Broadcast Journalism -- ORIENTATION 2007! We Welcome Our New Staffers, As Now Loading Doubles in Size! Saturday, May 19, 2007: Now Loading continues our tradition of training marathons by staging a "Sweet 16 Orientation" for our eleven new members! The "newbies" as they are affectionately known, were joined by 11 veteran staffers at 8:00 am on Saturday morning for team building and an orientation to the entire broadcast production process, from topic to dub out. We started by getting to know each other in the "Everyone Has a Story" exercise, which required staffers to interview each other to find each person's story and the "gold coins" that could help to tell it. To find their teams, each staffer was given a part of a series of images, each one in clearer focus than the previous one. Students had to find the others whose images fit with their "series" and then guess the theme for the show. Even this early in the morning, our Now Loading crew was in top form. Guesses included: "wide, medium tight" and "perspectives," "zooming in," and, yes, "focus." We then connected the introductory activity to the theme of focus and played two of packages from our latest show, which focused on two teenaged girls and their issues of identity and freedom. The groups, composed of two vets and two newbies, began brainstorming on possible topics that could portray the theme. After a staff meeting, where the vets demonstrated how we question, suggest, support, and critique the various story ideas, the five teams settled on: "Stereotypes and deeper focus" "Teen Distractions--Teen Focus" "Anti-Drugs, a Way to Focus" "Forced Focus and Free Choice" "Focus on the Future" Then it was four or five hours of interviews and b-roll. The newbies and vets worked with a list of concepts that became part of the orientation as well as a checklist for the final product. Concepts and related strategies filled those hours with hands-on learning: wide-medium-tight, nat sound, gold coins, "say it, prove it," and more. And in the midst of all this, the teams took time for lunch and more team building. and here they are in all their glory...the Now Loading Focus on Focus teams! Team Distraction Team Focus & Freedom Team Anti Drug Team Future Focus Team Stereotype Team Ruffles aka Irene! As midnight neared, our host team of veteran broadcaster Melissa Cantillo and newbie broadcaster Mazie Coloma took to the set to introduce the various packages that were being feverishly completed in the shadows behind the lights and cameras! And, eventually, all packages and host segments were loaded; lower thirds were added; and the entire show came together as our sixteen hours drew to a close! Congratulations to our veteran mentors for an intense day of teaching and modeling and to our newbies for being great learners, risk takers, and all around fun members of our broadcast staff! Presenting...the Now Loading Staff for 2007 - 2008!!! The loading starts NOW!