Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Pulitzer Prize winner to speak at JDM Awards Celebration

JDM students and faculty will gather April 4th for the first ever converged media awards honoring the best and brightest in AU media. The evening will be highlighted by a special keynote speaker.

Jim Sheeler was a reporter at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver where he won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 2006 for his story, Final Salute. The book that came out of that story was a finalist for a National Book Award in 2008. Mr. Sheeler is now the Shirley Wormser Professor of Journalism and Media Writing at Case Western Reserve University.

JDM Filmmakers to present at CAS Symposium

JDM will be represented at this year's College of Arts & Sciences Undergraduate Research & Creative Activity Symposium, when Senior EMP major Brad Eustathios, and Sophomore Broadcast Communication major Dan Griffin present their film project, Adjusting Focus: From Script to Screen.

The filmmakers began writing AF, a multi-part web "episodic" project last summer, and began shooting and editing episodes in HD last semester.  "In the spirit of Director Peter Jackson filming all three Lord of the Rings pictures at the same time, I am extremely impressed with how much work Brad, Dan and all the crew have put into their script development, writing, and staging of a multi-part series. I'm really proud of these students!" said Tim McCarty, Interim Chair of the Journalism & Digital Media department. "These filmmakers will represent our department well at Wednesday's Symposium, I can't wait!"

Here's a sneek peak at AF.


Actor and Broadcast Communication major Tim Hawk talks about the role of "Nick" and about Adjusting Focus.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

INTERNSHIP SPOTLIGHT: Laura Roberts


Laura Roberts will graduate in May with a degree in Sport Communication and Electronic Media Production and with a minor in Sport Management.  She has expressed interest in working with communications and mass media since her high school years when she wrote for school publications and served on yearbook staff.  During college she expanded her experiences with positions on both campus television and radio stations.  Upon graduation she aspires to return to New York City for work on television production.  Laura discusses how her summer internship helped her decide her future career path.
Location of Internship: New York City, New York
“Job Title”: Production Intern
Favorite Part of Internship:  Having the opportunity to work alongside the top people in the biz.  From the hosts to the production assistants, those people really know television. Also being able to witness the inner workings of live daily television was a thrill.
Least favorite part of internship: Leaving in August!
What will you take away from this internship for future jobs?  This internship helped me figure out what exactly it is I want to do in my field of study and where.  I absolutely fell in love with television production and New York City.  It is a good feeling to know what I want to work toward as graduation approaches. 
How did AU and the JDM department help you succeed in the internship?  I was fortunate enough to work with the campus TV and radio stations; both behind the scenes and on-air as early as freshman year.  Classes the department offered such as Studio Production, Broadcast Reporting, Writing for the Media, Media Tech and Operations and, of course, practicum, helped me adapt to both past internships at WMFD in Mansfield and at CNN.

Cleveland Film Festival a Storyteller's Delight

Film artisans from around the world will descend on Cleveland, Ohio beginning Thursday, March 24th for the 35th Cleveland International Film Festival.

The CIFF has become one of the premiere festivals and this year's crop of 150 features and 130 short subjects from 60 countries is no exception.

At A Blog Converged we'll be scouting the aspiring filmmaker talent in the FilmSlam, a mini-fesitval of films produced by high school students. (Hey, we're always looking for a few good storytellers!) Calling all college filmmakers! College Day at the CIFF is March 29th!

Check out the schedule, buy tickets, see the lineup, sidebars and a program guide.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

State of Journalism bodes well for JDM Grads

Your college major checklist:

Take classes in my major...check.

Gain practical experience in Journalism writing for the college newspaper, radio, TV outlets and web site...check.

Research the hyper-evolving industry I'm about to enter to see if my skills match the jobs offered... Whoa! Not sure what awaits you in Journalism and Digital Media?

Here's a great resource: The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism just published its State of the News Media 2011 Annual Report on American Journalism.

The survey and the project director, Tom Rosenstiel, were featured recently on NPR's Talk of the Nation. Read the transcript and listen to the story.

Last thing on a JDM major's checklist...be prepared!

Monday, March 7, 2011

INTERNSHIP SPOTLIGHT: Matt Brubaker


Senior Matt Brubaker is a Sport Communication major with a minor in Electronic Media Production and has dreamed since the seventh grade of becoming the next voice of Ohio State's football and basketball teams.  Over the summer, he took another step towards his goal by completing a broadcasting internship with the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, the Columbus Clippers.  Matt discusses his experiences with the Clippers and how the internship helped him further his understanding of the broadcasting world.

Location of Internship:  Columbus Clippers (AAA-Affiliate of the Cleveland Indians) – Columbus, Ohio
“Job Title”: On site broadcast coordinator
Favorite Part of Internship: Being able to edit audio highlights, and go on the air for a couple of post game shows on AM 920 WMNI
Least favorite part of internship:  I’m not the biggest baseball fan, so having to watch baseball every day was not that great, but it was still fun.
What will you take away from this internship for future jobs?  I learned a lot about audio editing, writing game recaps, and especially calling games and what it takes to make a broadcast sound professional, as well as entertaining.
How did AU and the JDM department help you succeed in the internship?  I found the internship through a family friend, but the department has helped me polish my skills by allowing students to have their own radio shows and my position as Sports Director at the radio station was a huge help.

Look for more Internship Spotlights right here!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

This week's Collegian Headlines:
In Sports:
Photo Galleries:
Hoops - Men
Hoops - Women

Latest Secret Menu Challenge #12: Fried Salad?

This week's Collegian features a culinary challenge that would make a southerner proud: fried salad!

This just in...Nick Zavarella ate a salad, ya'all!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Oscar Docs All Worth Watching!

A Blog Converged would like to thank the Academy...

The good news is Hollywood's epic live awards ran a respectable 3.5 hours (compared to previous epics). The bad news? The show just seemed longer and was...really boring. Anne Hathaway can at least sing and dance. And we counted eight costume changes in her ultimate "dress up" host gig.

But from the "seemed like a good idea in the writer's room" file, James Franco as co-host? Of the Oscars? Seriously? In Drag?  Ouch...

And when Billy Crystal walked out on stage how many of you had this thought, "Why isn't he hosting?"

We TiVo'd forward to the feature documentary category. The five nominees were:

Exit through the Gift Shop, by Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz

Gasland, by Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic

Inside Job, by Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs (Winner!)

Restrepo, by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger

Waste Land, by Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

 

Our picks? We couldn't decide between Gasland, Restrepo and Inside Job. Go see'um all!

 

A final Oscar note: one hilarious bit that slipped in under the radar ran on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live after most people went to bed. Their parody entitled, "The President's Speech," is well...next year's nominee for Best Parody Video in a Talk Show!