Going in to this internship, I really didn't know what to expect. Would I enjoy it or would I hate it, was I going to get the experience I needed or end up making photo- copies and organizing tapes. The last thing I wanted to be was an errand boy. End up wasting time and money just to run errands all day long. I kind of like the feeling of starting something new, but when the tension starts to build up I can get pretty nervous.
My internship was with the Prayer Channel which is a 24 hour a day Catholic channel on local cable. One of my duties included helping out with the daily mass, which would air live and then rebroadcast at 5:30pm on channel 79. The fist day of my internship was on June 4th.I remember it was hot that day, mostly the same for every other day during Summer of 2002. I was very anxious as I made my way to St. James Cathedral. It was 10:45 and I took a seat inside at the back of the church. My schedule was from 11-am-5pm every Tuesday and Thursday. At around 11:05 the director for the daily mass walked in. His name was David Anello and right from the start we hit it off. He sounded like a very nice person and he was very professional about his work. He showed me around the church, showed me where the cameras were located. The cameras were robotics, which could be controlled with a special board inside the control room. He also showed me where some of the mics were located and he taught me how to set up the mic for the organ/piano player.
The control room was in a lower level of the church. When we went in, Dave explained everything about the equipment to me. We went over everything and I quickly became familiarized with what I had learned from television production. On my first day of work my duty was to control the audio board. I loved the fact that right from the start I had a chance to work with equipment. A few minutes later Thomas King walked in, he was in charge of controlling the cameras. He was also a very nice guy and he had a good sense of humor. It felt great to work with people I could get along with people that didn't look down on you just because you're an intern.
Everything went smoothly on my first day. It was my first time using an audio board in more then a year and I did a pretty good job with the audio levels. After mass I had to bring the recorded tape back to master control. Which meant I had to take the F train al the way to Prospect Park. It wasn't that far, about twenty to thirty minutes from Jay St., which was were the cathedral was located. The good thing was that I would get reimbursed for my transportation.
Back at master control I would do tape dubs, this would be the boring part of the day. But I didn't mind since I was getting some hands on experience. Audio work and dubbing became routine for a whole month. Then on July 2nd, I finally got to do something I was looking forward to. Dave had told me the week before that soon enough I would be controlling cameras, but he never told me when. That day I went in and he asked me if I wanted to work them. I rapidly said yes at the opportunity. Any chance at working with cameras would be great since I would love to be a cameraman someday. We went over the different shots; he showed me the different components of the camera controller. He showed me how to focus and how to zoom in/out, pan right/left. I knew of these techniques from television production, so it didn't take long for me to get familiarized with it.
Everything went well as the show ran on. I was able to switch from camera shots and angles very accurately. David told me I did a great job. As the days went by, I continued to work with the robotic cameras. I became very skilled at it and started enjoying it a lot. My best performance came on the last day of the celebration of St. James, which was a special event. The church that day was packed, so I knew I was going to have extra shots to work with. The whole production went very well and in the end Dave was elated with the job I had done. He even told me in a private conversation that I did a better job then some of the others in the past. I remember how excited I was that day; it was my first time working under pressure and at a high pace. This reminded me; that out there in the real world everything is so fast pace and handling pressure will help you excel in the end.
I worked the cameras for the entire month of July. I enjoyed the cameras more then the audio board. It allows for more creativity and there is more responsibility involved. On the last day of my internship I decided to work with the audio board for one last time. It had been a month since I had touched the audio board, but I was able to remember every single thing. I remember that the last day of my internship was the day the pope was leaving Mexico. I started watching it on TV with one of the of the other workers at the office, while I was waiting for Gina my internship supervisor to get off the phone. After she finished speaking on the phone, she came over to me and thanked me on a job well done and she gave me back my evaluation form. I appreciated the opportunity she had given me and I thanked her for everything. I said bye to everyone before I left the office and then I headed over to master control, which was two blocks away. The rest of my day was easy.
So to conclude I have to say that my internship at the Prayer Channel went very well. I'm so glad I had decided to go to a smaller facility then go to one of the big studios. My advice to anyone looking for an internship is to not look down upon the smaller/independent studios. Big budget studios like NBC and CBS are great, but the chances at getting hands on experience are very slim. Those studios won't even let you touch the equipment because they have their union guys. A smaller studio equals smaller funds, even tough some of the equipment might not be up to date; the chances of getting experience is greater.