Since it was already hard trying to find a story for one of my other classes and getting footage for that, I found it very time consuming just to shoot the b-roll alone. After shooting b-roll for my promo, I was missing shots of the other two post secondary institutions in the area, Wilfrid Laurier, and Waterloo University.

Getting shots of the two universities actually took me three hours, having to take at least six buses getting there, transferring numerous times, and back to school to edit. It was difficult to get footage of a house party because no one I knew was really comfortable having shots of their friends partying and drinking.

My first interview was of a student at Waterloo University who had an experience where one of her neighbours called the cops while she had people over. My second interview was a landlord in the area who was a student as well only a few years ago, and told me that he understood what it was like being a student, so he was more lenient as a landlord.

I had two other interview options, which was a police officer from the Waterloo Regional Police, and a real estate agent in the area. After my interview with the Waterloo Regional Police fell through, due to lack of planning, and time constraints, my only other option was getting an interview from a real estate agent.

Unfortunately, although I was able to get a hold of five different real estate agents over the phone, none were willing to give me an interview. Personally, out of the five I spoke with, only one was friendly.

So now I had to put together my story with one strong interview, and another that barely gave me anything to work with. With the due date drawing closer, I had to start putting pieces together, with what I had. The audio for both the interviews I got were really low, which made it hard to match the rest of my story.

…Then my hard drive decides to short wire itself… making it impossible to work with. Even after getting a new chord, and having all of the IT guys in school look at it, it was impossible to get it up and running again. Even Brian, the head of the IT department said it just happens sometimes to hard drives, and there’s nothing anyone could have done to fix it. Now I’ve lost most of my footage, and have two days left to do the rest of my story, faaantastic.

After reading through a few more articles on the topic, I found one that was about a bylaw in the process of getting passed due to numerous complaints in regards to the disturbance in the Doon area, pertaining to student housing. I was able to get a hold of the reporter who covered the story, and he was able to give me an interview the morning before the assignment was due. I actually had to record the phone interview using a video camera, because all the audio booths were occupied.

I had only a few hours left to hand in my assignment, so I worked with what I had. I put together the b-roll and the two on camera interviews, and managed to add the phone interview hoping it would add to my story.

In the end, I’d still say it was a lot of work for such a small story. There are a lot of things I would have done differently, but all my mistakes certainly taught me a lot. 

My first AOC

I was a reporter for this week’s newscast. I chose to do a story on the new ski lift the Chicopee Ski Resort recently added. They are having a ribbon cutting event on December 16th marking the opening for the winter season activities on the hill.

I was actually looking for skiing deals when I came across the new ski lift article and immediately emailed the business manager of the resort.

The very next day I got a response and was able to schedule an interview with her.

I have been reporter before, but I have only done voice overs. Since the semester was drawing to an end, I wanted to have a story where I had a stand up. I did stumble a few times, but Christine was really helpful and I managed to record some shots smoothly.

On the day of the interview, Christine Stonos, my camera woman for this week came with me. We arrived on the deserted resort eager to get some b-roll and more importantly have shots of the ski lift moving.

Luckily it was a sunny day, and the lighting was great during our interview with Lori McCrae.

On our news day we edited the clips, and put together our story. One of the hardest clips to edit was Lori’s interview because during her interview the sun was blocked by clouds so the shot got progressively darker.

Fortunately, we used gamma and colour correction and were able to make the darker parts of the interview closer to the brighter shots. 

christinestonos:

This is a story found on the Global news website about the latest in sexting. I thought that this was a very good story and covered the issue from a different angle.

One of the things that I found particularly interesting is how the reporter found out what the different abbreviations meant. I had never heard of them before and some of them were very clever; for example, providing a warning sign in case there is a parent in the room.

This is something that parents should think about, especially because if they were to see one of these abbreviations then they wouldn’t have any idea what it meant.

And sexting is a practice that can have some harsh consequences; especially when there are photos or videos taken of people who are under-aged. I was glad that the reporter mentioned both the social and legal consequences that can occur.

One thing that I found took away from the video was the length of the clips. I found the clips that featured texts and words were a little short for the viewer to get the complete grasp of it. I couldn’t read all of it in the time allotted and I found it annoying and distracting. But I do understand why they wouldn’t want to spend too much time on those clips considering that some people might become offended if they actually had the time to read them.

I think it’s an interesting story and I’m shocked at all the streeters that were comfortable admitting they have sexted, or have received a sext. 

One of the streeters’ made me laugh when he was asked if he sexted, and his response was, “Oh yeah all the time”, like it was something to be proud of. 

Personally I don’t see any harm in it, especially if it involves individuals who are in a relationship and as long as it’s not a minor sending inappropriate images.

Also the abbreviations the reporter mentioned in the video shouldn’t even be considered sexting, especially if it’s just letting someone know their parents are in the room.

I was just as surprised as the parents when the reporter spelled out what the abbreviations stood for.

I could see this story as a ‘kicker’ or a ‘fluff’ piece, because it’s nothing that has much of an impact on society. I understand that it could be a good indicator at where I society is headed.

Technology is definitely affecting how we communicate in our relationships, and how we show affection, but it definitely has its risks.