So here it is. The moment has arrived.
It's been over a year since this year's second year Crecomms began deliberating their IPPs (independent professional projects). And now, the time has come. It's almost hard to believe.
For those of you who don't know, my IPP is a video documentary on arranged marriages.
It has been a long and challening year for me with this IPP and, no doubt, the next week and a half, as I finish up and prepare for my presentation next week, will only be longer.
That being said, how sweet the end of the race feels!
I am so excited to finally have something to show for all of my work, and the final product reminds me why I chose a documentary in the first place. Because I now have something I can show to tell this story.
Next week marks IPP week. To anyone who reads this blog or knows anything about Crecommm, all the second year Crecomms will present their IPPS over the course of three days (March 9-11) at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. Here is the list of the order.
http://creativeinlove.blogspot.com/2011/02/ipp-time-baby.html
If you're in the area, drop by. It's unbelievable that Crecomm is ending and that in one week, the IPP, the thing that's been looming over our heads for over a year, will be over.
Wow. Time flies.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Going back to the basics
Duncan, I'm sorry! For my post today, I am reverting back to the beginning....to my original blog topic...Love.
I'm sorry, but it's Valentine's Day!!! How could I not post about something to do with love?
I will refrain from posting about how people who don't agree with the holiday should come over to the dark side....lol, I'll let that debate go (I already had it with 7 people today...)
Instead, here are some of my favourite love poems...They aren't all happy...as love can be a rollercoaster of good and bad, but nonetheless, here are some wise words about love.
And Duncan...how does this relate to journalism?
Easy....poems are words mixed with creativity...which in a lot of ways is what crecomm is all about!
The Benjamin Franklin of Monogamy
Jeffrey McDaniel
Reminiscing in the drizzle of Portland, I notice
the ring that's landed on your finger, a massive
insect of glitter, a chandelier shining at the end
of a long tunnel. Thirteen years ago, you hid the hurt
in your voice under a blanket and said there's two kinds
of women—those you write poems about
and those you don't. It's true. I never brought you
a bouquet of sonnets, or served you haiku in bed.
My idea of courtship was tapping Jane's Addiction
lyrics in Morse code on your window at three A.M.,
whiskey doing push-ups on my breath. But I worked
within the confines of my character, cast
as the bad boy in your life, the Magellan
of your dark side. We don't have a past so much
as a bunch of electricity and liquor, power
never put to good use. What we had together
makes it sound like a virus, as if we caught
one another like colds, and desire was merely
a symptom that could be treated with soup
and lots of sex. Gliding beside you now,
I feel like the Benjamin Franklin of monogamy,
as if I invented it, but I'm still not immune
to your waterfall scent, still haven't developed
antibodies for your smile. I don't know how long
regret existed before humans stuck a word on it.
I don't know how many paper towels it would take
to wipe up the Pacific Ocean, or why the light
of a candle being blown out travels faster
than the luminescence of one that's just been lit,
but I do know that all our huffing and puffing
into each other's ears—as if the brain was a trick
birthday candle—didn't make the silence
any easier to navigate. I'm sorry all the kisses
I scrawled on your neck were written
in disappearing ink. Sometimes I thought of you
so hard one of your legs would pop out
of my ear hole, and when I was sleeping, you'd press
your face against the porthole of my submarine.
I'm sorry this poem has taken thirteen years
to reach you. I wish that just once, instead of skidding
off the shoulder blade's precipice and joyriding
over flesh, we'd put our hands away like chocolate
to be saved for later, and deciphered the calligraphy
of each other's eyelashes, translated a paragraph
from the volumes of what couldn't be said.
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
William Shakespeare - Sonnet #18
Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
I'm sorry, but it's Valentine's Day!!! How could I not post about something to do with love?
I will refrain from posting about how people who don't agree with the holiday should come over to the dark side....lol, I'll let that debate go (I already had it with 7 people today...)
Instead, here are some of my favourite love poems...They aren't all happy...as love can be a rollercoaster of good and bad, but nonetheless, here are some wise words about love.
