04 December 2015

Whoa, 2015 is Ending and I've Learned So Much!!!

It is crazy to think it is already December 2015; this year alone has flown by and it has truly been an amazingly wonderful year!

Throughout this year, I have gained so many new career experiences and systems knowledge from my various media production positions. As I move onto year 3 of my position in the UN media department, I am excited that I continue to develop my skills in the corporate broadcast field. Over this year, I have been given more responsibility by training and teaching new employees the processes, techniques, and systems of the MOC.


In other aspects of my professional career, I have taken advantage of the NYC production scene and scored myself various freelance jobs. Last winter, I worked various shoots for Left/Right Productions on the Showtime docu-series, 3AM. Shortly thereafter, I applied and interviewed and accepted a perma-lance position with MLB Network throughout the summer, as a broadcast event logger.

Most recently, to fill the winter slump, I picked up a newly created TV Systems Technician position at Barclays Center in the Event Presentation department, working specifically with all in-house broadcast operations. The main duties of this position is to work directly with the IPTV Engineer to maintain digital media related to arena events - including event footage, sponsor ads, arena messages, concession menus, etc; we also distribute such media to all TV screens/monitors throughout the building.

This year has been absolutely amazing and I cannot wait to see what 2016 brings to me.

20 October 2015

UN's 70th Birthday!

Every year the UNGA Debate happens, time flies by... all the UN television and conference department gets super hyped up and excited for the two-week long Debate and related summits, conferences, etc.

This year was a tad bit different, because it is the UN's 70th Anniversary. Although the UNGA 70th Session formally started on 15 Sep, all of the hoopla and newsworthy activity come from the Debate and conferences / summits / meetings related to it. To kick of that weekend, Pope Francis made a powerful statement on global affairs and had well wishes for the UN staff.

After the Debate did finish about 10 days after Pope Francis' visit, we finally got back to working regular hours and not going crazy for broadcasting such high-level events. All of the non-stop meetings, panel discussions, special events, interviews, etc ultimately die down and go back to running on "normal" schedules.

Just before the UNGA happened, I worked my last shift at MLB Productions / MLB Network as a broadcast logger. During my time working at MLB, the lessons learned and fellow media professionals I met were absolutely priceless; in the end, I am extremely happy for the experience. Hopefully, I can find more freelance opportunities throughout the fall / winter.

09 September 2015

Falling into the UNGA Chaos

As summer ends, vacations are in full-swing and the UN is quiet with few meetings, events, and/or special events. Therefore, between my numerous summer travels, I stepped up my freelance game and have been working as a game logger at MLB Network - ultimately monitoring every broadcast for game action, player/team analysis, on-field/fan bloopers, and more!

Back here at the United Nations HQ in September, the world starts to prepare for the all-encompasing start of the 70th General Assembly session and the weeks-long Debate. All 193 member-states send their highest-level government figure (usually a foreign minister, president, prime minister, etc) to make an official statement regarding their country's hope for the world and UN-specific goals for the upcoming year.

This year marks an even bigger event, the Pope is set to attend the first day of the Sustainable Development Summit; from personal research, I learned the Pope has the second largest motorcade in the US, behind the US President. Rumour has it, our UN media/broadcast department will be almost doubling the amount of cameras covering the Pope's visit in the UNGA (6 standard robotic cameras and 5 more manned-cameras)!

In the end, I am super excited for my third General Assembly session and Debate weeks. With the Pope visiting and two years of solid experience, this year will definitely be my biggest and hopefully most inspiring UNGA session!

10 July 2015

Making Moves with Summer Freelance Gig

Time has come when the UN meetings + events are slowing down and things around the international community are quiet, well before the huge chaos of the General Debate during the end of September.

With much more after-work times on my hand, I recently began a new freelance/part-time gig with MLB Network as a production logger. Very similar to my internship with NBC Olympics, I will be watching game broadcasts and taking notes of all game action, bloopers, analysis, and any other highlight-worthy events from the broadcast. 

My first game was an insane 17-run scoring game, which (for my first real shift) was absolutely miserable because we log every single highlight-worthy and for score plays, they look for word-for-word transcription of the call. Not only am I gaining experience working on a sports network, but also learning new media management / editing software: Adobe Premiere.

Overall though, the past week or so since starting has been so amazing and I am very excited to see what more I can learn and experience at MLB Network over the remainder of the season.




28 May 2015

Back Into the Swing of Things

Whoa... It's been a few months since my last post (back in Feb) and I wish there was more to write about since then, but nothing really is new! Spring has sprung and summer is heating up; here at the United Nations, meetings and events are becoming less frequent because summer is near.

As any aspiring media professional, I am constantly searching to advance my career and develop my skills and expand my network thru freelance gigs on nights/weekends. Throughout the winter, I worked as general production assistant for a new Showtime docu-series, 3AM. The show premiered 28-May to great reviews as it follows "the bizarro world of late-night New York City."

Otherwise, I have been trying to take advantage of my Paid Time Off days and throughout late winter/spring, I traveled all over the East Coast, as well as Italy for a long weekend.

Working full-time and some freelance can be extremely tiring, yet genuinely  rewarding.

18 February 2015

So Much Snow... and Nonstop UN Briefings

We're well into February and dug deep into many feet of snow (over the past month), the United Nations rarely closes and meetings continue all day, even with nonstop snow and freezing rain! Thankfully, with our well-deserved time off and I took a day off for an extra long weekend 

At the UN, there have been lots of week-long summits/forums/conferences and many of them have actually been quite interesting. Most recently there were sessions on social development, global anti-Semitism, the 2015 Youth Assembly, and many others — all of which, we in the broadcast facilities are monitoring and/or operating the robotic cameras, audio, graphics, etc. Many of these high-level meetings, Security Council or sessions I mentioned earlier, with various important political figures in attendance, we often experience first-hand knowledge of breaking news and historical votes on global geopolitical situations.

Many of the conferences and "emergency" SC meetings are called because of the numerous parts of the worlds' violence flaring up at once. The "Rise of Global Anti-Semitism Violence" sessions were following the Kosher supermarket attacks in Paris in January; since March 2014, Missions of Ukraine or Russian Federation have both constantly requested Security Council meetings to discuss the escalating situation on the borders.

The highlight of my winter so far has been the vacation (obviously!). Over the long Presidents' Day weekend, I flew to Italy and enjoy nonstop pizza, pasta, and vinoflights were only $400 roundtrip, so how can that be passed up!! Everything about the trip was so incredible - seeing all the cultural and historical landmarks of Milan and Venice while eating the delectable Italian foods!!

06 January 2015

Onto 2015 and Continued Success

While most of the world was celebrating Christmas and New Year's Eve, the UNTV crew was still hard at work broadcasting last-minute Security Council meetings on important votes on world issues. Besides these few briefings and vote on the "Question of Palestine" (as the United Nation labels it), there has been very little international political work getting done.

As previously noted here, my supervisors and producers want me to partake in other production positions at UNTV. While there are fewer meetings happening and more time to practice on the UN broadcast equipment, I have slowly but surely started actively taken initiative to take a camera out and enhance my field camera skills. Additionally, they have began to schedule me more and more as the cameraman for high-level Security Council press stakeouts and hopefully soon on the art exhibits around the building or in one of the auditoriums (with non-robotic cameras).

One of my new year resolutions (at least for my career), is to grasp a more comprehensive understanding of broadcasting systems and processes at the UN, so I can use this knowledge to further propel myself for sustained success in the media industry.