Entry #15

It's sad to say that today was my second to last day at my internship. It feels like ever sine I met my score supervisors Andrew and Lisa, I have grown so close to them. One of things I really enjoy about them is their generosity. For example, today at Cape Ann TV they decided to throw a party for us because tomorrow was our last day. This party included plenty of conversation time and lovely sandwiches bought from down the street at Wally's Bistro located in the Blackburn Center. My order consisted of what I call a B-L-O, which is just like a BLT with the bacon and the lettuce but except instead of tomato, I ordered onion instead. Tierney got a chicken caesar wrap which looked equally delicious while Andrew, one of my SCORE supervisors, got the pulled pork sandwich while Lisa, my other SCORE supervisor got a cuban sandwich. After our fun party, Andrew asked me to do one last shoot within the television studio. This time, the shoot was for a show that they have called the superintendents corner. During this certain shoot he decided to put me on audio because it was something I had done before. It was really sad knowing that this was my last shoot for a while. I've loved spending time at Cape Ann TV and it has been a really great experience. I'm happy to note, however, that despite not being there all the time anymore I am still allowed to come in whenever I want, either for television shoots or to continue working on some other editing projects, which definitely makes leaving Cape Ann TV much less sad.

Entry #14

On Thursday my day was a little less stressful than most days because my internship supervisors didn't have much work for me to do. I came into the studio at my usual time, 11:00 and I spent the day mostly working on my piece for the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center. It's nice that the whole project seems to be finally coming together. Along with this, I spent the day doing more scheduling bulletins and chilling with my boss talking about which movies we liked and what makes a good movie. On the editing side, it's fascinating to me how you can take such a broad arrangement of footage and turn it into something really amazing. In this case, the footage is a little less broad but it amazes me how much editing can change something. At this point I have been working on and off of the same footage for about four weeks now. An average person might think the work should clearly be done by now but any film student would understand how much time goes into any type of film project, whether it's editing the footage together or just filming it. By going into this industry one must understand this because if they dive in without knowing this, they are going to have a difficult time in the industry. Luckily for me, I have already spent countless hours doing many shoots and editing for Cape Ann TV, so I am fully aware of what majoring in film entails.

Entry #13

On Wednesday early in the afternoon I did a shoot at the Woodman's Function Hall. Although the shoot was only about an hour I was there for about two hours because I had to prepare. When I arrived I immediately regretted my choice in clothing because it was clearly much fancier than I was expecting. I suppose this was my own fault though because my internship supervisor had even reminded me the day before to dress nicely so of course I showed up in jeans and a leather jacket. The actual shoot went pretty nicely though, and it was nice to have my internship supervisor there for a change because doing shoots by myself can be very stressful. It was also helpful to have her there because I had never seen her do any kind of shoot and it was interesting so see how differently she does things compared to me, who is an amateur. This shoot especially took a long time to set up because of the fact that the Woodman's function hall has plenty of windows and when a presentation is set up in that kind of a place it is necessary for the white balance to be adjusted, which can take a long time to fix. Once the white balance was finally adjusted the shoot went very well. I would say the one problem we ran into was when the speaker decided to walk around the room instead of staying in that spot set up in the front where the microphone was. When he decided to do this it was a little bit of a hassle to try and get the picture to constantly focus on him without making the camera too shifty, but once we figured out how to deal with the problem, everything went smoothly.

Entry #12

On Tuesday I spent the day at Cape Ann TV doing the same various tasks I always do, such as scheduling bulletins, making copies of DVD's, editing my Maritime Heritage center footage, and putting away camera equipment. When I finished working around 4:00 I gathered my own equipment up for a shoot I had to do that night. After I did that, I went home to prepare for the shoot by getting in my comfiest clothes and preparing some coffee for a long night ahead of me. The shoot I did that night was something I had done multiple times before; the Manchester-Essex School Committee Meeting. When I arrived at the usual time 6:30, I noticed that the library was still dark and there wasn't anybody in it. I thought that was odd because the meeting was set to be scheduled a half an hour from then and there didn't seem to be anybody there. Luckily a woman came in shortly after and informed me that the meeting was originally set at the normal time but due to one of the members not being able to attend at that time, the meeting was pushed up an hour. I guess I wasn't the only one uninformed about this because there was several other audience members who came in at 7:00 who had also thought the meeting was at that time. It turns out they had forgotten to update the website so I had to wait another hour while everyone else arrived. Once everybody was there and the meeting started everything went smoothly, and though the meeting went a little longer this time there were very few problems during the shoot.

