This week has been another busy week as an intern here at Double R. My big project on Wednesday was learning how to operate the teleprompter. I had never had the opportunity to work with this technology before, so I was excited, but I also had very little idea of exactly how to use it. Thankfully, I had Soojin and SanQuan with me who had worked with the teleprompter before to show me the ropes. There were so many aspects to operating the teleprompter that I had not anticipated. The set-up itself was a feat, but using the machine was trickier than I expected. I learned how to control the speed to match the person on camera’s voice, something that was very nerve racking for me, as I didn’t want to mess up someone else’s take because I was running the words too fast or too slow. Secondly, I learned how to actually use the teleprompter when speaking, which was very interesting. It was so difficult to read while looking like you aren’t reading and to seem relaxed when you are intensely focused. By the end of the shoot, I was weary, but I had improved a lot when using it to speak. After doing this project, I have serious respect for all of the news anchors and teleprompter operators out there.
Thursday was my first day working on a shoot outside of the office, and a very exciting one at that! Along with several members of the Double R team, I went out into DC to get footage of protests, as it was the day before the Inauguration. We visited two different protest sites, one significantly more energized than the other, where we interviewed protesters and shot B-roll. My job was to help out with the B-roll coverage and to take videos on the Go-Pro. We will be going out again on Friday to get more coverage of the protests on the day of the inauguration, a shoot that is sure to be interesting and eventful!
Finally, this is my last blog post, as Friday is my last day as an intern at Double R. I have loved getting to work with this incredibly talented and creative team over the last few weeks, and I’m sad to see my internship come to an end so soon. To everyone on the Double R team, thank you so much for always being there to help me when I become confused about AVID (very often), and for teaching me so many skills from how to work a P2 camera, to how to set up for a shoot, to how to interview someone for a news package. I have enjoyed every day, and I’m wishing you all the best.
-Sophia Grande
