As the semester comes to a close for my cmat466 Trends News Story class, so does my final 1:30 piece. I decided to do another technology themed story, this time on the rise of smart tv’s. Since we have our show, Trend Center, and the class is all about trends, I focused on the trending aspect of the story as opposed to making it a gadget piece.

                It was a very fun story to work on. It was interesting doing the research and learning the facts about the percent of the population who own a smart tv (just under 20% in America), to the numbers supporting sales have indeed shown significant growth over the past few years. I also enjoyed being allowed into people’s homes to watch their prestigious smart tv’s operate and learning all the cool features they have. It really is amazing how far the technology has come and I definitely think after everything I’ve learned that smart tv’s will become the new “normal” television.

                One of the issues I had during this particular project was getting home and going through my equipment and realizing I didn’t have a wired lavalier microphone even though I asked for one. I learned that you should always check to make sure they give you everything you ask when checking out equipment, so as to save some gas. Luckily, I went through my stuff before I went to conduct the actual interview. It could have been a lot worse!

                The other issue I had was conducting my first stand-up interview. This is where I record myself saying one of the more interesting lines in the piece in front of the camera. It’s a good way to insert yourself and also fill some b-roll space. It ended up being harder to do than I anticipated all by myself. It took a while to flip the viewfinder and get the shot composed on myself and then remember my line. It was especially difficult because it was filled with statistics and numbers that I had to keep straight. It also wasn’t easy to find a nice, quiet place where people wouldn’t interrupt me.

                In the end, I’m happy with my final project as well as my performance in the class as a whole this semester. It’s been a lot of fun covering trends and producing news packages for TrendsCenter Delmarva. Thanks for keeping up with my stories and keep on top of trends, it pays off!

                The deadline for the next project is quickly approaching. In one week, I’ll be turning in my third trends story. After mulling over several interesting choices, I decided to go with my most recent idea. I’m going to be covering “wearables”, which are technologies that are worn as fashion accessories.

                One of the most popular of these is Beats headphones. I constantly see people wearing them wherever I go: on campus, in the café, or on the bus. And the funny part is that most of the time I see these people they have them around their neck instead of on their ears. Why wear the big bulky headphones if you know you’re not going to listen to music? It’s literally become part of the clothing accessories now, such as watches and hipster glasses. It’s meant to be seen just as much as it is to be used. There are all different styles and colors. It seems to be a new way of getting noticed.

                And before this, NBA players wearing nerdy clothing and glasses with no prescriptions popped onto the scene. I think this is a reflection of America’s materialistic mindset. The more you have, like accessories, the better. And often the more expensive, the better. That’s why certain brands are associated with high class and are so highly soft after.

                However, these are merely my opinions. So I’m going to talk to the fashion experts and kids on the streets and get their view on this subject. We’ll learn from the source what’s really driving the rise in wearable technologies. Perhaps it’s simply due to the greater wealth of technology in today’s world. It’s my job to find out. Trends are everywhere and are extremely important to recognize and understand. I’m very excited to see all the different people I may talk to and how different they all may be. In fact, each of them may have different reasons for following this trend and there is no real “blanket statement”. I’ll let everyone know what I learn when my video is finished in a week! Wish me luck!

Time to update Trends Today! It’s been a while since I finished my second story and I’m now on to my third project. I’ve been researching current trends and keeping up with the current local news in the Delmarva area.

                 I’ve thought of several topics on which I may conduct my next story. There was a local fire in a Salisbury outbuilding that caused $11,000 in damage. An ex-salisbury paramedic was sentenced in a sex abuse case. Perhaps the most interesting and even important newsworthy event locally is what’s going on with Pumpkin Chunkin. It has long been the prized competition of Delaware and become a local tradition. People of literally all types and ages love going and watching the pumpkins get tossed thousands of feet and the tailgating. Unfortunately, the owner of the farm land on which the event has been held since 2007 is regrettably not allowing Pumpkin Chunkin back. This is due to fear of more lawsuits, such as the one from last year in which an injured volunteer sued the farm. Now the creators of the loved tradition must find a new place to host it. But will they have to move it out of state? How much more might they have to end up paying? Will there be a Pumpkin Chunkin next year?!

                These are just some of the things I’m currently considering. The topics I cover can be of any range, so If you have any requests please feel free to voice them. Once I’ve established my topic and gotten it approved, the creation process begins for me. It’s a long and stressful process, but it’s also fun and very rewarding in the end when I see my finished product. I normally start by immediately looking up possible candidates I’d like to interview for my story. This is to give them the most time to accommodate their busy schedules. Also, it’s not unheard of to be stood up, so this allows for time to regroup from that as well. Once I have interviews set up, I like to go out on a couple nice days begin collecting b-roll. This is just a fancy term for the video to compliment my commentary in between interviews. Once I have all my footage, I have to then create a script and get it approved. The next step is to then go into the recording studio and record myself reading aloud my script. Once I have my own narration, I got into the video editing booths and finally put everything together into a story that’s hopefully good enough to be aired on television. Believe me, it takes a lot more work than people realized to make a quality news package, even if it’s only 1:30 long! In fact, sometimes that’s the challenge because there’s so much information I want to express and I MUST fit the time limit. We follow strict time constraints in class to prepare us for the real world. Television is like clockwork with its shows and commercials.