Entry #11

On Thursday, I spent the first part of my day writing six pages of my research paper. Of course having only three pages of a research paper for a draft wasn't going to cut it so I spent the night before Thursday and the day before the draft was due, making up for all the work I needed. The next half of the day I came into Cape Ann TV to do some of their work but also to do some of my own work by setting up a recorded interview in which my supervisor answered eight questions I had for him to move me along with my paper, the first part being about Cape Ann TV, how it's funded, and what it's purpose is, and the last part being about his thoughts on the future of Cape Ann TV and Community Television as a whole. During the interview he also talked about the media landscape, how it's evolving, and whether or not Cape Ann TV is open to change (they are). That night I looked through the interview and added a lot of his thought into my research paper, and I plan to do the same for another person at my internship. The one thing I do need to incorporate into my research paper, however is a periodical. This may be pretty hard to find but I have a feeling my internship supervisors would be willing to provide me with something. I pan to ask them about this tomorrow.  

Entry #10

Monday was a much longer day than usual at Cape Ann TV. One of the reasons for this was because I went in the studio for a much longer time than I would usually go in there for and another reason was because the shoot I did that night was a shoot that lasted four hours. During the day before the shoot I came into Cape Ann TV and hung around the office for several hours doing random tasks. I copied DVD's, I put away equipment, and I did scheduling bulletins. When that was all over it was time to gather up all my equipment for the shoot that night. The shoot was for the Essex Town Meeting, and it required a much larger assortment of equipment than usual because it was being held in a large area where the speaker for the microphone was set up pretty far from the camera. I was glad that I brought long wires because the shoot was initially supposed to be in the Essex Elementary Cafeteria, meaning I would have needed much smaller wires. I arrived about an hour early to set up for the shoot so in total I was there for about four and a half hours, which is a really long time for one sitting. The reason I arrived so early was because of the lengthy wires that I had to tape all across the gym floor. The whole process of just doing that, plus setting up the tripod and camera on top of the bleachers, while also having to adjust the sound, made the hour go by really fast. During the actual meeting, I did pretty well with everything. I adjusted the audio very well and I used the camera effectively. The only problem I really ran into during the shoot was the fact that I had to sit on top of the bleachers, which made me a little nervous for the camera. Another problem relating to this was the fact that it was really hard for me to get each speaker the camera view because two out of the four microphones were set up in places where it was hard to film. Nevertheless, the camera shooting for the meeting went very well, I guess I just wish that the meeting was a lot shorter. By the time I got home that night I pretty much just crashed on my bed. It was a long day

Research Paper Draft

Dating all the way back to the 1920’s television has always been the number one driving media force. The idea of television first arose in 1928. Shortly after audio signals were invented and the radio came about, inventors wanted to develop a new way to broadcast certain events by not only projecting audio through to its listeners but also pictures. Through a number of years experimenters then drew up designs based on this certain concept and by the early 1940’s television sets were introduced.

Though the idea of the television set was a huge step up from broadcasting through just sound, there arose one major problem with the system. At the time, the only way people were able to experience audio transmission was through the use of antennae. Because of this,  it was increasingly difficult for any one of its viewers to develop a perfect signal and it was especially difficult for the masses of people that were living in much more rural and mountainous areas. As a result of this, the notion on how people would be able to receive on the air broadcasts became what is known today as Cable Television. When Cable Television was developed in the 1940’s it was much more limited than the advances given to it today, such as satellite broadcasting. Over the years this new way of broadcasting transformed into a much wider field and soon people were able to receive cable television

Community Access Television originally got their start during the rise of Cable Television in the late 70’s and early 80’s. In fact, community television first started when cable companies were forced to donate a portion of their income to provide facilities as well as airtime for public comment, in exchange for rights to allow cable companies to string their wires across public land. This gave the public the ability to voice their opinions without the usual necessity for media outlets. The first non commercial broadcast was held in 1968 at Stoughton, Wisconsin’s broadcasting network called WSTO TV, and at approximately the same time in New York City, the head of Cable TV recommended a leased access channel for the public to use. This small step towards giving the community a voice later led to hundreds of more community access facilities being launched and pretty soon in 1972, The Federal Communications Commission issued the rule, Third Report and Order, which required all cable systems in the top US 100 television markets to provide three different access channels, one given for the public, the other given to education, and the third given to local government. The rule was later amended in 1976 when it was decided that cable systems with 3500 or more subscribers should set aside four cable television channels and give the public access to camera equipment as well as studio time for any member of the community who wanted to express an opinion. Though Community Access Television thrived through this period of time it wasn’t until 1984 when cable operators became prohibited from exercising any editorial control on public access channels through the Cable Franchise Policy as well as the Communications Act.

Community Access Television often holds more than one name. Other than its obvious name, Public Access Television, many people also refer to it has PEG access. The reason for this is because PEG stands for the three types of programming CATV provides, P for public usage, E for educational usage, and G for governmental. According to Cape Ann TV, a local community access television station, they explain that their mission “is to offer the people of Cape Ann an opportunity to use the media effectively to share information with friends and neighbors in their community,” furthermore they go on to illustrate that they “strive to provide a venue for the arts, business leaders, local government, local schools, local sports, non profit service organizations, and residents.”

