WBOC Intern Turned DelmarvaLife Videographer 1

WBOC Intern Turned DelmarvaLife Videographer

Levin F. Harrison V

Salisbury University

WBOC New & DelmarvaLife

WBOC Intern Turned DelmarvaLife Videographer 2

Abstract

In the Spring Semester 2018 at Salisbury University I was given the opportunity

to enroll in an internship. I have always wanted to work camera and after speaking with a

few locations it seemed as though WBOC Channel 16 News would be the best fit for me

to attempt to get my foot in the door. During this internship I have worked in many

different aspects of the station but working camera for DelmarvaLife was definitely the

most exciting. The main reason that I decided to major in Communications: Media

Production track was so I could one day become a cameraman or even a director of

photography. By the time I reached the one hundred-eighty hour requirement of the

internship the DelmarvaLife Showrunner, Annie Hearn, had offered me a full-time

position as one of the two videographers for the show.

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Working a job that one is not getting paid for seems like an extremely far-fetched

idea, an idea that makes some people cringe at the thought of an internship. In order to

graduate from Salisbury University as a Communication Major, a student must either

complete a four-credit internship or a four-credit senior seminar course. Rather than

cringing at the word internship, I saw this as an opportunity. An opportunity to get my

foot in the door to the career I have wanted since high school. When I learned that I was

eligible to enroll in an internship course rather than an in classroom setting senior

seminar my first thought went to a production company. Sadly, the Eastern Shore of

Maryland is not exactly a hot bed for film production companies but WBOC Channel 16

News is located just a few minutes up Route 13 from campus. In this essay I would like

to walk you through my experience as an intern at WBOC that led to my first full time

job in the media industry as a videographer for their weekday 5 p.m. show,

DelmarvaLife. From the time of my first interview at the news station with my internship

supervisor, Kye Parsons, I had a great feeling about the intern position. Starting in the

news department with Mr. Parsons, it did not take long to start melding into other areas of

the station as well, which led me onto the studio floor of DelmarvaLife. After working

with the employees both on the floor and in the editing room for the first couple weeks, I

was soon working my own studio camera and editing my own blocks. This eventually led

to being sent out on shoots with reporters to create look lives and packages for the show,

finally landing me in the Showrunner for DelmarvaLife, Annie Hearn’s, office with a job

offer. In order to get myself to that office I not only had to put in two full days of work

each week, but also balance that with my classes, a regular paying job and the rest of my
WBOC Intern Turned DelmarvaLife Videographer 4

life. There were many stressful days but also many lessons learned along the way, which I

plan to carry on into the rest of my media career.

Let’s start from the beginning. In order to participate in a Communications

Internship at Salisbury University a student must have completed at least seventy-two

hours of coursework, have a 2.5 overall GPA, a 3.0 GPA in Communications Arts courses

and must receive a recommendation by a Communication Arts faculty member. Going

into this internship I had ninety-eight credit hours, an overall GPA of 2.667 and a

Communication Arts GPA of 3.0. In the Fall 2017 Semester at SU I took Mass Media &

Society with Dr. James Burton, where he and I became rather acquainted with one

another. Upon asking him to write my recommendation he was more than happy too. Step

one was complete.

The next step of this internship journey would be to figure out just where I wanted

to attempt to take on the position. As mentioned earlier, I have wanted to work video

camera as a career since I was in high school. As I was unsuccessfully searching for a

film production company in the area I came across a WBOC Internship Packet on the

Salisbury University Internship website. The fact that WBOC is the Delmarva’s leading

news station immediately drew me in. After looking through the packet I contacted Ethan

Holland, who is one of the supervisors at the station, and he then put me in contact with

Kye Parsons. After a few e-mails back and forth, Mr. Parsons’ and I set up an interview.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from this interview because my family owns a

business and that is where I have worked my entire life. I have never had to go to an

interview for a job before this one, as sad as that may sound. But, I put on my dress socks

and shoes, pleated khaki pants, long sleeve button down shirt and tie and headed to the
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station. Walking into a place that I had never been before, not to mention again that it was

my first interview, had the butterflies flapping their wings in my stomach and my nerves

close to their edge. After meeting Mr. Parsons’ and starting our conversation the

nervousness quickly subsided. We got along great on that first meeting and have only

built on our relationship since. When I left the building knowing that he had accepted my

internship application and would be in contact with the University it was one of the most

excited I had ever been. I do believe though, had I not been dressed as professionally as I

was and did not interact with Mr. Parsons’ in the proper manner, I would not have been

offered the position. This was one of the first time in my life I actually realized just how

important it is to portray yourself in the most professional way possible if you are truly

trying to impress someone. Mr. Parsons' even commented on how well I was dressed and

went on to tell me a story about a previous intern who showed up for the first day on the

job in a Hawaiin print button down and sandals.

