8 months down... 8 months to go (at least)!

 These past eight (8) months has taken forever, it feels... and we are still in the thick of this pandemic with full-on remote work, virtual meetings, and more!

In the beginning, we all thought this stay-at-home orders and working from home situation would last a month... but 8 months later, we are still here but with quick thinking and fast modifications, my event production team and our work is just as busy as if we were in-person.

Back in early April, until around June, we were trying to figure out how to effectively run our events in a digital, remote world. Most of my time was spent searching for and participating in online courses, video training, and virtual webinars... some focusing on equipment features, some on software possibilities, and others discussed the media/events/production industry as a whole. By mid-June, the Event Production (EP) New York team was working with colleagues around the world to figure out best practices and troubleshooting with each other and researching different production platforms to enhance the virtual meetings that we were producing. Now, in November, our global EP team has a plethora of production solutions available to us - both internal systems and third-party platforms that we are utilizing to create a higher-level of production for these digital events.

I often tell people that, especially in this digital world, my role is to work with Google departments to produce a highly-visual and engaging event-that is more than just talking heads and a screen-share. As Google recently announced that the offices would not *fully* reopen until July 1, 2021... so this remote, virtual world is our new normal.

Oh, and only a few weeks ago, I passed my one year Google-versary... what a wild year it has been!!

Big Changes are Happening!

TL;DR - I left United Nations TV after 6.5 years and started a new full-time gig for the AV Event Production team at Google New York!

It has been quite the year and I apologize for not posting new updates about my work... things were either super busy with normal day-to-day coverage or extremely slow and boring, with nothing interesting to write about!

Regardless, November is here and lots has changed.

My one consistent job throughout the year has been my part-time/freelance work at Barclays Center in Brooklyn with supporting TV Systems for the building during the continuous events days of concerts, misc basketball games, boxing matches, and an impressive playoff run for both professional home teams in their respective leagues!

On the other side of the river in Manhattan, I have been working full-time at the United Nations in their Broadcast TV/Conference department since 2013. Throughout the year, we would broadcast the daily meetings and conferences, plus produce interviews or messages for celebrity activists, distinguished diplomats, and others. With this, there were always ebbs and flows of interesting content, with the big chunk of energy going into the annual General Debate/High Level Week for General Assembly in late September.

But with SEVEN (7) General Assembly sessions and hundreds of other global issues meetings under my belt, I decided it was time look for my next adventure!! After applications to many media companies and multiple rounds of interviews, I was offered an opportunity to work in the AV Event Production (EP) team for FIRST Events at Google New York.

Ultimately, our team produces the in-house events in Production-specific rooms for Google - from the coordination and logistics, to camera operations and audio mixing, to video playback and presentation visuals, as well as lighting and stage design. Only three weeks into the role, I am really excited about the work we do and personally being able to learn new (to me) processes and systems!

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!

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.

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!

Time is Flying by... it's Summer now!!

Cannot believe spring flew by and it is already summer-time! Unfortunately, in the "real-world" we do not get a 3-month vacation, beach-filled relaxing days, or any sort of real summer break -- I have to use my allocated time off, which in turn means I have less time off, come fall or winter time. Either way, I am excited for continued work at the UN even though the summer is known to have a lighter workload.

Over the past month or so, the producers have actively been cross-training the technicians (myself included) in various positions throughout the operations; because of this, I have been quite often running the Media Operations Centre on my own, while others watch / learn the daily tasks of the room. At times, it definitely gets overwhelming because some days there can be five different recordings (meetings, events, interviews, etc) happening at once, while I am the only technician operating the recording system AND the global UN Television feed.

With every job, there are always those few staff that are completely oblivious with the tasks of the day- even if there are schedules posted all around the control room. To some extent, I can blame myself with this at times mostly because I am often the only staff in the MOC and do not always catch the start of every single meeting, for backup recordings. The one thing I did learn (at least with others being oblivious), is to double and triple, even quadruple check the tasks I complete - because, as often the sole technician in the MOC, anything that is exported, dubbed, monitored and in essence seen UN staff, media personnel, or country delegate representative all comes through my office!


