Act II, Scene 3

Hello!

Long time, no see. Last week I was on spring break, and while it was nice to take a week to relax, I was very ready to get back into the studio by Monday!

I have another video for you this week. For the past couple of weeks, I have constantly been talking about the live broadcasts I have been able to help out with, so I thought I would tell you guys a little bit about them! Please enjoy this video :)

(here is the view from the control room)

(here is the view from the talent's seat)

(and here is the really cool piñata)

Act II, Scene 2

Hello and welcome to week 5 of my project!

This week is a little different, because I made a nifty video of me rambling on about my week, rather than these glorious written posts you are used to.

(while re-watching this video, I realized how often I use the word glorious, and I am quite sorry that you have to endure that.) BUT without further ado, please enjoy this GLORIOUS video

(here is a nice video!)

(here is a nice picture from the editing room!)

(here is a nice picture with Mr. Axelrod, himself!)

Cameron 

Act II, Scene 1

Welcome Back(or just welcome, if this is your first time visiting!)

I started out this week editing a video for MBN, the Media Broadcast Network,  the broadcast network Mr. Collins is helping to develop. This particular video was for the financial channel, so Healy Baumgardner-Narrdone interviewed the founder of Monetary Metals, Keith Weiner. Unfortunately, I had computer problems at the beginning of this week, so it was a little short. BUT, I managed to get those all sorted out and was back in the studio by Wednesday. I got the chance to meet Karl Rove as he came in for a live broadcast on Wednesday afternoon. The rest of the week consisted of minor editing fixes of previous videos I had made, along with a few live shots on Friday with Mr. Dake, the pilot from my first day on site! He had two broadcasts right after each other, one for CNN and the other for ABC. He was answering questions about the recent plane crashes, including Harrison Ford's. 

Next Monday, I am going to learn how to work the tricaster. I am very excited!

Have a lovely week,
Cameron 

Act I, Scene 3

Hello all and welcome to week 3 of my internship!

This week was slightly slower than my previous two, but just as fun.

I spent the majority of my week editing individually. This week, Mr. Collins had a business partner in town and had to attend many meetings, so he gave me some segments to edit on my own. Mr. Collins attended the Sedona Film Festival last weekend and recorded several interviews with a couple of the actors and directors, including Richard Dreyfus. It was really fun to have freedom editing the videos by myself. Taking creative control was moderately nerve-racking, but also really exciting!

I have to turn them in on Monday, so I hope Mr. Collins enjoys what I have done with them!

Act I, Scene 2

Hello, hello! 

I have just concluded my second week at HD Broadcast AZ and would not want to be anywhere else. I started my week on Tuesday editing segments from a charity event at Top Golf in Gilbert. The segments were interviews with Healy and guests ranging from Cardinals players to Frankie Muniz(one of my childhood favorites). Those were quite fun to edit! I also got to watch a live broadcast with CNBC-Asia.

(here is a lovely picture from the CNBC-Asia live broadcast)

Wednesday consisted mostly of editing, but Thursday was much more eventful! The morning began with an interview for Brain State Technologies, a company in Scottsdale that measures brain waves and helps with PTSD and other disorders. Mr. Collins set up a virtual set against the green screen. It looked like the conversation was occurring in a newsroom in downtown Phoenix, but as you looked into the studio the interviewer was sitting in front of a brightly lit green screen. After recording the interview, Mr. Collins let me go early, so I could return at 6:00 to help set up for a live broadcast to the Media Broadcast Network. Dr. Lori Ebert, a health expert, came into the studio to talk about the mental and social effects of one of the recent blockbuster releases. Within the broadcast, Mr. Collins played a few of the videos of Dr. Lori that I had edited last week. After the hour long segment, everyone's adrenaline was running like crazy, and the whole studio was ecstatic with the final product! I concluded my week with a live broadcast to Fox Business with Congressman Trent Franks.

Tune in next week another exciting update. 

Cameron 

Act I, Scene I

Hello again! 

Tuesday was my first day interning at HD Broadcast AZ. While it was only a half day, it was more than eventful. Within the first twenty minutes, I had already witnessed a live telecast with CNN about a recent mishap with a plane’s landing gear. CNN contacted Rick Dake, a pilot from the Phoenix area, to speak about the accident, as well as HD Broadcast AZ to film the segment. Each person contributing to the piece was on another side of the country. Mr. Dake was here in Scottsdale, AZ, the CNN anchors were in Atlanta, GA, and the entire time the people running the broadcast were at the CNN headquarters in New York, NY. After watching this live broadcast, I sat down with my on-site mentor, Doug Collins, and began editing my first project. The studio had previously filmed an interview with a local health educator, Dr. Lori Ebert, but had yet to edit the piece, so Mr. Collins put me right to work. I finished editing the segment and worked on the color correction. 

The rest of the week was just as exciting. Wednesday, I continued to edit Dr. Lori's videos, including a cooking piece, which I had little experience doing, so that was both exciting and nerve racking, but I think Dr. Lori will be very happy with the end product! That same afternoon, I met Healy Baumgardner-Nardone, former White House media consultant. She and Mr. Collins are developing a new broadcast network, MBN (the Media Broadcast Network), a news channel for smart tvs. 

Thursday and Friday, I continued editing. LOTS OF EDITING. I love it.

See you next week,

Cameron Pierse

Pre-Production

Hello all, and welcome to my blog, Coming to You Live from Outside Hollywood. My name is Cameron Pierse. I am currently a senior at BASIS Scottsdale, with one destination: film school. Born and raised in Arizona, I have grown up far from the heart of cinematic production. This lovely blog you are reading will follow my journey in finding out how to enter the film industry outside of a major media hub. 

My love for film began in second grade, when my best friend got a camcorder for her birthday. We could not put it down. Every weekend, we spent hours making new movies. Commercial parodies, fake reality TV shows, full-length movies: we tried it all. Of course we had no concept of editing or screenwriting, so they were completely improv and completely terrible. At least we thought we were SNL worthy. I hadn’t ever thought about film as more than a hobby, until the summer before my junior year. At the beginning of high school, I got very involved in the drama program at my school, so the summer of 2013, I attended a weeklong “Acting for the Camera” workshop. We were each given a scene to perform, and when we weren’t performing we were given a crew job. My first job was Assistant Director. While all they had me do was yell, “Quiet on set,” I watched closely at how our teacher directed the actors to bring out specific emotions and actions from them. Then I realized, that was exactly what I wanted to do. I returned home at that point and began making my own films once again, just little music video parodies, but people actually started to think they were funny. I was quite surprised, but that is what really gave me the confidence to pursue film.

So, starting February 9, I will begin a ten-week internship at HD Broadcast AZ, a local broadcast studio and video production company in Scottsdale. I am very excited to work with Mr. Doug Collins, my on-site mentor, along with my faculty advisor, Ms. Krisanne Markel.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cameron Pierse