Once the University and internship director had accepted my internship

enrollment paperwork and the contract that Mr. Parsons’s and I had created, I knew that I

would be starting this new chapter of my life at WBOC upon our return from Christmas

Break. My first day on the job was Tuesday January 30, 2018. Most of the morning was

spent touring the station with Mr. Parsons’ and getting to meet the members of each

department. Within this single building station there is WBOC Channel 16 News,

DelmarvaLife, WBOCRadio, Delmarva Outdoors, and each of these have subdivisions

within them. Throughout college I had taken multiple studio production courses, so I

thought I had an idea of what the station would look like. In reality about the only part of

it that I did have right in my head was the On-Air sign lighting up above the studio
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doorway. From the outside the building the station looked like every other building up

and down Route 13, but from the inside it seemed never ending. Each department had its

own “worker bee’s” all working within their specific area, while at the same time

working to please the Queen, or in this case, the public media consumers.

Mr. Parsons’ then took me back to his area of the news department, where he set

me up with a WBOC Wordpress login. He then asked me if there was anything I would

be interested in attempting to write my first story about. It just so happened that during

that time of year my younger brother, Camden Harrison, is participating in high school

wrestling which has kept me very much so in the wrestling loop since my own

competitive wrestling career had ended in 2014. At the end of each high school season

there are three consecutive weekends of post season tournaments to decide who the best

in each weight class in the entire state of Maryland are and my first week of the

internship was the week leading up to those. I decided to write an article explaining how

the athletes train year around leading up to these final tournaments and what the schedule

for each weekend was/where they were held. I had no idea how to write an online news

story before this day so upon finishing my writing and picture placement, Mr. Parsons’

taught me the importance of hyperlinks and tags in an article like this. It seems as though

I have learned something almost every day that I have been at the station since day one,

which isn’t something to complain about.

My internship was originally set up for me to be at the station Tuesday 1 p.m. – 5

p.m. and Thursday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. but after my first day I decided that I wanted to give

this internship my all. The day after my first day, which was a Wednesday, I took it upon

myself to drive to Stephen Decatur High School that evening to cover the story of a
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rivalry wrestling match between SDHS and North Caroline High School. It seemed like a

great opportunity for me to continue working on my story writing skills for Mr. Parsons’

as well as allowing me to come into the station Thursday morning with a story ready to

be written. I figured any extra work ethic that I could show, the better chance I had

succeeding with this internship.

That first Thursday was also my first day on the DelmarvaLife set. DelmarvaLife

is a show that WBOC Channel 16 airs every weekday at 5 p.m. covering not only

national news but also local stories and business’ right here in the DMV. I told the crew

and showrunner that I had worked studio camera before in my studio production classes

and that I was rather well versed in Adobe Premiere, or at least thought that I was. So,

they put me to the test and had me operate one of the still cameras on the main set of the

show, mostly shooting a close-up of the host speaking. Even though I had done

something similar multiple times in classes, my palms were sweating and I even had a

little shakiness to my hands which I don’t normally. Luckily, they were smart enough to

stick me on a camera where I set the shot and lock the tri-pod. After the show was done

being recorded, Mrs. Hearn asked if I would like to try editing my first block of the show.

Without hesitation I made my way to the DelmarvaLife editing room, where I was

greeted with an open computer and three other editors; Ana, Kate, and Denine. Even

though I knew how to use the program and had used it many times, the ways they edit the

show were completely foreign to me. I had no idea when they would or wouldn’t use

dissolves, where they place in and out points in the sequence and especially not how to

place a lower third over someone. If it was not for Denine walking me through these

small details one at a time I may not have made it in the editing room, but after a few
WBOC Intern Turned DelmarvaLife Videographer 8

days with her I was completely dialed into their system. Here is yet another moment

during this internship where putting in some extra effort brought me up to par with the

employees that were working there. I didn’t see how they would accept me into their

workplace if I couldn’t at least keep up with them.

