AUROA PRODUCTIONS student report

I learned many important aspects of production this semester, thanks to my internship with Aurora Productions. I participated in many production shoots, learned about editing, and much more. It definitely was a learning experience and I am glad to have had the opportunity to see how a production company works. Aurora for Video Arts is a small production studio that does most of their productions on location. However, they also shoot some small in studio work. I feel that since I choose to intern in a smaller production studio that they were able to spend time teaching and explaining certain areas of production that were foreign to me.

The first month at my internship I spent most of my time learning about editing using the Avid Media Composer. Lou who does all of the editing for Aurora, explained to me the basic operating procedures and also asked me to read a textbook called Media Composer ­­ 101, Editing. He told me once I read the first couple of chapters I can start editing on the Avid by using their tutorial program, which I did. Lou was always around to help me with any questions or problems I was having. Towards the middle of my internship I was able to work on my own projects, which included re-editing my student film and editing a new film that I made on my own.

A few months into my internship we did a shoot for Newsday. Basically, Newsday wanted Aurora to make them a new tour video explaining the whole process of how a newspaper gets put together. This was my favorite project that I participated in. We spent many days shooting at Newsday in Melville, and Newsday in Queens. We filmed everything that went on at Newsday including different journalist in the newsroom working on there stories, a news conference, all the different departments Newsday has, and much more. One night we had to stay late to film the whole process of the paper being put together from the negatives being turned into boards to the boards being printed on the press printing the whole newspaper. After that we filmed the process of the papers being wrapped into thousands of bundles and getting ready to be shipped out to all there customers. I helped Kate with setting up the lights and moving the equipment around. I was able to observe Kate, who was doing all the camera work, and when she had a chance she explained to me why she choose different angles for different shots. I was also very interested in being at Newsday, seeing what really goes on behind the scenes at a newspaper. Being a Communications major, this is another area that I might be interested in pursuing after I graduate. After several weeks of shooting at Newsday, and all the shooting was done I hade to catalog all the tapes. When I cataloged, I had to shuffle through ten 30-minute Beta tapes and write down the time code of each shot and give a brief explanation of what each shot was. This is done to help the editor when it is time to put everything together. Lou the editor let me sit in with him all day when he began to put this piece together. The first step was to digitize all the material. This took up most of the day. He explained to me the process while he was doing it and showed me how important it is to be organized when editing. After a couple of times showing me he let me digitize the rest of the footage. When it came time to start editing he took over, and I watched, listened, and took some notes as he explained to me everything he was doing.

Throughout my internship I also participated in many other shoots and many other activities. For example, they worked on a T.V spot for a Fortunoff Christmas commercial. Richard gave me the rundown sheets for each spot to take home and look over. This shoot was done in their studio, no actors were involved, it basically was shooting different store items such as Christmas trees, and novelty items for Christmas. Afterwards, it was all put together on the computer using different computer programs, one for example was, Adobe PhotoShop, after the images was finished they were transferred onto the Avid and edited into the commercial. After the spot was finished I spent many hours in the duplication room learning how to make different duplications for all the T.V stations. We had to make several hundreds copies of ten different spots for T.V stations all around the New York area. Some had to be transferred onto 1-inch reels, others onto beta, and some were 3/4 inch tapes. I learned how to patch video and audio and learned how to check and adjust the waveform monitor and the vector scale against the bars and tone to make sure the color quality was correct for each duplication. Throughout my internship I spent many days in the duplication room making different dups for several different 15 - 30 sec T.V spots. Some included a spot for Modells, a spot for New York Model contract and many others.

Another shoot that I participated in was for a Catholic Medical Center, this production was fairly simple, and it was two different people explaining the special services the medical center offers to their patients. I went in early that day because Richard needed help preparing the set. Richard reminded me where all the different lights go and I helped him with setting up the back light and the fill light. I also helped with setting up the backdrop and adding flags in front of some lights to help reduce shadows. When it was time to roll it was my job to work the teleprompter. The teleprompter was attached to the side of Beta Camera and had a control that worked the speed of the motor. When the shoot was finished, after several hours, I helped break down the set that we worked so hard putting together.

Another production I went on was a commercial for ADEMCO Alarm Systems. This production was shot at a different studio, a larger studio. This was really my first time ever experiencing a commercial with actors being made so it was defiantly a learning experience. I mostly did a lot of observing on the set. The job assigned to me was note taking. I had to write down what scene we were shooting, the beginning time code and what take it was. I also had to make little notes about the shot. For example, one of the shots in a scene was a dolly shot and for some reason the dolly in appeared bumpy on the monitor. Therefore, after recording the scene number, what take and the time, I had to make note why the shot was no good. Lou explained to me that this was very important when editing. This way the editor knows exactly what time each shot begins and what each one contains, which helps them a lot when it is time to edit the commercial. Even though I had a minor job on the set, observing everything that takes place in a production shoot really taught me a lot about how a T.V commercial is made.

I also participated in a small shoot for Dowling College in Oakdale, Long Island. They were having an unveiling of a sign, dedicating the campus to the Rudolf family who donated money to the University. It was a small production done during the day; I helped Rich with laying down all the wires with gaffers tape and helped setting up the camera.

The most recent shoot that I attended was a commercial for an appliance store called Jay's Appliances in Levittown, NY. The commercial is going to be 30 seconds long and it took us about 3 hours to shoot everything. At this shoot I again helped with setting up lights and taking notes. I enjoyed this production because since there were actors I was able to observe Rich do some directing.

Now that my internship is coming to an end I realize that there are so many different parts of production and have know which areas of production that I enjoy and which areas that I do not. When I began my internship I thought that I would enjoy learning about the filming of productions. After going on a couple of shoots I decided that it is a lot more complicated then I expected and that I couldn't see my self in that area of production. Basically, it wasn't what I expected to be. The one area of production that I enjoyed learning about the most was editing. I would really like to learn more about editing and using the Avid. Lou informed me about a class I can take at night, which focuses on the Avid, I am currently looking into it and am considering on taking the class this spring, after I graduate.

I definitely feel that my internship with Aurora expanded my knowledge about production more than any class at any school can ever teach me. I experienced being part of productions, which is exactly what I wanted from my internship.

 

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