Evaluation #1
     My first learning objective was to gain firsthand experience in each stage of the sports production process—filming, story development, editing and airing. My internship at ABC27 allowed me to accomplish this learning objective. I fulfilled this objective by shadowing Gregg, my supervisor, in every stage of the production process and also shooting, writing, and editing sports segments on my own.
     Over the course of the semester, I learned how to shoot basketball and baseball games. For basketball, Gregg taught me to keep the basketball in the center of my shot. Since the ball moves up and down the court quickly and possession always changes, Gregg also taught me to keep my shot relatively wide (not very zoomed in), in order to account for movement. Otherwise, the ball moves faster than I can follow and it leaves the frame, which can also cause me to miss the next play. Gregg calls this, “Getting burned.” Although, he did mention the importance of a tight shot to briefly follow an athlete down the court after he or she scores a basket. This shot is imperative—if I do not remember to zoom in on the player, the play is unusable on air.
     I feel confident in my ability to film basketball games but I need to improve on my ability to film baseball games. Gregg warned me from the start: baseball is the hardest sport to film because there are so many unpredictable variables. However, there are variables I can and should control. For example, I learned to frame my shot with the pitcher on one end and the batter at the other. I also learned to keep the camera zoomed out until I identify the ball. Once the ball is hit, I follow the ball, zoom in on the fielder making the play, and quickly pan over to the players on the bases. Ideally, baseball is shot with three different cameras—one to follow the batter, another to follow the ball, and a third to follow action on the bases. However, ABC27 only uses one camera so I had to do the work of all three. To gain more experience, Gregg has me shoot Messiah Baseball games. This enables me to make improvements and continue to grow in this area.
    I also gained a better understanding of editing through my internship. For my final project, I produced my own sports package. I filmed a Messiah College baseball game and uploaded the footage onto Final Cut Pro to edit it. I pieced together a baseball segment and improved on my knowledge of Final Cut. The package opened with a shot of the team huddle, which lead to three game-changing plays, and a closing shot of the fans to conclude my package.
Finally, I learned to write. I consider this to be the most important skill I developed through my internship. It is imperative for broadcasters to write and tell stories well. Interning at ABC27 was the first time I wrote for a sports segment. Below, I attached below the script I sent to Gregg to accompany my sports package. You will see that I put an extra space between each play—this space separates plays for the announcer. Also, much like a paper, my script has an introduction, body, and conclusion.
   Through my final project at ABC27 I have learned how to create a sports package. I have gained new knowledge in shooting, editing and writing. I intend to create other packages similar to this during my practicum in the fall with Messiah’s Sports Director, Steve King. This internship has prepared me for this next stage of life.
 

Script:

Messiah baseball hosts Albright home for a make up game, to complete the three game series. Messiah and Albright split earlier in the season, and met today to continue conference play.

At the bottom of the 6th Messiah's Ben Sollenberger hits a solo shot homerun over the right center fence, to put Messiah on the board, cutting Ablright's lead 3-1.
 

At the bottom of the 6th Messiah's Casey Ebersole grounds out to the ss allowing Matt Turman to advance to second, placing him in scoring position.
 

In the next at bat, Messiah's Zach Brubaker doubled down the lf line, scoring Turman from second.
Messiah takes the lead for the first time 5-4 in the bottom of the 6th.

Messiah goes on to win 11-9, remaining in the 4th seed at 8-7 in the Commonwealth Conference.​

​Sports Package
 

                                                                     Evaluation #2
     My second objective was to learn the preparation that goes into a sports segment before even shooting the story—the pre-production stage. In order to achieve this goal, I asked Gregg to explain how he prepares, I shadowed him through the pre-production stage, and I performed pre-production for my own story.

The first week of my internship with ABC27, I did a lot of observing and listening. When I asked Gregg how he studies each team and player, he told me he does a few different things: he finds information on the team or school website, he reads recent articles about the teams and studies their statistics, and he utilizes PENN LIVE. PENN LIVE is a website filled with high school sports information on key players and teams.
     In regards to how much time preproduction takes, Gregg says it depends on how well you know the teams. When I went with Gregg to local high school basketball games, it took me longer to research each team because I am not from the area. However, when I filmed my sports package for Messiah Baseball, it took me half the time because I already had background information on Messiah.  Sports like baseball are more time consuming because there are numerous athletes playing at one time. Printing out notes and statistics is crucial for sports like baseball in order to remember key facts for all the players.
     Gregg stated, “baseball and softball are two of the hardest sports to announce.” This is because there is a lot of dead time between each play. During my internship at ABC27, I did a live radio broadcast for both Messiah Baseball and Softball. I spent various hours preparing for each broadcast.  Softball took the longest for me to prepare because I announced double headers. This means I was on air for roughly 5 hours. I had to find both current statistics, and statistics from years past. When Messiah softball played Elizabethtown, I found my research on their athletics’ websites. I researched their current statistics as well as their archives pages. I also went to the NCAA softball standings and found other key details for their conference standings.
     The first game I announced went well, but the second got slightly competitive—this is where I need improvement. Gregg told me to try and get interviews with players and coaches prior to their competition. Interviews supply the listener with more information than the game itself. Also, quotes from players and coaches help fill dead air time, and would give me more to talk about in the second game.
     Aside from the research, it is imperative to have all of my equipment ready for the production. Reserving cameras days before the event ensures that they are available when needed. Small stations like ABC27 or small schools like Messiah, have multiple people sharing just a few pieces of equipment. I learned this the hard way. The first Messiah baseball game that I shot, I tried to reserve the camera the day before the game. The only camera available was a standard definition camera. In order to broadcast my shots on TV, Gregg needed high definition footage. The second time I filmed a sports package, I made sure I reserved an HD camera weeks ahead of time.
     It may seem basic, it is important to make sure the camera is fully charged prior shooting. At one of the Baseball games I filmed, the camera died just as the tying run crossed home plate. Although I’d like to think people return equipment fully charged to our campus camera room, this is not the case. The second game I shot, I made sure to schedule the camera and hour before I actually needed it to allow time to charge the battery if need be. At the first game, I was too busy with the production stage, I did not think about this small detail. I learned the hard way, but I will never make this mistake again.
     Overall, I gained knowledge about the preproduction stages, and accomplished my objective: to become more intentional about the little details. Furthermore, with practice and repetition, I will continue this learning process and help better prepare myself for future internships and jobs.
     Keeping a Pre-Production Log is crucial to the Production stage. It enables you to keep track of important plays throughout the game, and is useful during the editing and script writing stages. A log includes the time of the shot, and the details of the play. Logging is a skill I was able to master during my internship with ABC27. To see my Pre-Production Log click here.