Over the next two weeks we decided it would be best for me to come in from 9

a.m. – 5 p.m. both days each week, allowing me to really learn the way the DelmarvaLife

show works inside and out. I would work a studio camera each morning and edit at least

two blocks each afternoon. Each day I would also learn a new area of the show whether it

be using the switchboard in master control, putting a mic on each guest and even doing

the dishes from the kitchen segments. While I was sharpening all of these skills there

would be other things that pop up as well that really started to teach me the importance of

time management in a day on a job like this one. Mr. Parsons’ came in one Thursday

afternoon when I still had blocks to work on with an emergency news story including the

mother of Ethan Holland (the supervisor mentioned earlier). Personally, I think it was a

test from them, but it could have just been another task that needed to be done. I quickly

made some phone calls that I believed were in a reporters’ fashion and was able to create

a story that was published to the WBOC Facebook that day. I couldn’t believe that I had

pulled it off enough to fit Mr. Holland’s liking. Because of this though, I still had to rush

back to the editing room and finish my blocks only in time to get them ingested into the

Newsplex about twenty minutes before the show started. Even though I was pleased with

myself for getting the news story done, I felt as though I had let Mrs. Hearn down (or at

least stressed her out) by pushing it that close. As a result of this I started using the thirty

minutes in between the end of filming the show and my lunch break to get started on all
WBOC Intern Turned DelmarvaLife Videographer 9

of my blocks for the day. This was the beginning of my time management skills within

the job and I am still working on getting better at it to this day.

When the wrestling post season tournamenst started taking place, I traveled to the

Bayside District Tournament held in Cambridge, MD, the East Regional Tournament held

in Snow Hill, MD, and then the State Championship Tournament in Upper Marlboro,

MD. At all three events were many kids from the Delmarva area so I was able to not only

write a story for each one on the WBOC Sports Facebook, but I also took the liberty of

renting a video camera from Salisbury University and creating a reel from each weekend.

These were my very first attempts at recording video in the field and if it wasn’t for this

trial and error I put myself through, the rest of this internship story may not have

happened. The first weekend I had only rented out one battery for the camera so by the

second morning of the tournament the camera was dead. The second weekend I brought

plenty of batteries, but still made a silly mistake with the ND Filters on the camera which

lead to some very dark orange footage. But, because of these trial and errors I was

prepared for the third weekend at the Maryland State Finals and recorded my best

wrestling footage yet. After bringing it back to Salisbury and editing it all together I was

able to place the video in my story about the tournament and it now has over 600 views

on YouTube. Multiple coaches from around the state even reached out to me about

creating a reel for some of their wrestlers in the off season and next winter. It seemed as

though this trial and error method of learning the ways of a videographer was the best

way for me to learn other than someone sitting with me and showing me step by step.

When one of these incidents would occur and I could not create the final product that I

had in mind it would really grind me. So much that it seems if I make a mistake once, it’s
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very rare that I make it again. I will come back to this thought in a bit because it really is

true for me in this line of work.

The director of photography for DelmarvaLife is named Dan Major. From the first

day we met we have gotten along great. Even to the point where he invited me to come to

a side job with him in Frederica, DE one weekend to shoot a field hockey tournament

with Hi-Pod cameras. I did not count this toward my internship hours because it was not

a WBOC associated event, but the experience is what I was there for. It seems that the

more you use a camera the better you become with it, which is really the case for most

things in life. As the weeks went on Dan started to trust me more each day I was there on

camera. It started by letting me use the OSMO camera during band and kitchen segments,

to operating the interview studio camera which moves from one person on the show to

the next as they speak and then using Studio Camera 1 which is the only free moving

camera in the DelmarvaLife studio and it focuses on the “cool shots” within a segment

such as the instruments in a band of close-ups on the food in the kitchen segments. Each

day I became more comfortable with each camera.