In many ways, Public Access Television plays a vital role in maintaining a certain togetherness within the community.  It’s also a place where one would go to find recorded minutes of their community’s town meeting, serious political discussion, and maybe some recordings of local sport winnings. However, because the media has come so far these days, it’s becoming easier and easier for fellow community members to learn this information elsewhere, and express their own personal opinions through other parts of the media landscape, ie. Facebook and Youtube. Thus losing more and more of Community Television’s viewers and supporters.

It’s not only Public Access Television that suffers through this loss but its also cable companies. In fact, due to this new media landscape, in the past ten years the cable subscriber base has dropped a concerning amount of viewership. People no longer feel its necessary to pay that large amount of money spent on receiving TV shows and movies that they could easily just stream on their iphones. This rapid decrease in viewership poses a difficult realization  for both cable and public access television companies. If this new form of media outlet continues to move the way its moving there becomes the question of how much longer these cable companies will continue to thrive.

Nowadays Cable Access Television continues to be less and less prevalent. There are a few reasons for why this may be, but it seems that the main argument starts at the many cable television alternatives that have started being offered in the past few years. One cable television alternative that has turned immensely popular these days is the beloved network broadcasting website known as Netflix. Netflix has gained a widespread popularity due to its inexpensive monthly fees as well as its wide range of available media. In fact, this particular cable television alternative offers over 3,000 different movies and over 3,000 different television shows awarding the company over four million subscribers every year. Recent statistics even show that just in the last four years Netflix has gained over 20,000,000 subscribers. Given these facts it’s no wonder people stopped going to Blockbuster.

Though Netflix has earned its stride in the industry as the most popular broadcasting website, the number one cable TV alternative happens to be online streaming sites. Why even pay that $7.99 per month to get limited shows and movies when people can just do a quick google search and find any particular episode or movie they desire, and watch it without all those extra charges. Sites such as ATDHE.net, ChannelChooser.com, Justin.TV, and many others allow web surfers to do just this. Other sites such as BitTorrent, LimeWire, and RapidShare provide free available downloads where these viewers are then able to store those shows and movies they have downloaded inside their drive, and ultimately pull them back up whenever they wish to watch it again. The quality may not be the same as if one were to watch the media on television but with this day and age in which kids will watch almost anything on their small screened handheld ipods, quality seems to no longer be an issue.

When people are not using an online illegal website, or subscribed to Netflix, they are most likely using at least one of the following video sharing websites; Itunes, Huluplus, and Amazon. Although Itunes is mainly associated with music, it also offers many other features, one of which being the ability to pick and choose through over 190,000 different TV shows as well as over 45,000 different movies. None of the media is actually free but if a company, such as Itunes, can then mobilize this feature by programming it to an mp3 player, the idea of spending the said money to do so, becomes a lot more appealing to the 400,000,000 users who actively use this program on a daily basis. The other video sharing websites people use; Huluplus and Amazon remain notably different from Itunes. Hulu is classified as a website that offers ad supported streaming video content through hundreds of different TV shows, movies, and webisodes. Because the site is run by three major television stations; NBC, FOX, and Disney, Hulu has made partnerships with hundreds of other televison stations allowing it to carry over 43,000 different TV shows. Hulu originally did not start out as a paid programming website but as of 2010 unsubscribed viewers now have a more limited range of what they are able to watch. Amazon.com, the last video sharing website, is more similar to Itunes than it is to Hulu because it not only sells TV shows, movies, and music, but it’s also known as the world’s largest online seller. Sellers from all over the world use Amazon.com as a way to sell their merchandise so it’s no surprise that this merchandise also includes video media.

Those who choose to subscribe to any of the above three sources are given three ways they can stream their media; Apple TV, Roku, or the internet. People who are not able to stream on the internet or would rather stream on their own television screens can either use Apple TV or Roku. Apple TV is a device known as a digitial media reciever, developed and sold by the company who also created Itunes, Apple Inc. The device is designed to play digital content from many different sources, including the Itunes Store, Netflix, Huluplus, Youtube, as well as many other music and game centers. Apple TV also has the ability to stream through any Mac OS X or Windows computer running Itunes. The other device people can use to stream their media onto their television screen is a player called Roku. Roku was created by an American consumer electronics company (Roku)  that sells home digital media products. Roku, like Apple TV, is another type of digital media receiver that allows its customers to stream through their television sets. Roku offers subscription based servers such as Huluplus, Netflix, and Amazon, as well as other servers that are available through the reciever, free of charge.

