Media Week Reflection

The meeting I attended was for Eagle Vision on April 5th, 2011 on Tuesday. The meeting started at 5 P.M. and ended at 5:53 P.M.

The meeting went over the techniques used in the weekly show on Eagle Vision. Stew Olsen introduced himself to the students and gave everybody sheets on how to make a TV package and how to make proper voice over techniques for videos. The key to this, he explained, is to make sure you talk in an audible area, not be in a confined space, and then talk clearly and sound conversational. Afterwards, he started the Eagle Vision broadcast and went over various things during its run.

The first segment he showed was packages on certain crises hitting people across various countries like the outbreak in Libya and the radiation in Japan. Then what was shown was an interview with a professor here at Biola that was shown to make use of various shots and angles. Housing and a story on voting for the Biola president was then up next. There were more uses of different shots and interviews with students on the housing issue. Some of the students messed up in their voice over and made it sound muffled and their voice echoed. After that, there was a weather update and sports update. The weather update was a still image, but Mr. Olsen stressed the importance of using a green screen. In the sports update, one of the students went down to Pomona to see NASCAR races. Finally, the last story was on how Savers, a thrift store just down the street, is a great place for students to buy cheap clothes if they are low on income.

In terms of deadline work, all of the students needed to report with one of the head students and tell her what package they were to do for the week and how to go about doing it. Each student in the class does their own individual package and they are responsible for doing some sort of topic for the class. They need to set up shots correctly and make sure they engage in conversations with people they interview. Then there was banter between various students on how they could approach their stories and what else they could do to touch it up, including graphics and transitions.

I observed many different types of techniques and film cues that I had never seen before. The term of a package was a very new thing for me. But it is basically the same thing as a story in a newspaper story, just condensed for television audiences. Mr. Olsen said they are getting condensed because of our ADHD society.

This field of journalism has a lot in common with what I have learned in this class. Using clear, descriptive and tight information is crucial not only in broadcast journalism but introduction to journalism as well. Many of the same techniques are used in both fields. Getting good information and good quotes was vital to the taping of Eagle Vision and made up the bulk of every package. The exact format of it is very similar to the some of the stories in the newspaper and the news on television. I feel I could be a decent camera man, because mainly I don’t have the skills required to be in camera for broadcast journalism. Overall, this was a good peak into broadcast journalism and I know more details about this area of journalism that I didn’t know before.

Why Journalists should write about controversial topics

Journalists are very valuable to people of the world. In a time where evil and hypocrisy are very common atrocities, honest, true people need to be able to bring unedited, unbiased information to the masses.

9/11 is something that will be remembered as one of the worst tragedies in American history. It was that morning that terrorists hijacked an American airliner and smashed it, killing thousands and burned down both twin towers. The whole world was shaken up and New York City became the center of attention. Its stories like these that matter most to the American people.

People have a right to know events like these. Newspapers need sources that are upfront and do not hide information. These are topics that affect everybody, negatively or positively. Journalists should not be so concerned if the story they are covering is too controversial because real news is potent. Audiences have a right to know the truth of every situation.

I believe that Christian journalists can indefinitely find their voice in this too. Having a Christian perspective on issues like this is very important so that Christians do not lose their focus on God. God is bigger than anything one could ever face and stressing that is valuable in a time where chaos and terror reign supreme.

Response to Christian Journalism

Being a Christian is a complicated matter sometimes. God tells us to spread the word of His love and tell others that Christ died for every person's sin. However, that does not arise in every situation or context and many times that can turn certain audiences away. Lots of people have a predetermined biased towards anything to do with Christian living or God in general. I believe that people do not necessarily have to profess their faith in tremendously vocal ways like a lot of Christian publications try to accomplish.

The Paste Magazine is an example of a publication who is Christian, yet they do not flaunt that label in your face like other Evangelical magazines tend to do. Paste reviews video games, music and other medium that might not have anything to do with God in fact. How then would somebody go about incorporating some lesson about living closer to God in a review of a Boxing video game? The idea is absolutely absurd. Its simply a piece of entertainment people play in their spare time and to have fun. Especially if one is fond of such media, incorporating some kind of spiritual meaning is nearly impossible. One could argue that it is not about the video games, but having a closer relationship with God and we should be killing off any lustful, fleshly desires. But we are all human and enjoy various activities one way or another (whether that is video games, sports, music, etc.). These activities should not be the center of a believer's life, but to completely abolish them out of their life would be nearly impossible for must of us and only reserved for the most religiously devout. There should be a balance in one's life. That is the most important thing about being a Christian and living a healthy life for God. If the video games and other media start eating away at that healthy relationship, then it is up to the individual to seriously reconsider their choices.

