One of the greatest thing I experience in New York City is the influx of holiday vibes!! Between holiday markets, office parties, Christmas music, winter weather, and mainly, there is an endless supply of freelance production opportunities for holiday network specials.
Early in November, I had some production coordinator friends reach out to me inquiring if I was available to work a long-term freelance job for some of the big networks' holiday shows. Since my full-time production job is still at the United Nations in their broadcast department, I was unwilling to even interview with this network because they were requiring full day shifts, both daytime, nights, and weekends! Thankfully for my freelance friends, the New York City Council recently unanimously passed a new bill protecting freelance workers and their wage payments. Many of my freelance colleagues are very excited that their livelihoods' income is now more protected by law; plus many of them told me they are now, much more likely to continue working in the freelance world.
Back into my production world, things are running smoothly and according to plan. UNTV is continuing to cover high-level meetings, committee panel discussion, press conferences, studio interviews, and more! Down in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center, our Event Presentation team is constantly working to produce and distribute new videos and graphics content for all venue events!!
11 November 2016
13 September 2016
Regular Season is Right Around the Corner!
The summer is coming to an end and things are slowly getting "back to normal" at UN Television; while at my Barclays Center freelance work, the busy season doesn't start until October when the sports franchises return to play!
During the summer, the official UN meetings and events (Security Council, General Assembly, Committee meetings, Mission-sponsored forums, etc) that we provide coverage are quite infrequent - on average 2-3 days per week. Yet during the fall and beyond, these official events we cover occur at least daily with some days covering multiple sessions per day! Much of the summer work, besides the minimal event coverage, is system maintenance and often long-form project requests for multiple archived video footage. For example, we have a New Zealand-based production company who has requested multiple clips of meeting footage with the prominent NZ delegates and officials, all being completed from my position in the MOC and the AV Library.
Down the 4 subway line, at my nights/weekend freelance gig at the Barclays Center, the summer schedule is even lighter than the UN. For instance, in September, there is only three events schedule (some were multiple days) for the whole month!! Most of the summer events are concerts or family-staged shows, where the tour production company takes control of all aspects of the event which minimizes the in-house crew duties to basically switching on and off the house lights, LED boards, and concourse/suite video monitors! This limited work responsibility allows us to mostly work on long-term projects that need tweaking.
So, as the regular season for both Barclays Center and the UN come back into play, stay tuned for some interesting work-related posts!
During the summer, the official UN meetings and events (Security Council, General Assembly, Committee meetings, Mission-sponsored forums, etc) that we provide coverage are quite infrequent - on average 2-3 days per week. Yet during the fall and beyond, these official events we cover occur at least daily with some days covering multiple sessions per day! Much of the summer work, besides the minimal event coverage, is system maintenance and often long-form project requests for multiple archived video footage. For example, we have a New Zealand-based production company who has requested multiple clips of meeting footage with the prominent NZ delegates and officials, all being completed from my position in the MOC and the AV Library.
Down the 4 subway line, at my nights/weekend freelance gig at the Barclays Center, the summer schedule is even lighter than the UN. For instance, in September, there is only three events schedule (some were multiple days) for the whole month!! Most of the summer events are concerts or family-staged shows, where the tour production company takes control of all aspects of the event which minimizes the in-house crew duties to basically switching on and off the house lights, LED boards, and concourse/suite video monitors! This limited work responsibility allows us to mostly work on long-term projects that need tweaking.
So, as the regular season for both Barclays Center and the UN come back into play, stay tuned for some interesting work-related posts!
30 June 2016
Summer Blues
And the summer blues have finally hit... the weather is warm, the schedules are light, and the sunny days are long! Nobody wants to be working during these beautiful summer days, but things keep on keeping on and continue with the routine of life!
With the hype of spring sports at Barclays Center, the seasons come to an end with only a few lucky teams finding success in the post-season - neither team we host made it far! Now that summer is here, the event coverage is very limited as many concerts, graduations, private events, and other non-sports event that do not require much content distribution or video playbacks. Thankfully, with this down-time, there are some visual graphic projects and major system updates that will happen; even though I am a part-time staff, my supervisors are eager to give me shifts and allow me to help build these new projects.
Back at the my full-time gig, with the United Nations, there is always meetings and high-level events going on! Every week there is a different NGO or UN-affiliated sector hosting some convention, conference, symposium, forum, etc - all requesting some type of media clip from their meeting... which is where I come along and search, cut, distribute, and archive each media request. Aside from these numerous conferences each day, our in-house studio get reserved for various client's video messages or interviews and subsequently, we edit and distribute these as well.
