My Favorite Medium!

After only a few days, my fellow campers and I have gained experience in several news media. On the first day, we worked in broadcast journalism, where we scripted and shot a complete news package about a panel that came to speak about the Above the Influence campaign and the Dream of Hattiesburg program, which educates people about drug and alcohol abuse. It was a very serious discussion, but the panelists were nice and gave us a lot of information. I learned a whole lot that day, especially about the process of filming a news segment and piecing it together. It was fun to write the script and create our PSA for the Above the Influence ad campaign, but I don’t think this area is for me. My favorite medium so far has definitely been radio. The sheer contrast between the work environments of the film and radio crews was striking. There seemed to be many more choices in the hands of the radio producer than in the hands of the film producer, because the radio hosts were not held strictly to reporting news. They are able to pick music, make commentary, and add sound effects and recorded clippings wherever they like, which gives them more creative control. Also, they were really friendly and didn’t mind taking the time to help us create a short radio program from the ground up. The fact that the radio station was based mostly on music was also really cool. I talked to one of the producers who had his own metal show from 12 A.M to 4 A.M. and he was able to pick all the music and say pretty much anything he wanted to on it! Also, the director of the station told us about how we are able to create a whole story in the minds of the listeners by using sound effects, such as gravel in a paper bag to sound like troops marching, which adds a whole new level of possibilities to the broadcast. I just think it's cool to be able to create an entire world inside someone's mind using only words and sound effects!