Lights, Camera, Action!

Yesterday was the date of our second field trip. We traveled across the city by foot to tour the WKYC building, the Cleveland affiliate of NBC. Being in TV has its obvious differences from working here at the agency. We were able to travel through the newsroom, stand on the breaking news turntable, and see the stage where morning and evening news is filmed. The secrets of filming were really fascinating. Turns out that the word prompter is on a glass screen in front of the TV camera, which is why news people always look so convincingly at you through your television set.

On top of the tour of the facilities, we were able to sit in the audience of the 10:00am show Good Company. It is funny to watch TV at home and think how relaxed the hosts look on screen, as though they are having a conversation and a camera happens to be on them. This is not how it appears from the audience. Everyone charms up and smiles when the camera is on, but as soon as the camera turns off there is hollering about how they don’t have feedback in the microphones and how to pronounce a Harry Potter character’s name. Most of us just sat drooling at the pulled pork sandwiches that were being passed around to the crew after the cooking segment of the show.

Another aspect that was interesting about this field trip was that we got to see the interns at Channel 3. One of them was able to be on camera and be interviewed about the new Harry Potter movie. It was so different to see what other interns in other disciplines are up to. Being on camera and free pork sandwiches doesn’t sound half bad . . .

As the graphic design intern here at Liggett, I found it very interesting when we observed the station’s motion graphics department. The team was working on new TV graphics for this upcoming year. They are updating the look of the company. They were paying close attention to how all the graphics looked together to insure a cohesive brand style, which is important for all companies. We all agreed that it looked like the most enjoyable area to work, but not an easy job.

The day was especially fun. I am actually able to catch Good Company every so often, so it was a great experience to actually get a behind the scenes peek at what goes on when the cameras are off. Learning how the news and television industry work are important because as an agency, we need to be on good terms with these kind of people, so they will promote our events and products. Understanding how the job is done creates more empathy and a stronger connection between our two fields.




Abie M.
Graphic Design Intern