Day 6: The Beginning of the End

Possibly one of the longest days of employment I've ever experienced, but still an enjoyable and memorable day. I biked my way to work at about 5am and then didn't leave until about 9pm. I slept very well last night, but at the same time I couldn't seem to sleep in as much as I would have liked out of sheer anticipation for what's going to be happening today. The first day of the DNC! Let's get back to what happened yesterday before I get too ahead of myself.

We began on the floor of the convention bright in early to shoot Wolf Blitzer's Late Edition. It was a special late edition, and when I say special, I mean it was an extra 2 hours longer than usual. We ran around offering different camera angles and getting batteries when the cameras were about to die, but other than that it was a smooth operation. Something I did fail to mention in my previous submission was that during testing for The Late Edition the night before, I was playing with the camera and just looking around the convention floor, but before I knew it some CNN International reporter stepped in front of me and told me to shoot him so we could set up a shot and check the audio and sync! I could hear the director in my ear piece and I actually got to shoot a real CNN reporter to set up a shot with our $60,000 camera! It was nuts. One of the other cameramen took a photo of me doing it so I could prove it. It was crazy. I think it would be awesome to be a cameraman, but at the same time, those things weigh about 50 lbs and cameramen are always on the road because they HAVE to be there in order to get the shot. Journalists can just write about the shot.

Anyway, after we shot The Late Edition, it felt like noon but it was only about 9am, so I knew I was in for a long day. We had a break where we tested some shots, and then we had rehearsal for tomorrow's festivities from 1-5pm. Rehearsals are interesting if you're a cameraman because you're talking with directors and other units on the floor or on the platform, but for us humble runners, it's not much of anything. We hang around until our guys yell "battery!" And then we jump up out of our chairs like a freshman who just got picked in the seniors game of dodgeball.

During that time however, I was able to mess with the Magic Wall some more. It's engineer Josh and I were hanging out as he was tinkering with the program and I caught something that seemed wrong. We were programing these "baseball cards" which held statistics for each state as it was mapped out on the convention floor. Each card has the state name, electoral votes, voting results from the primaries, and past voting results from 2004 and 2000. The problem was, each card did not say 2004 and 2000, each card said 2004, and 2004. I caught the problem and Josh let out an emphatic swear. But after calming down, he actually showed me how to change the baseball cards and program the remaining states into the wall, and he allowed me to do it! I know it may sound dumb, but it was awesome later that day seeing John King using the baseball cards for the states, and knowing that I programmed them into the wall. It quite a while to finish all the states, but nonetheless, it was ridiculous just getting to work with it. Josh offered me a job in New York to be his assistant on the wall, but he admitted that I need more IT work in order to carry the workload this job demanded. Not to mention I still need to graduate.

After that we took another break, shot a convention floor special, and then called it a day. I got on camera a couple times unintentionally... ok maybe slightly intentionally, but my whole family saw me and that was quite funny. I feel ridiculous getting excited about walking by the camera, but I think it's just cuz I can't believe I'm here, and having people see me solidifies the fact that this is not a dream.

I have to go get ready for work today and for the first day of the convention, so I will hopefully post again tonight. The convention starts today!!!

Awesome.