One Thursday March 15th, Dan asked if I would like to come on his off-site shoot

with him. Of course, I was more than willing, I was actually excited to go see another

aspect of the business. We went to Daisey’s Well Drilling Company in Delaware where

we shot an interview between the owner of the company and WBOC Reporter Corey

Phoebus. Dan walked me through keying the lights on a shoot like this, as well as the

shots he takes on camera. After the interview itself was done he began teaching me how

to shoot the B-Roll for the story on the OSMO camera. This day was yet again another

eye opener for me on just how many different details there are to a videographers’ job.
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During the last few weeks of my internship I continued to work Studio Camera 1

in the mornings while recording the show and editing blocks, but the part that I am most

proud of is when Mrs. Hearn decided to send me out on an off-site shoot by myself. In

my mind this moment showed that I had proven to her that I am willing to do the work as

well as capable of doing getting it done the correct way. The first shoot was the Thursday

before “National Big Word Day”, so reporter Sydney Whitfield and I headed to

downtown Salisbury to ask people what their favorite big words to use were. After our

first two interviews it started to rain and I had to get the stations equipment to safety. As

we sat in the van contemplating squashing the whole thing because no one was out in the

rain I had the idea to come to Salisbury University and ask the students in the commons

areas what their favorite big words to use were. Sydney loved the idea and we were able

to put together a look live that Mrs. Hearn was more than pleased with. So pleased that

she continued to send me on four more shoots by myself as camera with a reporter. We

traveled to Preston to record a paid segment by Choptank Transport, to Milford to record

another paid segment by the Thomas Moore Academy, and right here in Salisbury to

record a paid segment on the Wagner Wellness Van by Peninsula Regional Medical

Center. She also sent Corey Phoebus and I to Park Place Jewelers in Ocean City to record

a package to be aired the week before Mothers’ Day. If I had not gone through all of the

trials and errors that were mentioned earlier with the wrestling tournaments and other

various shoots I would have been nowhere near prepared to film these paid segments. Up

until this current day when I am now a full-time employee of WBOC and DelmarvaLife I

am still learning through trial and error. Just this morning I had to go on a shoot in Ocean

City where I forgot the microphone plug in for the OSMO camera. Luckily it still records
WBOC Intern Turned DelmarvaLife Videographer 12

audio very quietly, but because of this it took nearly and extra hour to cut the OSMO

footage on top of the package. I can almost guarantee that I will never forget that

microphone attachment again.

Over the course of the last month of my internship the videographer for

DelmarvaLife who had been working there for over twenty years had developed a slight

tremor, which is basically the end of a videography career. Each week he would be there

less, but at the time I was not aware as to why. In the final week of April, Mrs. Hearn

asked me to come to her office after recording the show. I wasn’t sure if I had done

something to upset her or someone else in that station or if it was just to talk. Upon sitting

down in that wooden armed chair in her office the first words to come out of her mouth

were, “Beau, do you want a job?” Sorry for those of you who don’t know me, everyone

calls me Beau rather than Levin. I was almost speechless but was able to squeak out a,

“Yes ma’am.” She then filled me in on the situation with the other videographer and at

this point I was so close to having my one hundred-eighty hours that she wanted me to

start the application process. This included filling out a written application, sending her

an updated resume, having a background check and drug test completed, as well as

having your driving record cleared by the company insurance. Through most of my life

up until these last few years I have been a procrastinator, but this was one thing I was not

going to be behind on. Within a week I had completed all the necessary steps and a few

days later Mrs. Hearn invited me into her office again. “Congratulations, you are

officially an employee of WBOC. Can you start Monday?” As in Monday May 7, 2018. I

was awestruck. It was happening. Not only had I realized that working in this industry
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was truly what I wanted to do, but through this internship I had also landed my first job in

the industry.

I now have my own office in the film department of WBOC and the official title

of DelmarvaLife Videographer. My second forty-hour work week is coming to an end

and I do not think there is anything I would change about it. Throughout this process

there have been many stressful moments, many long days especially considering the fact

I have still had classes along with a commute from and back to Easton, MD every day. If

this experience has taught me anything though it is that persistence and dedication in this

field of work will only propel me on to bigger things. Whether it be a bigger city news

station or the film production company out west I do not know, but for now I am going to

continue using this internship experience to my advantage in creating my path to director

of photography.
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