In the end, it has been ten months working at the UN - I am still constantly intrigued and on the edge of my seat with everything that we do in the broadcast operations of the UN.

Operating the Global UNTV Station!!

So you might be wondering what I do on daily basis, in the broadcast operations of the United Nations? Well, my main responsibilities comprise in two areas: operating the broadcast equipment for meetings or maintaining all video archives and monitoring the global television feed.

Depending on the crew assignments and which positions are needed, the role for operating the broadcast equipment general fall under the production control room or media stakeouts/ENG events. In the control room, I am assigned to operating the multiple robotic cameras in one specific meeting room, technical directing the meeting(s), designing the meeting graphics/slates, or a general utility (which most often is giving breaks to all crew). During media stakeouts or ENG events, there are generally two positions - cameraman and boom audio operator; in some cases, we set up studio lighting.

On the other side, in the Media Operations Centre, I get to oversee all the digital recordings and backup systems for meetings, interviews, studio records, and special events. Additionally, we monitor the feed for UN Television, switching between live meetings/events and pre-recorded programming (often from the editors, overseas missions, various UN-affiliated organizations, etc). Also, with an effort for all staff to learn all positions, I have been tasked at training other crew on the standard operations of the MOC and the MAMS software. 

First Days of ICLA

... are surprisingly not too overwhelming!! With only two (and a half) classes and four full days of working at my internships, I am settling into the LA lifestyle very well.

Senior Seminar and Electronic Media Criticism (EMC) are the two classes I will be taking during this Fall semester. Senior Seminar is a course designed for seniors to discuss various aspects of media; the name of EMC is pretty much what the course is about, intellectually criticizing programming on various media platforms.

My first two days of Authentic Entertainment were slow, but quite interesting. I have been assigned to intern with TLC's My First Home, in all aspects of productions. Since the show is on hiatus right now, I was set to start researching for new cast members. I plan to work in the Authentic offices Monday, Tuesday, and Fridays.

On the other hand, my other internships (at Conan) begins tomorrow (Thursday). I am not 100% sure exactly what I will be doing. So check back this weekend to read about my first days of Conan.

Acting it Out with Xavier Reyes

Xavier Reyes, a Puerto Rico native, came to IC in hopes of becoming an actor -- he initially was rejected, but this fall he transferred into the Theater program. Reyes now plays the part of Angel, in a local production of RENT; I attended a musical rehearsal and sat down with him.

To read the article (written by Aaron Edwards / editor-in-chief) and view the piece (filmed and edited by myself), follow the link: http://theithacan.org/16924/

**This piece was awarded Multimedia of the Week; the student editorial board selects an article or piece from each section for the "Of the Week" award**

Duckapalooza 2011

During Fall Splash 2011 (IC's homecoming and alumni weekend), the picnic and prize raffle was held giving away great prizes -- an iPod Nano, Kindle, bookstore gift cards and more!

Watch the piece below, or click here.

The Breakfast Glee Club

A classic film and popular television series become one in this Golden Doorknob epic.

This was created for our final Fall 2010 Fiction Field project, as well as for the spring's Golden Doorknob competition.

Produced by Ben Buchen, Andrew Casper, Deanna Dearo, and Pete Hawley.

Written and Directed by Pete Hawley

Watch the video below, or click here.

Film Scene Remake: Clerks

For a project in my Fiction Field course during Fall 2010, my group recreated a scene from "Clerks" and this is the final edit of it. Shot with the JVC GY-5100 digital video camera, post production work on Final Cut Pro.

Watch it below, or click here.

Chase Scene: Stiletto

For the first project of my Fiction Field course during Fall 2010, my group created a short chase scene - Stiletto. Shot with the JVC GY-5100 digital video camera, post production work on Final Cut Pro.

Watch it below, or click here.