Obituary 2 of other student

Oscar Gil was a father, pursuing journalist and commuter. On the fateful day of March 24th, 2011, Gil was struck in the chest with three bullets. Today, at the age of 25 at La Mirada, California, he died choking in a pool of his own blood. A few years before coming to Biola, Gil was a student at Fullerton Jr. College for his first two years. Before that, Gil was enrolled in La Serna High School which is in the L.A. County. He was married to his beautiful wife, Lyndsay Gil. He aspired to do work in the ministry field in regards to his emphasis in public relations for his journalism major. His focus was to do something with ministry work for the church in terms of evangelicalism. Tonight, students will hold a ceremony honoring the junior student.

My obituary; this is an exercise

 Helmer, behind the guy in middle, with friends and family on a Missions trip in New Orleans.

Christian Helmer, a 19 year old college student who attended Biola University, was a happy student who aspired to do something with his life. Focusing in the major of Journalism, Mr. Helmer focused on writing for his profession. Unfortunately, he died on thursday of this week in L.A. He had many hopes and dreams not yet accomplished.

On the night before his death, Helmer had spent the night at a friend’s house just about one hour away from Biola campus. While he was entering his friend’s car on his drive back, three teenagers had pulled up on the scene in a rickety Monte Carlo and blasted full rounds on him before he could even pull off. Amazingly, his friend was spared, but not without fatal injuries to his legs and his arm. “I thought I was a goner,” says best friend Brett Balough in full arm and leg casts.

Helmer’s family received news of the tragic event just an hour after school officials had called them. His sister, Saffiyah Rieff, says sobbingly, “I just wish we had gotten to spend more time with him before this happened.” Helmer had grown up in a normal middle class home like most Californian kids. Coming from the town of Rancho Cucamonga in the Inland Empire, he had spent his first two years of high school at Alta Loma High. 

After complications with his faith and his parents, Lesma Yorke, his mother, decided to enroll him in Ontario Christian High. “I remember that he wasn’t quite fond of it,” explains Yorke. “He always complained about the environment being unwelcoming.” 

During his last year, Helmer went back to Alta Loma and finished strongly as a senior. But this was not without taking part in a few extracurricular activities like Cross Country and Track & Field. “He was quite the runner,” remarks Chaffey College student A.J. Wilson, who was a senior when the two ran together.

In his last few days, Balough said Helmer had this to say about his life, “I think if I had to die today, I think I would have lived a pretty good life.”

Crisis in Japan

The dilemma in Japan right now has been the top concern for over a week as Japanese people have been hit by earthquakes, tsunamis, and are dealing with monumental radiation problems. It is certainly nothing to scoff about when hundreds of people have been reported as missing or dead. People have been living in shelters and other places of refuge as their homes have been swept away by the flood. Radiation has been found in milk and vegetables, contaminating food for everybody.

Students at Biola are very aware of the problems going on in the country and are concerned for their overall safety. When asked student Casey Bautista about what she thought about the event, she responded, "I have really close family there in Okinawa and some in Tokyo. We are always praying for them." Casey is part of a bigger group of people who had their family affected by this catastrophic event. Similarly, students who do not have relatives there, but know of others who have been affected are just as concerned. Dan Marino responded, "I'm worried. It's scary times we live in." Dan then stated that his girlfriend had been working in a student exchange program where one of the student's family in Japan had flood warnings and were haphazardly affected by the earthquake.

In dire times like this, the best form of relief is prayer. Student Ann Marie Cortez states, "I have been praying for them." God can work in ways that people aren't even aware of and will aid Japan in this event.

Tasty Food

Cheese pizza, when warm and right out of the oven, is brimming with hot pasta sauce and cheese on top. The aroma of cheese and oils cooked together gives it a satisfying aroma. When biting down into a slice, the taste is absolute greasy goodness. The texture of the bread is satisfying to bite into as it is chewy and soft at the same time. The sprinkles of garlic makes it that much more tasty and pleasurable to the senses.