Camera Ready

I got a chance to sit in the anchor's chair last week. I was excited and a bit nervous. The Metro Minutes show we taped was also our second cable show.

Between having four stories due in other classes, making the ‘Save me a seat’ segment of the Metro Minutes show, and presenting in the grad crawl for the journalism department before going on-air, it was a big week.

I came to the studio right at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. I quickly plugged in my stories into the producer run-down so each story could be reviewed and edited down if need be. I then went to the graduate newsroom to get ready for the grad crawl.

The crawl started at 6 p.m. and lasted close to an hour and 15 minutes. I had about 45 minutes to get camera ready. My make-up, clothes, and hair had to be in place for tapping by 8 p.m. I got ready just in time.

When I walked into the producer’s classroom, the scripts were close to being printed. I sat in front of one of the computers to read the stories I was assigned to reading in the show. My fellow anchor and I went into the studio to read for the producer and assistant producer of the show to review the scripts. It allowed the anchors time to read through their stories and the producers got a chance to make changes to the script.

After looking at the teleprompter, I decided I wouldn’t wear my glasses. Surprisingly I could see well.

It was time to record and I got a little more nervous. I wasn’t smiling. Everyone was really helpful and told us to keep smiling, so I turned it on and put big smiles on my face.

I would read something and not make any errors. And then I’d read the next story and make an error on the last word or so and would have to do a re-take. There were some re-takes and some stories that were flawless.

Anchoring is fun, but it’s harder when the lights are beaming, you put yourself under so much pressure to not mess up, and the only thing you can think of is - this is the cable show.

With the pressure and all, I enjoyed anchoring. Everyone told us we did well. The next time around, I know I’ll be nervous, but not as tense. I’m ready to do it again already.