Tag: Trailblazer Studios

My final day at Trailblazer did not disappoint! I started the day off with a similar review from yesterday, but with a different TV show on the audio only. Here I was able to meet some new faces and watch a new TV show (my favorite that I’ve seen at Trailblazer so far). Then, I worked with Michel, who showed me how to use their go-to editing software: Pro-Tools. Then, she set me on a project to work on editing to get a feel for the software.

I spent my lunch break chatting with a bunch of employees from Trailblazer, before settling in my last place for the day. I ended the day with Willie, who explained to me his journey to get to this job. He showed me the in-depth process involved in editing the sound for a movie or TV show. Most importantly, he gave me some tips and tricks about the industry and my work that I was able to show him.

Overall, this day was beyond helpful, and I’m so thankful for Trailblazer Studios for giving me this opportunity to shadow and experience what this field can look like! Onto WRAL next week 🙂

Today was my favorite day yet! I spent the day in post, which entails all the editing done for a tv show or movie. Today, I started off the day by watching a 45-minute tv show in a sound office. Along with two other viewers and an editor, everyone made notes about the various issues involving sound. Once we finished viewing, we went to each timestamp to figure out what the problem is, and how to fix it. I got to witness both the process of finding these errors and the process involved in fixing those issues. This accounted for the first two hours of my workday. Then, I moved to another office – coloring. Here, we repeated the same process of observation and noting various issues, then going back to fix them. By this time, it was my second time viewing the episode, so I was able to catch many more issues than I was able to the first time. We sat in comfy recliners and ate our lunch while observing the second time. Then, we went through the episode for the final time to mark any color, crop, or continuity issues. Overall, today was the most fascinating day so far because I never knew that the process could be so intensive. It was also interesting to see the perspective of both the client and the editor. I’m excited to see this process again tomorrow with a different TV show!

(pictures courtesy of Dan Smith from CA!)

Today I spent the day with the production team. The morning started off quickly when they had a quick meeting about the issues they faced with a recent shoot. After 15 minutes of discussing issues with memory, storage, and random flukes with the hard drives, one member of the team turned to me and promised that they would start speaking English soon! After that, we took a walk to the kitchen where I tried out the coffee machine, very useful!

Then, I was put to work to try to track down the artists behind several pieces that were featured in one of their shows. They wanted to ensure that there weren’t any copyrights or legal red tape. This sounds like an easy task, but after two hours of searching, I had only found 2 of the 8 photographs. I took a break for lunch, and had a veggie burger from BurgerFi! When I returned, I helped research the price points of various items to help finalize the budget for a show that will be filming soon! Overall, I learned that production is much more about planning and working with various companies than it is hands-on. However, each person within the team plays an important role, and they all have to work together to produce a show or docu-series.

I ended the day by learning more about the various journeys that everyone on this team took to get here. I discovered that a lot of people at Trailblazer had journalism degrees as opposed to film studies. My mentor for the day, Rebecca Moore, helped explain the process of documentary work and what makes it so difficult. Ultimately, I gained a better knowledge of how complicated it is to create a show, and how important it is to communicate between departments.

Today was the first day of the work experience program! I started the day off with a tour of the studios – it’s so big, it’s like a maze.

Then I spent the day with Sydney Fedora, the head and sole member of the development department at Trailblazer studios. I spent the day learning about what she does in her department and helping her brainstorm for various show ideas. One method of brainstorming we used was to think of show titles and then the other person would think of what that show could be, ie. a show called mama bear could be about teen moms or celebrity moms.

We also discussed how different platforms can use different mediums and the role of a bunch of channels like NBC and PBS. At lunch, they ordered for me from a nearby restaurant – the same treatment that the clients at trailblazer receive! We ended the day with a conference call with the development teams in two other cities. Overall, it was an interesting way to see the beginning steps in the video production process.