And Duncan...how does this relate to journalism?
Easy....poems are words mixed with creativity...which in a lot of ways is what crecomm is all about!
The Benjamin Franklin of Monogamy
Jeffrey McDaniel
Reminiscing in the drizzle of Portland, I notice
the ring that's landed on your finger, a massive
insect of glitter, a chandelier shining at the end
of a long tunnel. Thirteen years ago, you hid the hurt
in your voice under a blanket and said there's two kinds
of women—those you write poems about
and those you don't. It's true. I never brought you
a bouquet of sonnets, or served you haiku in bed.
My idea of courtship was tapping Jane's Addiction
lyrics in Morse code on your window at three A.M.,
whiskey doing push-ups on my breath. But I worked
within the confines of my character, cast
as the bad boy in your life, the Magellan
of your dark side. We don't have a past so much
as a bunch of electricity and liquor, power
never put to good use. What we had together
makes it sound like a virus, as if we caught
one another like colds, and desire was merely
a symptom that could be treated with soup
and lots of sex. Gliding beside you now,
I feel like the Benjamin Franklin of monogamy,
as if I invented it, but I'm still not immune
to your waterfall scent, still haven't developed
antibodies for your smile. I don't know how long
regret existed before humans stuck a word on it.
I don't know how many paper towels it would take
to wipe up the Pacific Ocean, or why the light
of a candle being blown out travels faster
than the luminescence of one that's just been lit,
but I do know that all our huffing and puffing
into each other's ears—as if the brain was a trick
birthday candle—didn't make the silence
any easier to navigate. I'm sorry all the kisses
I scrawled on your neck were written
in disappearing ink. Sometimes I thought of you
so hard one of your legs would pop out
of my ear hole, and when I was sleeping, you'd press
your face against the porthole of my submarine.
I'm sorry this poem has taken thirteen years
to reach you. I wish that just once, instead of skidding
off the shoulder blade's precipice and joyriding
over flesh, we'd put our hands away like chocolate
to be saved for later, and deciphered the calligraphy
of each other's eyelashes, translated a paragraph
from the volumes of what couldn't be said.
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
William Shakespeare - Sonnet #18
Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Media Law
As I watch the daily coverage of the Candace Derksen trial, I wonder just how difficult it must be to cover this story as a journalist.
While I was interning at CBC last month, the trial was just beginning, and I went with one of the reporters to watch the first day of the trial. The reporter was doing live hits about the trial, and I noticed just how careful she was about what she did or did not report. What evidence she presented, what information she gave, and what facts she told were all carefully planned out and checked over with lawyers so as to not provoke a re-trial.
Today in J class, we reviewed some of the things we learned last year about media law and some of the above topics came up.
For journalists, there are so many rules and standards they should know before they report on trials in particular, especially in a case so high profile as the one about Candace ( I've personally read her mother's book about her murder and recommend it, it's riveting.)
All the rules must be daunting for journalists, but I'm assuming that experience over time helps them learn what is appropriate to report on and what needs to be left out. Also, I'm sure it helps that places like the CBC have lawyers to help them sort through all the regulations!
While I was interning at CBC last month, the trial was just beginning, and I went with one of the reporters to watch the first day of the trial. The reporter was doing live hits about the trial, and I noticed just how careful she was about what she did or did not report. What evidence she presented, what information she gave, and what facts she told were all carefully planned out and checked over with lawyers so as to not provoke a re-trial.
Today in J class, we reviewed some of the things we learned last year about media law and some of the above topics came up.
For journalists, there are so many rules and standards they should know before they report on trials in particular, especially in a case so high profile as the one about Candace ( I've personally read her mother's book about her murder and recommend it, it's riveting.)
All the rules must be daunting for journalists, but I'm assuming that experience over time helps them learn what is appropriate to report on and what needs to be left out. Also, I'm sure it helps that places like the CBC have lawyers to help them sort through all the regulations!
Monday, January 31, 2011
When does a challenge become a bad idea?