With the hype of spring sports at Barclays Center, the seasons come to an end with only a few lucky teams finding success in the post-season - neither team we host made it far! Now that summer is here, the event coverage is very limited as many concerts, graduations, private events, and other non-sports event that do not require much content distribution or video playbacks. Thankfully, with this down-time, there are some visual graphic projects and major system updates that will happen; even though I am a part-time staff, my supervisors are eager to give me shifts and allow me to help build these new projects.
Back at the my full-time gig, with the United Nations, there is always meetings and high-level events going on! Every week there is a different NGO or UN-affiliated sector hosting some convention, conference, symposium, forum, etc - all requesting some type of media clip from their meeting... which is where I come along and search, cut, distribute, and archive each media request. Aside from these numerous conferences each day, our in-house studio get reserved for various client's video messages or interviews and subsequently, we edit and distribute these as well.
19 April 2016
High Levels Events... Everywhere!
As April flowers, bring May showers... the United Nations TV department gears up for the Paris Agreement Signing Ceremony at UNHQ - with a record number of nations expected to sign on the opening day of any international agreement! In addition to the record-breaking signing ceremony occurring on 22 April, there have been multiple day-long dialogue sessions prior to the formal election of the next UN Secretary-General. With both of these high-level events, our television crew is starting to work early mornings and late nights again, making sure all the extra cables are laid and new temporary stake-out cameras are ready for broadcast.
Down in Brooklyn, at Barclays Center, the Nets/Islanders regular season games have finished and now tons of concerts, boxing matches, shows, and Islanders playoff fill the schedule!! While working as the TV Systems Technician for the sporting events require more attentiveness, since there are so many different camera feeds and live programs to broadcast onto different video monitors - on clubs, suites, bars, concourses, and the big-screen center hung! During concerts or low-priority shows, specifically those with few feeds or cameras, us part-time crew are given the opportunity to work another position - camera, or LED graphics, or technical directing, etc!
At the end of the day, summer is near and while stressful at times, working in media is incredible and with more experience under my belt, more roles/responsibilities comes by way!
Down in Brooklyn, at Barclays Center, the Nets/Islanders regular season games have finished and now tons of concerts, boxing matches, shows, and Islanders playoff fill the schedule!! While working as the TV Systems Technician for the sporting events require more attentiveness, since there are so many different camera feeds and live programs to broadcast onto different video monitors - on clubs, suites, bars, concourses, and the big-screen center hung! During concerts or low-priority shows, specifically those with few feeds or cameras, us part-time crew are given the opportunity to work another position - camera, or LED graphics, or technical directing, etc!
At the end of the day, summer is near and while stressful at times, working in media is incredible and with more experience under my belt, more roles/responsibilities comes by way!
02 February 2016
New Year and New Potentials for 2016!
As the New Year settles in, I continue my full-time job at the United Nations in the TV operations department and also the various freelance jobs I have been lucky to work on! The first few days of 2016 was amazing, I took my first vacation of the year... to beautiful and sunny Mexico!! After a relaxing week without any thoughts of work, I arrived back in the States and got back into the swing of things - quickly realising why vacation days are vital to take!
During the winter months, the United Nations is generally quiet and for the TV department, we often only cover 3-4 meetings per day (compared to the 10+ per day during parts of Sept/Oct). Throughout these quiet months, my supervisors sometimes switch around staff in different positions letting us develop our knowledge and practice the skills!
Down the 4 train at my Barclays Center freelance gig, I continue to learn more software programs and various techniques that enhance visual content, as well as the distribution of such content to around the arena. It is really such an amazing feeling, when I walk through the Center and know with one push of a button - I can change the content on all 700+ video monitors!
As 2016 really gets going, I am excited to see what will come of it and where my career will go! Cheers
During the winter months, the United Nations is generally quiet and for the TV department, we often only cover 3-4 meetings per day (compared to the 10+ per day during parts of Sept/Oct). Throughout these quiet months, my supervisors sometimes switch around staff in different positions letting us develop our knowledge and practice the skills!
Down the 4 train at my Barclays Center freelance gig, I continue to learn more software programs and various techniques that enhance visual content, as well as the distribution of such content to around the arena. It is really such an amazing feeling, when I walk through the Center and know with one push of a button - I can change the content on all 700+ video monitors!
As 2016 really gets going, I am excited to see what will come of it and where my career will go! Cheers
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