homecoming

Homecoming weekend. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting much from it, but maybe that's a good thing. Because it blew every expectation I had out of the stratosphere. For those who aren't familiar with the notion of Homecoming - it is basically a weekend where the University welcomes back Alumni to the school (it was actually started by Mizzou 99 years ago) - they have a bunch of events - all of the Greek houses have a big competition (house decorations, skits and floats for the parade) which they get judged on, there's a homecoming parade, the football game, all of downtown is decorated. It's basically a lot of fun - and since this will be my first (and last) homecoming, I wanted to take advantage of that.

First, I visited the house decs in Greek town. Once thing I have been meaning to do all semester is take photos of the Sorority houses in Greek town and the Frats out on Frat row because in general, they're just obscene. The theme this year was board games and groups of sorority's and frats had to come up with a scene and a skit around their board game. Here are a few of my favourites:

Look! My life is complete - standing next to a giant Life wheel haha.

Saturday was a huge day, not only were Mizzou playing #1 ranked Oklahoma, but ESPN had

chosen to Mizzou to host College Gameday, I don't really want to go into the details of what College Gameday is, so for those internationals who are actually interesting - google it :P

We got to campus about 7.30 in the morning and walked to Francis Quad where the Gameday crew were set up - we got a prime spot on the hill under the columns. It was a loooot of fun, people were just crazy excited - the band were playing, people had millions of signs, everyone is in gold and the quad was PACKED - we later found out we had broke Kansas' gameday record (which stood at around 14,500 people), around 18,000 turned up.

The night before - all is calm.

This was a funny sight - straight after I took this photo these guys from Fox got in trouble with ESPN because they didn't have media passes. heh.

After that was tailgating and football! Geoff cooked up some meat, I made cookies and

cupcakes and we headed off to the game.

I really enjoy football, so I was looking forward to what I expected to be a tight match - but this was just ridiculous. The tension in the air was incredible, and when we finally won - it was literally bedlam - strangers were hugging each other and people were going absolutely mental as soon as the final whistle blew all of us just charged at the field - event staff didn't stop us - I think they were expecting it (though I did later hear that around 30 people were arrested). As we just kind of swayed together on the field I looked to my right and saw people carrying the goalposts up the bleachers and out of the stadium!

Later on we headed to Harpo's where we found the goalposts - in tiny pieces. People had been cutting it up so they could take little pieces of history home with them.

It really was a sight to see.

I really honestly don't think I will ever experience anything like that ever again - it was an amazing experience and something I will treasure for a long time :)

rushing the field!

final score: 36-27

4802 - Journalistic video on the web

"Mysterious tree poisoner strikes again"

http://www.3news.co.nz/The-mysterious-tree-poisoner-strikes-again/tabid/1216/articleID/182312/Default.aspx

For the most part, I think this news story is pretty solid, I like how they introduce interviewees (in a visual sense) before the sound bite and I like the use of archival footage to highlight what has been happening in the story so far. The one thing that did bother be a bit was the reporter sound bite during the story - we didn't really have any need to see her as previous images had already established a context and setting.

I think if this story had been made for print, it would have been a lot shorter. When you think about it, this story is basically a follow-up from an incident that happened 2 years ago, I felt the video story dragged a little bit (probably because the b-roll clips were pretty long) so if they were going to turn this into a print story a lot of it would have to be tightened up - quotes shortened a bit and everything made a little bit more succinct.

Also, because it is a video story - and it relies largely on images to tell some of the story, the print version would have to be much less ambiguous so readers know exactly what is going on.

language barrier

Incident at Subway today:

So, I go up to the counter to pay for my order.

Girl: What did you order?

Me: 6 inch Meatball sub

Girl: Sorry, pardon?

Me: 6 inch Meatball

Girl: 6 inch... what?

Me: Meatball

Girl: BIG BALLS?!

Me: MEATBALL!! MEAT!

Girl: Oooooooh meatball... *giggle*

Me: .........................

Oh the joys of having an accent.

Debate

This is my final column for Debate for this semester, I will try very very hard to keep up with this from here on in - but we'll see. Like I have said many times, American work ethic is crazy, no wonder they go shit crazy when they study in New Zealand.

Being my final column for the year, I feel like I should say something meaningful about my time studying abroad, but to be honest – I have nothing. While you all may be wrapping up your school year and hurtling toward that little light at the end of the tunnel we all know as summer, I am only 7 weeks in to my semester and there are so many things I am yet to experience and discover about this country whose culture is as vast as it’s geography. Though, the longer I am here – the more certain aspects of American life become more apparent.