So, as most people who are close to me know, this year, my biggest challenge has been working on my IPP which is a video documentary on arranged marriages.
I have sincerely enjoyed the process, heck to some extent, I even enjoy staying at school late night after night working away at something I'm so passionate about.
But lately, I've got to thinking, was this IPP a good idea?
Now don't get me wrong, I love my topic, arranged marriages. It is one that is so intense and passionate, one I feel very strongly about. It is a topic I think people need to be educated on and I honestly feel I have come across stories throughout this six month process so far that deserve and need to be told. So I don't regret choosing arranged marriages as my topic for my independent professional project this year...not one bit. I love it as much today as I did a year ago when I decided on it.
The problem I'm struggling with now is the video documentary part of it. When I decided to do a doc last year, it was because I truly believed this was the medium that was best suited for this topic. It was the medium which would most accurately portray the issue in its full capacity.
But I look back now, and I wonder, did I make a mistake? The reason being is that I am a journalist. I am a writer, I am an interviewer, I am a storyteller. But I am not a shooter, and I definitely am not an editor.
It brings me to the question: when does challenging yourself become a mistake? I chose the video documentary medium because I thought, well, that it was the best medium to portray the issue and that even though I was completely unfamiliar with shooting and editing, it was a challenge and one I should face in order to grow and learn.
And have I grown and learned a lot. Definitely. Do I regret that? No way. Have a learned so much about the production of a documentary that is invaluable? Yes. Have I gained amazing skills? For sure.
But was it the right answer? I'm not sure.
The reason being is because....I am all for challenging one's self, but as I work on my documentary night after night, I realize one thing. This is not as good as it could be. It is not reaching the potential it could be. IT could be better.
I am so happy with my interviews, my topic, my stories. But as I look at the way the interviews are framed, my b-roll, the lighting, even the editing, I think, man, a professional shooter or editor could really have made this 100 per cent better.
I really wish that I had chosen to get someone else to shoot and edit this documentary for me. Not because I am lazy or because I haven't enjoyed the process, but because I feel indebted to my topic. I feel such loyalty and a connection to it....and I don't think I've done it justice in terms of my shots or my edits.
Why not? Because those things just aren't my strength. And while I am all for challenges and growth, I have started to realize, we are good at what we are good at, and I think my documentary would be a lot more effective had I spent more time storytelling and interviewing and less time shooting and editing.
This post isn't about complaining....or knocking my documentary. I'm sure in the end, it will be something I am incredibly proud of.
I just feel that I was blessed with discovering such a wonderful topic, one that deserves to have justice done to it, and I'm not sure it will be done because of the shooting and editing which really bothers me.
Let me propose an analogy. It's as though you have an amazing idea for a painting to convey a topic...for argument's sake, an idea of how to portray love through a painting...maybe it's through the use of colour, texture, and technique.....but just because you have a topic and an idea of how to tell the story, it doesn't mean, if you are not a painter or have the natural talent as an artist, that you'll be able to portray your idea as well as you could if you were a professional painter.
When my documentary is done, I'll be proud. And I'm so grateful to everyone who has helped me or participated in it. But do I hope to one day have the opportunity to take this topic and re-do it, this time by being the producer, director, and journalist....not the shooter and editor... for sure.
I have sincerely enjoyed the process, heck to some extent, I even enjoy staying at school late night after night working away at something I'm so passionate about.
But lately, I've got to thinking, was this IPP a good idea?
Now don't get me wrong, I love my topic, arranged marriages. It is one that is so intense and passionate, one I feel very strongly about. It is a topic I think people need to be educated on and I honestly feel I have come across stories throughout this six month process so far that deserve and need to be told. So I don't regret choosing arranged marriages as my topic for my independent professional project this year...not one bit. I love it as much today as I did a year ago when I decided on it.
The problem I'm struggling with now is the video documentary part of it. When I decided to do a doc last year, it was because I truly believed this was the medium that was best suited for this topic. It was the medium which would most accurately portray the issue in its full capacity.
