The Perks of a Positive Production

What would a studio production class be without content to produce? For one of our last major projects, students were given the option to either work in post-production for the writing center shoot discussed here, or work in groups to produce something new, a program created entirely by the students. Knowing that we needed content, I had been thinking about about potential program themes during Spring Break, and jumped at the chance to present those ideas to the class.

The first of two potential programs I suggested was Healthy Eating, a round-table discussion about eating healthy on Shepherd's campus. How do students maintain a healthy diet, and what could the university do to promote nutrition?

A student perspective on this topic was necessary, but an expert opinion would also be beneficial. I suggested that we contact a professor from one of the Fitness for Life classes on campus, who teach Shepherd's students about healthy eating habits.

The second program I suggested to the class was 2012, a round-table discussion about the theories of the end of the world. Is it possible that the world could end in December of this year? What is the history behind the doomsday prophecies, and what points to 2012 as the ill-fated year? I thought a combination of history professors from campus, who could talk about the source of the prophecies, and science professors, who could discuss the possibility of an end-of-the-world occurrence, would be the best candidates for guests.

I was surprised at how many people were in favor of the 2012 program, and began to grow more and more excited about how to produce the show. However, when the class also decided to produce the Healthy Eating show, an issue presented itself. I could not contribute to the two groups that took on my ideas, I could only work with one. After being assigned as leader the Healthy Eating group, I had to say goodbye to one of my ideas. Letting go was my first lesson on this project.

LESSON ONE:  Sharing your ideas with a team means they are no longer yours alone. If you can't take on more than one program at a time, every now and then you just have to trust someone else with your vision.

After being assigned as leader of the Healthy Eating group, I immediately set up a discussion board on our class forums to help my team communicate ideas. Although we did have class time to meet and converse about our options, we were going to have to wait on a lot of other people as we prepared for a studio shoot. Keeping in contact in between seeing each other was incredibly important.

Our first task was to decide who we were going to approach as guests for the program. I proposed that we have a healthy eater from campus, a student, discuss their diet and how they maintain it on campus. One of my teammates, Brittany, brought up the idea of asking the director of our Dining Services on campus to speak. It would present an interesting perspective on what was available to students, and why and how difficult choices were made concerning the dining hall menu. Our last guest we hoped would be a Fitness For Life professor, someone on campus who'd know what students are taught about healthy eating habits, and what a good diet consists of for most people.

The entire group agreed on these choices of guests, and grew excited quickly about our prospects. We thought that even if we were the third group to go (not by choice, but later this would end up a blessing), we would be prepared to shoot quickly. How hard could it be to find a willing student and professor, at the very least? Our recruitment of guests lead to the second lesson I learned on this project.

LESSON TWO: Confidence is a positive attribute, but don't count your eggs before they hatch. Chances are, the part you think is going to be easy will only cause you the greatest stress.

The recruitment of guests for the program would likely have been more smooth sailing if it weren't for the massive time constraint. Because the schedule for the television studio only provided one day for our group to shoot, with only one hour-long time frame, we couldn't find many professors who were able to make the date. Students were just as difficult to reach, as many healthy eaters we found were either busy or too shy to want to be on camera. My team constantly kept me updated on the progress with finding guests, but for weeks we had difficulty making anything happen. It wasn't for lack of trying, and I was honestly shocked at how much harder the process was than anticipation.

We were eventually resigned that the Dining Services guests were going to be impossible. Not only were they reluctant to agree, they wanted a list of every single question that could be asked of them on the program. The director himself had turned us down, and it became more and more clear that it just wasn't something they were interested in.

However, I managed to find us a vegan student named Patrick on campus who was interested in speaking on the topic, and my teammate Ali convinced Dr. Androzzi, one of the Fitness for Life professors we wanted, to lend his expertise to the program. After weeks of hard work, our team finally had a show coming together!

LESSON 3:  If at first you don't succeed, try again! And again. And again. And once more, for good measure.

When it finally came time to do the Healthy Eating shoot, our roles were clear. Brittany wanted to be floor manager, to make sure things ran smoothly on the set while others worked in the booth. Another teammate, Travis, hoped to gain experience as a host. Erik, who joined us a bit late, was a valuable asset for our team by taking on the post-production responsibility and working camera on set. Ali stepped up into the position of director, a particularly hard job given some of the unexpected issues that occurred in the booth.

I remained producer, making sure there were topics available for the guests and host to discuss. I checked that everyone on my team had a position, asked others from class to fill in the positions we didn't have team members for, and tried to make the guests feel as comfortable as possible as we worked through technical difficulties in the production booth.

I think my favorite contribution to the shoot was a basket of fresh fruit I brought for the center of our table. Not only did it serve as an aesthetically pleasing piece for the set, it also fed our guests and student crew when the shoot was over! I did my small part of promote healthy eating during the creation of the program.

LESSON FOUR: Trust in your team to do their best on set, and feed them if you can. Everyone feels more comfortable working with a little something in their stomachs!

Although our group is not meant to get extra credit (because we were supposed to have more time to prepare), if I could give the students I worked with extra credit myself - I would absolutely do so. Unlike the other groups, we weren't able to go to the studio to set up one class period ahead of time because someone was using the studio. Unlike the first group, we didn't have a set guest who could come to campus, we had to search for guests and convince them to be on the program. We were one of the smaller groups as well, starting with only four people and ending up with five.

Every single group had problems to face, different experiences with guests, one group even had the power go out campus-wide when it was time for them to shoot! We all struggled, but we rolled with the punches, and produced great programs because we cared enough to try anything.

The most important lesson I learned on this project was the effective tactic of staying positive. When help was needed from students in the class, it arrived. No one acted as if they were too good for any position or task. Not only did my first idea of Healthy Eating come to fruition, my other idea of 2012 was taken on with great enthusiasm and success, even without my input.

LESSON FIVE:  If you love what you're doing, you'll do it well. Don't let the little things ruin what is, ultimately, a positive experience for all!