Now that thousands of new users have unlimited access to plenty of streaming video content, people are now becoming more and more likely to unsubscribe to their cable service. Though this doesn’t pose as much of a threat to cable access television just yet, this newfound media is acutally creating a trend within the younger generation known as “Cord Nevers.” Kids who are moving out of their parents houses and learning to live on their own are more used to streaming media on their laptops and smart phones than they are with streaming on their regular television sets. These kids are not intimidated by what it takes to get apps onto their TV sets, therefore they no longer feel the need to spend an extra $100 a month for a cable bill when they could just go out and buy a 100$ device (Roku or Apple TV)  that will allow them to have access to thousands of their favorite shows and movies with very little charge.

Some companies, such as a new company called Aereo, have even taken advantage of these “Cord Nevers.” Aereo is a site that allows access to live and recorded TV for as low as $8 a month. After starting off in the New York region this past year, the company plans to expand to 22 more Aereo markets allowing it become accessible to 97 million consumers by the end of 2013. CEO of the company, Chet Kanoja explains that he is entirely aware of the “cord never” demographic and admittedly explains his intentions by recgonizing that “anyone under the age of 30 isn’t going to go out and get a cable suscription,” he also states that, “they represent a massive audience and the opportunity to create a completely new ecosystem.” Chet Kanoja as well as many other companies are also appealing to the same demographic, making it harder and harder for cable television companies to gain more subscribers.

Although this newfound technology is ultimately very helpful for viewers it can lead to a major problem within the traditional media buisness. A recent chart created by the ISI Group shows a significant drop in the amount of cable TV subscribers:

SHOW PIE CHART AND EXPLAIN--- INSERT HERE

In many ways public access television is the opposite of commerical television. For one, its actually classified as a form of non commercial mass media where regular ordinary people can create their own content television programming, where as commerical television is a form of broadcast programming privately owned by corporate media. Community television was created in the US between 1969 and 1971 by the Federal Communications Commision who felt it was necessary to provide a television channel that allows for public speaking. MORE

When the cable subscriber base starts declining not only does it affect cable access companies but also community access media companies. The only way for viewers to access community television is through their own cable services and if they don’t have that, there is no way for them to view that media. it seems that with all the online media out nowadays, the answer should be simple- move public access media to the internet, but the answer is not that simple. Tony Shawcross, executive director of Denver Open Media who won a grant from the Knight Foundation to create online tools for Public Access TV stations explains that Cable Television still dominates the media landscape.

“Cable television viewership is still orders of magnitude higher than online, and the discrepancy is even higher in low-income communities,” he said. “Nielsen has a recent report that estimates cable TV viewership at 25-times the prevalence of online media viewership. Low-income communities do not necessarily have cameras, computers and high-speed Internet. Those tools are not ubiquitous, and have low penetration in low-income communities.”

One could advocate in spite of Shawcross’s reasonings that technology is becoming cheaper, therefore the gap is narrowing. However, experts are estimating that it could be another 20 or so years before the online video content reaches the same numbers as cable TV, nevertheless public access television will need to find a new way to justify its existence.

Another major problem that threatens the existence of community television is the invention of vlogging websites. One of these being the ever popular Youtube. Youtube is set up as a place where you can film yourself with either a smart phone or your own video camera and upload it to a site where thousands of people can watch it and comment on it. The best thing about the idea of Youtube is that you can do all this in the privacy of your own home without needing to venture off to your local community television station to have them put it on record so other people can watch.  Jay Deadman of the video blogging website, Ryan is Hungry, explains that there is another way for public access television studios to fulfill their roles.

“One of the key things about public access is that it isn’t really just access — it’s also education. YouTube and Google Video are commercial sites. They’ll host your videos, but they’re not going to teach you how to advocate for things. Public access is a place for people to meet and interact and to become a media-conscious person.”

Deadman’s belief that public engagement is at the heart of public access has caused him to quit his job working for a Manhattan public access channel, and engage in, what he believes is the next step to public access, video blogging. Deadman also talks about a major convenience in public access stations that could change the way these systems operate.

“Right now, when you go to a public-access center, it’s basically a TV station,” Dedman said. “It’s all about learning how to use broadcast equipment. The new vision of a public-access station would be something more like a computer center, where you could go to get access to the Internet, to learn how to use online video and audio equipment, a place for the community to get together and talk. The whole point of public access is to give people a way to speak. In the ’70s, cable TV was the best way to do that. Today, it’s only one way of many.”

He goes on to recgonize that community television is “seen as out of date” and notes that community access stations are going to need to adjust to this new reality.

It’s hard to tell at this point what all this means for public access stations. A recent itnerview with Andrew Love who works at Cape Ann TV explains his thoughts on the matter.

“I do feel that with the change of technology as more and more people are going online to recive their media Cape Ann TV of course is losing viewers and losing revenue because just fewer and fewer people have cable subscrptions because of things like Hulu and Netflix and various other outlets, everyone’s just tuning in online to get their media.”