For one, this ain’t no fashion show. People here just don’t care, in fact, if need be 95% of the student population would have the potential to spontaneously work out if they ever felt the need. Honestly though, I’ve seen it all here, from your run of the mill running shorts through to polar fleece penguin pyjama pants – fashion is not considered to be an important part of school here, and you know what? I really enjoy it, it’s a liberating feeling knowing that people aren’t actively judging you based on whether your hair is in a top knot.

At first, this lack of fashion sense perplexed me, but now I understand. It’s not that they don’t care, it’s just that they are literally running around 24/7 and sneakers and running shorts are just more practical than Docs. College here is not just a facet of a person’s life, it’s a lifestyle in itself – these people have weekdays full of class, group meetings, club meetings, intramural sports then they have weekends of football and tailgating (which as you know from my last column is an experience in itself). Students here live and breathe college life, especially where I am in the School of Journalism.

Needless to say, I came in to this adventure with some very solid ideas of what I thought I was getting myself into, of course all of those expectations have been blown to oblivion. America has surprised me, I definitely didn’t expect American’s to be so welcoming and to be frank, I didn’t expect them to be so normal. Yes, you get your crazies – like the homeless guy downtown who plays the Didgeridoo, the old musician in Beverly Hills who tried to follow me back to my apartment, or the children in Dallas on the street corner who told me I was going to hell for my sins – but every place has its crazies, and in all honesty it makes our world a more interesting place to be.

I’m sad I can’t share the rest of my journey with you – my first real Halloween, or learning how to shoot a gun over Thanksgiving, or the first day of snow (ETA approximately 4 weeks – furry hat and boots have been purchased). But I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about just a few of my experiences. Studying abroad has certainly been hard at times, but I don’t regret one moment of it.

So for now, I’ll leave you trying to do what I said I would in my first column. I’m going with the flow, rolling with the punches and taking every day as it comes.

4802 - Video: My thoughts so far

So, I have just submitted my first video piece for 4802, which was an interesting experience. While I have a scattering of experience filming and editing video (I have never been so thankful for the year long Media Production class I did last year at AUT as much as I was last weekend!) I have never filmed a journalistic piece, i've never interviewed someone for video or filmed b-roll for a news piece so it was a new experience for me in many ways.

On the whole, I was suprised at how much I enjoyed filming the women while they practiced as I didn't think I would enjoy it. Two of our readings directed my thoughts as I was shooting, the CNN article and the video techniques from Berkley. A lot of the tips were just common-sense things you don't normally think about and inadvertently do - for example, the Berkley article suggested we make sure our interview subjects don't have poles or anything awkward sticking out of their head, Lucy, the girl I interviewed had exactly that when she stood in front of the camera and I had to move her - if I hadn't read that article I wouldn't have recognised that at all. Related to that was the fact that you're not supposed to talk during shooting b-roll, coming in to this assignment I naively assumed that it wouldn't matter if I talked while I shot b-roll - though I was proved wrong.

I really appreciated the practical tips the CNN article had, one thing I was really worried about was what to film for my b-roll. But the CNN article (along with Lynda's "visual cha cha cha"!) gave me some perspective and I just tried to get as many different wide, mid and close up angles as possible so when I edited I had lots of options and could hopefully create a visually stimulating video. I don't quite know if I got the "cha cha" bit down, but I really tried and it certainly helped once I had to decide on final shots!

football season!

Americans are obscene, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I just mean that everywhere I have gone thus far I have been surrounded by folk who aim for the absolute greatest and expect nothing lessfrom those around them. So, when I went to my first college football game of the season I knew I was going to have a whole lot of fun.

Football is a big deal in these parts, it’s not just a game, It’s a way of life. To give you some perspective, Game Day is even more important than God’s day of rest (and that’s saying a lot coming from the Bible Belt of the Midwest). People go all out. Parking lots turn into huge tailgates where from 7am families grill, drink, play football and drink some more.

I didn’t really know what to expect at first from my first football game. We were playing McNeese State, some no-name team from Louisiana who had been paid $500,000 to play our division one team. The general consensus was that Mizzou would slaughter McNeese,

so I was a little worried I was going to be bored. It was around the time I saw the Stealth Bomber (that oddly resembled a UFO) soaring over the stadium during the national anthem that I knew my purchase of season tickets had been a good investment. I definitely wasn’t bored. Hell, you didn’t even need to understand football to be having a good time.

To be honest – a Football game is something you can’t really describe, it’s something you have to experience. But I am going to try. Basically, take every football game you seen in a movie, every stereotype – the blonde Cheerleaders being tossed into the air, the marching band that struts in formation whilst wearing ridiculous hats, the 6ft football players who have the looks but lack a little wit, the baton twirlers and amplify all of that by about a million, I never thought I’d be saying this but ALL OF THE STEREOTYPES ARE TRUE! And it’s wonderful.