                In my next blog, I’ll be sure to let everyone know how the process went for my third story! Hopefully everything runs smoothly, but inevitably in this business you run into a roadblock or two along the way. Until then, stay current on news and trends. Looking forward to showing my next video!

            Hello again! Two weeks have passed and the time has finally come. I have finished my story on the manure filtration system!

                        This was probably one of the most difficult stories I've ever had to work on. The problem was that Planet Found is still very protective of their new technology and prototype facility they've implemented at Millennium Farms in Pocomoke City. The location of the farm was not being released to the public nor could I get anyone to talk on camera about the nutrient capture system! This posed two problems for me. One was I had to find an expert to talk about the process of how such a system works without talking to the actual creators. The second was finding enough quality b roll since I couldn't shoot any footage of the site or the machine. I've been taught in class when arriving to shoot at a scene, I should shoot it as if that's the only opportunity I'll get to gain footage for the story. The number of sequences I shot as well as different farms I visited allowed me to get enough interesting visuals to make the story come alive.

            Getting the visuals ended up being some real dirty work in the field. While it was fun, it was taxing carrying the camera equipment across the long fields, especially on the hotter days. I got a lot of dirt in my nails and even my feet pecked at by chickens. But at the end of the day it's all worth it when I take everything and start editing it all together.

            Creating the final video itself is like doing a puzzle; there are a lot of different parts and they all interlock best in certain ways. It's been my job to figure out exactly how to do it! I will be posting a link in my next blog to the final video so that everyone can view it.

             Now I must already start thinking about what I will do for my next story! I want to cover a wide variety of topics so who knows where the news will take me.

            This time, I'll be sure to schedule extra interviews farther in advance. A tip for all you aspiring journalists out there: don't count on someone showing up to an interview you schedule. NO ONE cares about your story as much as you do. So plan for it so that you have time to regroup and have other people lined up. I find personally that getting sound bites is most often what can hold up your production. Getting video, doing narration, and editing are all on your own time so it's easy to plan those accordingly. However, in a world of deadlines, you don't want somebody else to be the reason you miss it!

            I think that should pretty much catch everyone up on my news adventure this semester. If anyone has any ideas on the next topic they'd like me to cover, I'm open for suggestions! I'll be posting again soon to update my status on the next story. Until then, enjoy Spring Break and nicer weather! (fingers crossed)

 

Hi, my name is Leo Hoffman and I’m a Communications major/Marketing minor at Salisbury University. However, this blog site is not about me. It’s all about the current trends that are taking place in the Delmarva area. I am presently taking a trends news class at school, and will be creating four news stories on the current issues of the area. The topics I do my stories on could literally be about anything. This opens an exciting door to me. I get to pick whatever I want to cover, whatever interests me. I can assure you the topics will be interesting and I won’t be afraid to get my hands dirty. As a matter of fact, I may get very dirty working on my first project for this class. I have decided to do my first story on a new manure filtration system that is being implemented by a farm in Berlin, Maryland. The company is called Planet Found Energy Development. They are the first to be trying out this prototype, and they’re right here on the Eastern shore. A proprietary nutrient-capture system removes the phosphates entirely from the manure. This system could theoretically completely change the farming industry. Why? Well farms and farmers have long been pointed at as a main source of pollution. The insecticides and runoff from their manure are often damaging to the nearby waterways they may find. However, if the phosphates are entirely removed from the manure, then it can’t damage the health of local rivers, creeks, etc. It also means farmers would need to use less manure, since they can take the extracted phosphates and use them solely and accurately where needed. This can save the farmers and ultimately consumers money. If this system works, it could potentially catch on in the farming industry very quickly. I’ll be monitoring whether other farms in the area begin to implement the same equipment. Delmarva could be the first place to be using the potentially breakthrough technology. I think that’s what so exciting about this story. It’s always exciting to be at the forefront of any technology or opportunity. I’m looking to get interviews with an executive at Planet Found Energy Development as well as the farmers who are currently putting it to use. I plan to learn more details about how the system works and its possible effects on the community. I will be taking a P2 camera with me to record everything that I see. In two weeks, I will have completed a 1 minute 30 second video on exactly what’s going on in Berlin. Is it the start of a brand new poultry industry trend, originating right here in Delmarva? I’m going to find out.

 

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