Love then goes onto explain his thoughts on change.

“Cape Ann TV is very open to change. Were always trying to find new ways to reach out to our community more and improve of viewership and improve our connection with the community because obviously we can make all the great television in the world but if nobody watches it, we won’t be successful. One of the things that desperately needs to change is that I do beleive that Cape Ann TV needs to move online and become an online resource because that is what people are interested in, that is what people want to do. They don’t want to watch TV anymore, they want to go on their computer, or on their phone. Cape Ann TV needs to move to the internet and it needs to become high definition, and we need to develop some sort of on demand service where people simply type in the name of the event, or a particular sports game they’re interested in and just get that there whenever they want it”.

Unfortunately one of the major problems with community access stations moving towards the internet is Cape Ann TV’s fear that it will breach their contract.

“It’s unfortunate because our mission hasn’t really changed. There still is a need to know what your government’s doing, there’s still a need to see what your kids are doing in their high schools, and there’s still a desire to see the different concerts and events happening in the community and it’s just unfortunately unfortunate that were not moving with that technology, it’s just the way our contract is structured.”

As Andrew Love struggles in his buisness as a public access provider, there becomes a question of what all this means for public access television.

Right now Public Access Televsion still holds a place but it’s hard to tell what things will look like as the media landscape expands. As Shawcross mentioned, public access television is not just about letting people speak their minds but it’s also about teaching them to speak their minds.

“If libraries were providing media training, Internet access…and access to production equipment, then I’d agree that perhaps public access would be irrelevant,” Tony Shawcross says.

For Shawcross it seems that the only thing that could truly replace public access would be something that provides equipment and training- and makes sure that it’s an option for everyone, regardless of how much money they make. Shawcross as well as Love also feel that community access television holds a certain importance to the community.

“The fundamental mission of Cape Ann TV is to provide access for the community to know about their government, and to be able to voice their opinions, and those things are always gonna be important.”

Though this does seem to be a major threat for community access providers, these companies are finding new ways to move forward, and use this newfound technology as a way to help them instead of hinder. The Committee for Media Access located in Chicago plans to create a blog in which they will be using to not only update the progress in Chicago but to also tell stories each week that highlight the triumphs public access TV faces. This blog will be used as a way to inform readers about public access and will try and secure the future of public access television in Chicago.

INSERT MORE RESEARCH ON THIS SUBJECT

Though public access television holds a great place in the community for public media, it is hard to tell what its future will look like as we head into the next 10 or 15 years. Andrew Love, who has now been in the business for 7 years, makes his own predictions.

“it’s interesting because the outcome is going to be varied from community to community. I think communities that move with the technology have become part of the online and have restructured their contracts so that their taking percentages off of people’s internet subscriptions as opposed to their cable. I think those stations are gonna do very well and actually improve and become much more accessible to their community- much more popular to their community. But unfortunately some stations are gonna stay with cable until the end and those stations are gonna have a very difficult time in the next decade.”

Love also makes predictions and hopes for his own company.

“My hope is that Cape Ann TV will become one of the stations that moves and puts tecnology online and becomes an online resource.”

But will these predictions ring any truths? Only time will tell.

MORE ON FUTURE OF CATV AS WELL

Online Sources:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100362995 (cord nevers)

http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4f4d3dbeeab8ead94700006a/cable-tv.png(cable tv subscribers bar graph)

http://www.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment/top-10-cable-tv-alternatives_1.html (top ten cable tv alternatives)

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/12/public-access-tv-fights-for-relevance-in-the-youtube-age352.html (main premise)

http://www.praxagora.com/andyo/ar/public_access.html article on future of public access television)

Periodicals:

Periodicals on background info (ask Lisa Smith)

Other Sources:

Cape Ann TV program schedule (now and historically)

Interviews:

1.     Lisa Smith at Cape Ann TV

2.     Laurie Lufkin who has a cooking show on Cape Ann TV

3.     Viewer examples (different interests and age groups)

 Interview Questions for Lisa Smith:

1.     When was Cape Ann TV established and how is it funded?

2.     What is the main mission of Cape Ann TV or community access television in general? Who does Cape Ann TV serve?

3.     Do you feel that Cape Ann TV is losing viewers due to a lack of Cable TV subscribers?

4.     Do you think the mission is changing as the media landscape evolves?

5.     Is Cape Ann TV open to change, and if you are, how might you change things

6.     Where do you see the business in the next 10 or 15 years?

7.     Where do you see Cape Ann TV at that point?

Entry #9

Friday was an interesting day because I didn't really do all that much. My internship supervisor was gone for most of the day so I was only given one assignment. Apparently like most assignments given to Cape Ann TV, there wasn't much information on the subject. All that I knew was that it was a shoot with a bunch of old people at 11:30 that I was supposed to attend. When I arrived, I realized it wasn't just a bunch of old people but actually all old people. Because I had never done a shoot with so many old folks, I had forgotten how quickly I was supposed to line up the tape. Unfortunately my unawareness got me yelled at by the woman in charge of the event, stating that the wires were very unsafe for the residents. Immediately after that I quickly pulled out the tape and pretty much taped the entire wire to the ground so I wouldn't end up killing any of these residents. I went about the next hour filming what seemed to be the opening of some kind of apartment complex (I'm still not really sure). Everything seemed to be going just fine during that period of time until it was time to go outside and cut the ribbon. So, of course, because I didn't know this was a ribbon cutting ceremony, I was not prepared for the camera to be brought outside. I tried my best to get all the equipment out of there quickly enough to get some shots of the actual ribbon cutting ceremony but unfortunately by the time I had unglued all that tape put on the wires, the ribbon had already been cut and people were heading back inside for the after ceremony snacks. I felt really bad arriving to Cape Ann TV shortly after with only boring speeches about the apartment complex and without any footage of the actual ribbon cutting but he explained to me that it was easy to fix. As I finished up my third week at Cape Ann TV I am realizing that in order to be successful in film you have to screw up first. Hopefully these last few weeks will go a little better.

Blog Entry #8

In the past few entries I have talked a lot about doing the same things inside the television studio. Today, after I arrived at the studio around 12:30, I did something I had done before but this time the camera shoot was very different. For one, there was not a live audience so the actors, or in this case, musicians, were allowed to start over as many times as they felt necessary. I had never done a shoot before where there was musicians instead of interviewees so it was a lot more fun to shoot because I was able to move the camera around more. I also preferred this kind of shooting to a live shoot because there wasn't so much pressure for the cameramen because later the when the clips are being edited they can fix those small problems. The band was pretty good but the only problem was that I couldn't hear the lead singer so I couldn't tell exactly how good they were. It also didn't help that they were all really old so their voices were really raspy. The shoot was really cool though because I got to see everything that goes into a setup for a music shoot. One thing I noticed was that it takes a ton of different wires and a lot of extra time. Fortunately I wasn't there for when the stage was striked so I can't imagine how long it would've taken for everything to be taken down.

Blog Entry #7

Today at Cape Ann TV was very different from other days because I got to come in much later than usual. After sleeping in until 9:00 I hung around the house until about 1:00 when I had to leave to head to the studio. The usual time I arrive at my internship is around 11:00 so it was pretty cool that I was able to spend those last two hours basically doing nothing. The reason I came in so late was because I was required to be there for the Cape Ann Report, which is a live show they do once a week around 5:30. Although I had helped out for the Cape Ann report before by moving around one of the cameras things were a little different this time. This time I ended up being in charge of the audio during the show. Now, if you think about it, this particular job doesn't seem that hard but what people don't realize is that it's a lot more stressful then it looks, and it's especially stressful when there is a larger amount of people on mics. Luckily I only had three people in this shoot so things were a lot easier. So basically what I did was manage the volume of each mic the subjects in the shoot were wearing, and like I said it doesn't seem that hard but what the audio man also has to do is cue the mics once the camera starts rolling which can be really stressful because I could have easily missed the cue and had a live television program where one or two of the mics were turned off for a few seconds, and though the job was a little scary there are still much harder positions people are holding in this industry, like for example the director, who has to be in constant focus of every crew member around them by making sure they are doing their job properly as well as talking through an intercom by telling the cameramen each camera angle they should use.

Entry #6

Now that I have reached the end of the second week of score and onto my third week it has become very routine like. During the first week things at Cape Ann TV were a little bit different because I hadn't had any experience with any kind of TV work but now that I have been continuously doing different shoots and making daily scheduling bulletins I have gotten better at doing these certain tasks. Yesterday I spent a lot of time in the studio where I continued to edit together my Maritime Heritage Center video, and put camera equipment away. That night I also filmed another Manchester Essex School Committee Meeting which went significantly better than last time because I stood in a different spot where I was able to grab better camera angles then the shoot I did last time for them. The meeting was a little boring but that might have been also because I was extremely tired and was feeling a little bit under the weather. One new thing I did learn in that period of time however, was to pay more attention to the red dot on the screen because if its not there that means the camera is not recording. Unfortunately I learned that the hard way for a period of time when the tape had stopped without letting me know and the red dot had disappeared. Luckily it wasn't stopped for very long so I didn't lose too much of the meeting but I now realize that I should be looking at the small camera screen at all times.