Like every school though, we do have a few quirks. For instance, when Mizzou scores a touch down or a field goal, members of the Army’s Reserve Officers Training Corps fire off a cannon (yes, a real cannon, I’m sure you can imagine my reaction the first time that happened, needless to say, It was embarrassing). After firing said cannon they then run to the touch line to perform push-ups in formation in accordance with the number of points Mizzou has on the scoreboard.

Then there are the cheers. They’re all pretty simple, and to be honest when I first learnt them I felt a little bit lame. But when you’re standing in a stadium with 60,000 other (slightly intoxicated) fans singing and dancing to Mizzou-Rah! or swaying in unison as The Missouri Waltz plays, there’s honestly no better feeling.

Before I came here I never thought I’d be the football type. The closest I’d ever got to football was studying Remember the Titans in 5^th Form English and even then I vowed I’d never like “that pansy version of Rugby”. But I guess even the strongest can be persuaded - with the help of a stealth bomber and a couple of pre-game drinks, that is.

wait... you mean american's are actually friendly?

I can’t believe this is about to come out of my mouth – believe you me I was surprised when the thought first popped into my head too… but I can’t believe how gosh darn friendly Americans are! I’m sure it’s one of those things that change throughout the regions – maybe if I went further south I’d meet up with those toothpick-chewin’, gun-slingin’ white-extremist folk we associate with the USA. But in my part of Missouri at least, it’s all about good old-fashioned hospitality and charm.

I’ve done my fair share of travelling, most of it by myself. When I lived in the UK I learnt quickly not to try and converse with strangers on public transport unless I wanted to be raped and/or mugged – here however it seems to be the norm. A couple of weeks ago I flew to Milwaukee to meet up with some friends, not only did the air hostess serenade us as we took off (a Tina Turner classic “Proud Mary”. True story) but I got chatting to the couple next to me, who in their heyday had visited New Zealand. The husband coincidentally was Mizzou alumni – so I left my flight with a list of places to visit and things to do in Columbia while I’m at school.

I think there are a couple of reasons for this attitude towards strangers. For the most part, I think it’s just the way people are raised here. Men open doors, pay for dinner, people say sir and ma’am (I’ve even found that slipping into my own vocabulary) sometimes while I’m out I really do feel like I’ve gone back in time to a place where people are considerate – and judging by some of the fashion I’ve seen, maybe I have.

A lot of it I’m sure may be to do with confidence. American’s have this aura that practically screams “I AM AMERICAN! I AM NOT ASHAMED!”… They know what they like and want, they strive to be the best and they’re not reluctant to be proud of each other and themselves. Most people call is arrogance; I chose to call it self-belief.

Though a lot of these niceties – especially within the service industry have nothing to do with grace, good breeding or pride. They’re just people out to suck every penny they can out of you. American’s are huge on tipping – it’s one of those cultural things I’ve had to become aware of really quickly – it’s incredibly rude not to tip a server, even if they’re obnoxious or bad at their job – there is always that expectation of at least a 15% tip with your meal. However, what results from this unwritten law is overly attentive, smiley, bright-eyed, sometimes annoying, money sucking individuals.

For now though I’m going to ignore the small majority of annoyingly nice people and enjoy the conversations that come about when strangers have the confidence to talk to each other. Not only does it make the lonely parts of my journey so much more enjoyable, I’m learning way more about this country than I ever could from Lonely Planet.

4802 - Final Audio: Looking back

Well, last week I submitted my NPR-style story as the last section of our audio assignment. In hindsight, all I can really conclude is that I had no idea what the heck I was doing!

I think I have a good grasp on the technical knowledge when it comes to editing, I learn fast on computers and i'm comfortable with putting all of this on to web so that aspect of it ran as smoothly as it could have.

There were two things that I really had trouble with - the first was trying to write for the ear, I had a lot of difficulty with telling the audience the basic facts they needed as well as being as succinct as possible in a way that engages an audience that only have audio to rely on. I tried really hard, but after listening to some of the other student examples in class, I realised I hadn't quite got it.

The other thing I had an issue with was weaving my soundbites into the story. During editing I was under the impression that letting the subject's story shine through required me to speak as little as possible so that's what I did, but now I realise there were some things I could have said more fluidly which would have 1) quickened the pace of the story and 2) highlighted the subjects really good soundbites that illustrate their point of view in the best way possible.

I'm by no means happy with my final audio, but I learned a lot during this process and hopefully i'll be able to redeem myself during the final project!