September 4, 2018

NEWS IS A JOKE: A3 – Reflection

Reflection on Week 6 class

Our August 23rd class was certainly one of my favourite classes we’ve had all semester. We began class by referring back to week 1, and how our views and definition of comedy news has changed. Although I feel that in week 1 we already had a great understanding of what comedy news is, revisiting the question after the weeks of readings, class discussions were helpful in solidifying and supporting our ideas we had earlier in the semester. We discussed further into the impact and difference comedy news is making and has made, which was genuinely interesting. Comedy news has become revolutionary, in not holding back from exploiting and acknowledging the darker and shadier sides to news and media. Comedy news programs such as The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, which have aired through the past decades, have greatly changed the consumption and state of news reporting.

Although I love our group discussions, the most exciting part of this class was the much-anticipated move over to Studio A. In the past few weeks we had used Studio C and Studio A once for rehearsal. I was certainly intimated by the size of Studio A, but at the same time felt a sensation of excitement to be using such an incredible and realistic studio. My position in our segment had originally been Auto-Cue and Writer, but after a little while, Pip and I decided to swap roles as she was unsure of how she felt in such a position. So none the less, I took upon the role of Assistant Director. I was scared and intimidated by such a role, I was thinking to myself how strange it was to have someone who’s the size of a child calling the shots in the control room. However despite my doubts and anxieties about my ability in the role, on the day of the final take, I quickly realised things would be fine. With each of us comfortable in our roles, and aware of what we had to do, things ran smoother than I expected. After only a couple takes we finally captured our (almost) perfect one. Although we had minor slip-ups with a graphic too early or delay in graphic, I can safely say that each of us are really proud of what we created.

The atmosphere in the studio, both when we were shooting our segment, and when Group 2 was shooting was something that I can hardly describe. There was a constant sense of togetherness with our group, with banter and jokes being thrown around, as well as clear instructions that we each followed. If any issue arose it was resolved easily and no question was left unanswered. The studio felt fun and enjoyable, each of us feeling engaged and entertained by both our own segment and the other groups work.

Working in a studio setting really requires a lot of teamwork, and in this weeks class, there were no issues at all with working together. Over the weeks of research and writing we had bonded and worked together and once we entered the studio the teamwork only improved. I’m extremely grateful for this experience early on in my university studies as I believe this ability to work together, bond and collaborate is necessary in working in media.

To conclude, after experiencing working as Assistant Director, I have certainly learned that I have the ability to work in a role that requires high attention, leadership and control. I thoroughly enjoyed the role, despite the stress and my overthinking, I believe it was important for me to gain the experience and show myself what I am capable of. I thoroughly enjoyed working in the control room alongside my group members, but am hoping in the future to try other roles on the studio floor such as Floor Manager, which again utilises many of the same skills required to be AD. I’d be happy to work as Camera too, although a simple job, it is also highly important and would be a new experience outside of a more leadership based role. Any position in a studio team is important, and I hope to further my understanding through more experience in different positions over the next half of the semester.

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