Blog Entry #5

Though I am enjoying myself a lot at SCORE, ever since I started my internship I have ran into a few problems with travel partly because, since my parents work at home, they’re always around to remind me to do stuff so I don’t forget later on. On Thursday I ran into this exact problem. My dad had gone out for the day so I was on my own that day. My plan was to drive up to Cape Ann TV at 11:00 like I do everyday but obviously my plans did not go like I had originally thought they would. I ended up turning on my car and realizing that my gas tank was pretty much at zero. I didn’t think it was such a big deal at first because  my tank wasn’t completely empty and I still had something there, and I could easily stop by Gaybrook to fill it up on my way out but I then also realized that I was completely broke.and absolutely no money resided in my house at that time.  The biggest problem was that my dad wasn’t answering the phone and I was very unsure of how long he would be gone for so I decided to start calling up some of my friends to see if any of them were available.  I was lucky enough to get at least one person on the phone and they were able to pick me up and drive me to my internship, but had I not been able to get any of them on the phone I might be back at the internship right now making up those hours.  That same night I also had to go on my second independent shoot where I was supposed to set up the camera, film the whole thing and put all my equipment away. Things didn’t go completely well there either but through the independence SCORE is giving me, I hope to learn through these experiences as well as any others that might challenge me in new and interesting ways.

Entry #4

Its been about a week and a half since I started this internship and just like I felt before, I am enjoying myself. Things are getting easier at my workplace because I have now learned how to do many things independently without having someone there to help me out. The past three days have been especially eventful because I have done several things for Cape Ann TV that I had never done before. On Monday I spent the day doing scheduling bulletins and lots of editing for a shoot someone had recently filmed at the Gloucester Heritage Maritime Center. I enjoyed that aspect of the work but I realize doing it for too many hours can cause me to get really tired and maybe go a little bit crazy. That night I went out with one of my internship advisors to a small gathering for some of the gloucester community who has recently decided to put up a PSA expressing the importance of being active. This is another project I will be filming and editing in the future. Yesterday was also a full day for me because after hours spent at my internship I went out to camera monitor a live city council meeting. It was very stressful because I had to figure out which camera shots I wanted to use at what time while also putting up messages every so often about which network and event the viewers were watching. During this time I was also monitoring the audio and recording a DVD which made it all the more stressful. Regardless I enjoyed the task and I now know how to use a machine that before had confused me.

Blog Entry 3

So my first official week of SCORE is finally over and I feel I chose the right place for my first internship. The last two days of my internship, Thursday and Friday went over quite easily because I didn't have to work so many hours on those two days.

After I wrote my last blog entry on Thursday I went out later that night on another filming assignment. This time it was my chance to film for the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center. I was required to come and meet up with a girl from Gordon College who had the same interests as me. When I arrived she had already set up the equipment as well so all I really had to do that night was control the camera while a powerpoint presentation was going on. The topic of the powerpoint was on sea turtles and though it wasn't completely exciting it was really cool to meet up with somebody who shared my interests and who had already had a lot of experience. Being at the showing with her also gave me the advantage of looking at what she was doing right and how I can better myself with the camera the next time I am on my own at an event.

Friday was a much slower day compared to Thursday because I didn't really have much to do that day. My internship supervisor (s) also felt the need to give me a break so I came in at 11:00 and only stayed until 2:00 because I had to babysit after. During that period of time I learned how to check in and put together equipment for people who want to rent it out. I also learned how to properly put away long cables, and trust me it's alot harder than it looks. My next and only assignment this week is to film an exercise class so I am looking forward to that event and am hoping it goes over well.

Blog Entry 2

So, today marks my fourth day at SCORE, and I gotta say time seems to be flying pretty fast already. In fact, working at Cape Ann TV has actually been really eye opening for someone like me, who is interested in Film but has never worked in an actual television studio. Yesterday was particularly interesting because it was the first time I was able to film in a professional studio. The interview I filmed was about chocolate covered turtles, and while we were filming I got to man one of the cameras and follow the director's orders through an intercom. The whole experience was very exciting because so far the filming I have done has not been too professional and this was something I had never done before. Not only did I do that, but today I was given an opportunity to place program listings in for all of the Cape Ann TV channels. This job took a little too long for my liking but it was great practice for something I might undertake in the future. Tonight I am working with an HD camera for the first time and I am going to be taping a session on sea turtles at the Gloucester Maritime Center. Though the session doesn't sound too exciting, I am thrilled to be doing another new project.

I am really enjoying the time I am spending at this particular internship and not once have I questioned my interest in being a college film student. I feel that this is the right choice for me.

