Our workspace isn’t ready yet, and the crews are still getting their gear together… but we’ve already begun creating stories for broadcast! I’m finishing up the script for a piece that explains the historical connection of this Congress with the previous two and with events 100 and 200 years ago – and still making it seem interesting and compelling for a general television audience! Yikes!
The Congress officially starts on Sunday night, but it’s my ambition to create at least this one piece beforehand, in order to test out the entire production work flow. This one piece will see if all the pieces work as expected: the camera output is easily ingested to the media server; the edit suites all able to access it; the audio easily stripped off for use in radio reports; translators able to record the narration in the 8 languages that we’re working in; graphics created and edited in; finally the “automatic” step of creating the multiple resolution and codec versions for various uses; and then the upload to our dedicated ftp site and download to stations around the world. Let’s pray it works.
First problem already found – and fixed. There’s no coffee. Really. I’ve done several of these types of events and you always work late – especially when you’d rather not! And dang it, we’re all jet-lagged! Finally, after much sweet talking and cajoling… I still couldn’t get any coffee for our team. So, when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. I found a grocery store and bought a kettle for boiling water and a bunch of instant coffee. Ok coffee snobs, I’d rather grind my own and use a french press, but this an emergency. We’re a blue collar group and we’ll drink instant coffee, thank you very much. This is nothing fancy, just your basic cup o’ Joe. So, tomorrow, when we get our own work area out beside the edit suites and HD TV truck, we’ll have coffee anytime we want/need it.
I’ll try to post a link to the first story that I described at the beginning of this post, hopefully later tomorrow. But if you are part of a television or radio outlet, and you’d like access to full broadcast quality stories for free use on your outlet, please contact me, and I’ll get you set up with a link to our ftp site.
U totally crack me up!!! I could hear ur voice the whole time I read ur blog and I could see ur expressions and gestures in my mind…funny stuff!!! Joe, I know u r going to do an amazing job no matter what u do…not only because I believe in the abilities God has given u, but I know ur steps r ordered by Him and therefore the grace to do whatever crazy things are asked of u is completely with u! Yay!!! What an exciting adventure to be on…hmmm…mission impossible turns Into mission possible!!! Maybe u can have ur own “reality” show…ha-ha :D… oh, and what does ur hair look like? I hope u are representing me well over on South Africa ;)… LOL!!
Roughing it for the gospel sake without gourmet coffee..whatever will u do?? Even as I am writing this I am sitting in a conference for Voice of the Martyrs…hmmm…need I say more? We are funny people, u know? Human beings…I am sure He was having a chuckle watching u devise a plan to get coffee somehow!!!! He enjoys our funny ways..I am convinced of it!!! He cares about the littlest things..He’s so awesome!! ok, break is over…got to go! Take care!!!