But I look back now, and I wonder, did I make a mistake? The reason being is that I am a journalist. I am a writer, I am an interviewer, I am a storyteller. But I am not a shooter, and I definitely am not an editor.
It brings me to the question: when does challenging yourself become a mistake? I chose the video documentary medium because I thought, well, that it was the best medium to portray the issue and that even though I was completely unfamiliar with shooting and editing, it was a challenge and one I should face in order to grow and learn.
And have I grown and learned a lot. Definitely. Do I regret that? No way. Have a learned so much about the production of a documentary that is invaluable? Yes. Have I gained amazing skills? For sure.
But was it the right answer? I'm not sure.
The reason being is because....I am all for challenging one's self, but as I work on my documentary night after night, I realize one thing. This is not as good as it could be. It is not reaching the potential it could be. IT could be better.
I am so happy with my interviews, my topic, my stories. But as I look at the way the interviews are framed, my b-roll, the lighting, even the editing, I think, man, a professional shooter or editor could really have made this 100 per cent better.
I really wish that I had chosen to get someone else to shoot and edit this documentary for me. Not because I am lazy or because I haven't enjoyed the process, but because I feel indebted to my topic. I feel such loyalty and a connection to it....and I don't think I've done it justice in terms of my shots or my edits.
Why not? Because those things just aren't my strength. And while I am all for challenges and growth, I have started to realize, we are good at what we are good at, and I think my documentary would be a lot more effective had I spent more time storytelling and interviewing and less time shooting and editing.
This post isn't about complaining....or knocking my documentary. I'm sure in the end, it will be something I am incredibly proud of.
I just feel that I was blessed with discovering such a wonderful topic, one that deserves to have justice done to it, and I'm not sure it will be done because of the shooting and editing which really bothers me.
Let me propose an analogy. It's as though you have an amazing idea for a painting to convey a topic...for argument's sake, an idea of how to portray love through a painting...maybe it's through the use of colour, texture, and technique.....but just because you have a topic and an idea of how to tell the story, it doesn't mean, if you are not a painter or have the natural talent as an artist, that you'll be able to portray your idea as well as you could if you were a professional painter.
When my documentary is done, I'll be proud. And I'm so grateful to everyone who has helped me or participated in it. But do I hope to one day have the opportunity to take this topic and re-do it, this time by being the producer, director, and journalist....not the shooter and editor... for sure.
Monday, January 24, 2011
CBC Internship
For my first work placement, I interned at CBC News Winnipeg (television).
It was a really challenging yet rewarding experience.
I can't believe just how intense it can be to daily report. The reporters at CBC have to produce a 1.5-2 minute story as well as a BG (vosot) which they edit themselves by 4:30 pm each day. Their edit times are 2:15 pm and 3:15 pm….which makes for a short day to conduct your interviews, pick your clips, and write your script. A lot of work, but I think it all pays off once the story goes to air.
I learned so much during my internship….about story pitches, software, writing for TV, and general television reporting.
Everyone at CBC was kind and helpful; they answered all of my questions, and in the end, gave me a wonderful opportunity to produce my own story.
On-the-job work experience is invaluable. I took a lot of the things I’ve learned at university and Crecomm to the job but actually being at CBC in the flesh was a whole different experience all together.
I’m excited for my next internship in April!
It was a really challenging yet rewarding experience.
I can't believe just how intense it can be to daily report. The reporters at CBC have to produce a 1.5-2 minute story as well as a BG (vosot) which they edit themselves by 4:30 pm each day. Their edit times are 2:15 pm and 3:15 pm….which makes for a short day to conduct your interviews, pick your clips, and write your script. A lot of work, but I think it all pays off once the story goes to air.
I learned so much during my internship….about story pitches, software, writing for TV, and general television reporting.
Everyone at CBC was kind and helpful; they answered all of my questions, and in the end, gave me a wonderful opportunity to produce my own story.
On-the-job work experience is invaluable. I took a lot of the things I’ve learned at university and Crecomm to the job but actually being at CBC in the flesh was a whole different experience all together.
I’m excited for my next internship in April!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
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