Blog Entry 1

Today was my second day working at Cape Ann TV, and I will say that the day was quite eventful. Working at a local television station is a very cool way for me to start out my career. Though I am not particularly thinking of doing anything within the realm of television production, I am looking to become a film major, and to do this being on camera duty is an obvious necessity. Today I was given this duty, and because I had never done something like this before it certainly was something out of my comfort zone. With very little training and zero know how, I was sent in to a Manchester Essex School Committee Meeting today where I was supposed to film the entire event with cameras that I had never used before, so of course I ran into some problems. In particular, at the very beginning of the meeting, right as the head committee member smacked down that hammer, it appeared that the camera was not functioning properly and chose not to record. This was incredibly stressful because it took me quite a while to figure out what was actually wrong with it and when I finally did, three minutes of the meeting had already gone by. I was lucky enough to fix the problem on my own but I honestly have no idea what I would have done had I not realized the tape was not properly placed. Though the task was ultimately very stressful, I did, however, find the meeting kind of interesting and I very much enjoyed the rare opportunity I was given to film for a local television station. I look forward for what's to come in the future as I continue my venturing inside the Cape Ann Television studio.

Thesis and Outline: What does the declining cable subscriber base mean for community access television?

SCORE project: Charlotte Fackre

What does the declining cable subscriber base mean for community access television?

Thesis: Public Access Television is struggling to find its place in an era where Cable TV subscribers are becoming more and more limited.

Outline

I. Introduction: lack of cable subscribers creates a difficult environment for community television providers

            What is community access television?

            Why it is important to have community access television

            The facts around declining cable subscriber base

            Why this makes a difficult environment for community access television

            The challenges ahead for community access television

Subtopics:

II. About the Media Landscape

- History of Cable TV- how it came about, the reason why its declining

-Subsitute websites for cable TV: Netflix, Huluplus, Amazon,  Itunes, Youtube

Subsitute devices: blue ray, apple tv, roku

- people even find ways to download with no charge

- College kids don’t want to pay for cable: cord nevers

- mobile device streaming: through the iphone, android, ipod touch, and kindle fire

- Stats: how many people have cable- compare recent years to past years

·      1 chart: Cable TV subscribers bar graph: declined immensely

·      Top ten cable TV alternatives: online streaming sites at number one, Netflix at number 2

-       What is Public Access Television? How did it come about?

o   People who got their start on public access: Comedian Tom Green, Horror Hostess Elvira

III. About community access television

What does declining cable subscriber base mean for public access television?

- Advocates argue that online media can't entirely take the place of the classic cable-access model

            - Some don’t have computers, however computers are becoming less expensive

- provides interactive media

- in some years public access television will cease to exist: Jay Deadman worked at a public access station in Manhattan but left due to its falling behind in the world of technology

Public Access Television is reluctant to change

-       Some public-access centers are reluctant to branch into new media out of fear that offering such services might breach their contract with cable companies

-       Explore differences if any between public access and community access TV

IV. About the community served and the reasons why we still need community TV

What does this mean for public service? What does this mean for the rest of the world?

-       Public access television provides for a physical place where community members can meet, collaborate, and organize

-       it still holds a place:

o   “the only thing that could adequately replace public access would be something that provides both equipment and training -- and makes sure that it's available to everyone, regardless of income”

-       as more people switch their attention to online media, it is likely that this will diminish

V. The future of community access TV

Public Access Television stations find new ways :

-       “My town’s incumbent cable company, MediaOne, is trying to consolidate public access channels and generate programs about the whole region instead of fostering town-by-town programming”

-       the internet: cable leaves the choice of material up to the channel operators, moving to the internet would allow an individual to pull in the material he or she wants

What are the options community access stations to deliver on their mission in the changing landscape?

      Are there community access stations that are reaching for these changes?

VI. Conclusion

Online Sources:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100362995 (cord nevers)

http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4f4d3dbeeab8ead94700006a/cable-tv.png (cable tv subscribers bar graph)

http://www.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment/top-10-cable-tv-alternatives_1.html (top ten cable tv alternatives)

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/12/public-access-tv-fights-for-relevance-in-the-youtube-age352.html (main premise)

http://www.praxagora.com/andyo/ar/public_access.html article on future of public access television)

Periodicals:

Periodicals on background info (ask Lisa Smith)

Other Sources:

Cape Ann TV program schedule (now and historically)

Interviews:

1.     Lisa Smith at Cape Ann TV

2.     Laurie Lufkin who has a cooking show on Cape Ann TV

3.     Viewer examples (different interests and age groups)

 Interview Questions for Lisa Smith:

1.     When was Cape Ann TV established and how is it funded?

2.     What is the main mission of Cape Ann TV or community access television in general? Who does Cape Ann TV serve?

3.     Do you feel that Cape Ann TV is losing viewers due to a lack of Cable TV subscribers?

4.     Do you think the mission is changing as the media landscape evolves?

5.     Is Cape Ann TV open to change, and if you are, how might you change things

6.     Where do you see the business in the next 10 or 15 years?

7.     Where do you see Cape Ann TV at that point?