HOW SMOOTHLY DOES THE SHOW RUN?

        That really depends on many things; including the weather, and how new the hosting teachers are. On nice spring days, very few calls come in. In fact, on some days, there aren't enough questions to fill a whole half-hour, and the teachers have to come up with extemporaneous "mini-lessons". In this way, the hosting teachers have taught material no student ever asked about; famous painters, dog care, how to assemble an aquarium, women scientists, how to write a report, how to figure a batting average, beaver lodges, riddles, bad jokes, logic tricks, etc.

        When new teachers start (once every two weeks), there is usually a flurry of calls from their students for the first couple of days. After that, the calls slack off once the novelty factor is lost.

        Sometimes, problems are caused when the person doing the callback can't get hold of the students who were chosen to be on the show. When this happens, the floor manager has to let the teachers know (often at the last minute) that the message has no caller, and is to be treated as an Email question.

        Sometimes the students have problems understanding the teacher, and the information has to be repeated, slowing down the show. There have been instances where parents interrupted the call to find out who their child was talking to!

        Even when the students are cooperative, and the teachers are moving quickly and smoothly through their material, equipment or crew problems can slow things down. Malfunctioning microphones disrupted one show, while communication problems amongst the crew put the wrong pictures on the screen during another.

        Thoughts

        Working on Homework Hotline has definitely enlightened me about the media world we live in today. I have had the opportunity to experience a trade that I have never had the chance to explore and understand. Experiencing the variety of aspects of television production has provided me with a more complete understanding but a yearning to learn and experience more. Being able to intern in a variety of positions at WMHT, allowed me to explore areas that I never would have considered exploring before. Running camera and character generator, watching a director call shots, seeing the job of a floor manager and exploring the master control room and the audio room all added to the wonderful experience I had at WHMT. The staff was open to questions and truly appeared interested in answering them and provided us with unique opportunities.

        As a result of this internship, I feel that I do not take television production for granted anymore. I realize that each show takes immense amount of planning and orchestrating to be successful. My eyes have been opened to the vast variety of jobs that impact television production. Now, I have a better understanding of the positions that are acknowledged in the credits of shows.

        By utilizing the talents of many, a half hour of educational television can be produced successfully. My participation in the internship this semester has provided me with excellent hands-on experiences. The opportunity was presented to me and I took the chance and capitalized on every opportunity that was offered to me. Actually, I really looked forward to arriving and seeing what job I would be assigned for the week. Eileen told us that if there was something else we wanted to experience to just let her know. She did a wonderful job of exposing us to the world of television production. She did planning for each show right in front of us everyday. She showed us how to do a run down sheet and even let us try a few times. Her actions expressed a confidence in us that I did not expect being that we were interns and lacked experience in using any of the equipment.

        Beside working on just Homework Hotline, we had the opportunity to watch the staff prepare for the WMHT Auction. The studio where we normally shot Homework Hotline was transformed into a set with donation boards and phone cubicles. As we answered phones one day, I watched the crew move and test lights for the show the next night. Tension was high in the building and things appeared to moving on a quicker pace. The Auction is a live show and from what I understand from many of the staff, it is a challenge to work. The noise level in the studio is extremely loud because of the phones ringing, the volunteers reading the boards and all the hustle and bustle. For years, I have watched the Auction from the comfort of my home with absolutely no thought about how it is produced or all the work that goes into it. This year as I watched, I thought about the layout of the studio and the shots being called by the director. I viewed the Auction differently and I have a better sense of what is going on behind the scenes.

        Some suggestions for the future: 1. Interning for two days is really not enough consistency for the intern. The more hands-on experiences, the more you learn and begin to feel comfortable. With the show only being four days a week and off for three weeks during the internship, I feel that the intern should be attending three or four days a week. This will provide more consistency and continuity for the intern and for WMHT. 2. Make sure everyone rotates through each piece of equipment a few times. I feel that it is always better to experience things more then once and not only once. For example, if an intern runs camera the first week then he/she should run camera again in about three or four weeks. This provides for more practice and review. 3. If the directors would allow it, have the interns watch the director up close during the show. I sat behind the director a few times and I wished I could have sat closer, so I could see what buttons he was pushing during the show.

        Overall, the experience was super. I cannot say enough about the opportunities that were offered and provided for the interns. In the future, I would recommend that the university continue to place people at WMHT to learn about the world of media and not just the television aspect. WMHT has many irons in the fire and involves education in many of them. One example is Mathlink, which provides math assistance via the computer for high school students. Another is WMHT's joint venture with School 14 in constructing a web site. I think that the interns should take full advantage of the opportunities offered by WMHT.

        Questions

        I question what WMHT obtained from the interns except help in producing the show. Did they learn something by working with us? Do they feel that the program is beneficial to the interns as well as for them? Eileen always spoke highly of the interns, yet sometimes I felt the directors were getting aggravated with our lack of experience. Actually, as time progressed the directors seemed more at ease with the whole production. But, I still wonder what the directors felt about this experience. Would they want interns that are relatively new to the trade working alongside them? Or would they prefer to have interns just watching? As the intern progressed, I felt that things became much more relaxed for everyone. I am sure at the beginning that tensions were high because it was a new program with new interns assisting. But I feel that it would be interesting to hear what the staff of WMHT felt about having interns (fairly new at using the equipment) working in their facility.

        WHAT DOES THE PUBLIC THINK?

        Many local students watch the show, especially if one of their teachers is going to be co-hosting Homework Hotline. On the other hand, many other people have never heard of the show, and many students call in with questions assuming that the intern answering the phone will give them the answer right away because they've never even heard of the show.

        The station does receive a number of complaints from community members about incorrect answers, or what the caller believes are incorrect answers.

        Camera Page


        More About Film and Television Production

        Cyber Film School (CFS) was founded by Toronto-based filmmaker Maurizio Belli. CFS hosts information on production, screenwriting, studios, filmmakers, film festivals, and much more. The CFS pages need Netscape Navigator 2.0, a 24-bit graphics card, and a fast Internet connection in order to view multimedia moviemaking lessons to best advantage.

        Other Television Tours

        • Warner Brothers Kids includes "How We Make Cartoons."
        • NBC Production Facilities
        • Twentieth Century Fox, Inc.
        • The Museum of Television and Radio in New York City.
        • Go behind the scenes at KYW, Chicago's first broadcasting station. The on-line museum deals with radio and television history over a period of almost sixty years. It's focus is the studio complex operated by the National Broadcasting Company in Chicago's Merchandise Mart from 1930 to 1989. Take a virtual tour of these facilities as they appeared when the studios opened in the fall of 1930.