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My Opportunity of a Lifetime

By
Dylan Cecil
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Growing up, I never knew what my forever profession would be. I always had the dream

of becoming a professional athlete like every child. Communications never once struck my mind

as a major I would pursue, but now looking back at it I would never want it any other way. The

goal of this essay is to portray my newfound love for Media Production in the workplace. Media

production has introduced something unique into my life dealing with new productions every

day. The vast variety of topics and people I meet is amazing. The Takoma Park City TV offered

me an internship as an audio/visual technician. I first saw this title and began to think I was

going to know absolutely nothing related to anything they would want from me. My fear soon

became something of the past after the first day working with the communications team.

Everyone greeted me with open arms and made me feel at home. This was the start of something

that could last forever.

My experience with Takoma Park TV started a bit later than expected due to HR not

responding with drug testing results. Once I was cleared, I began orientation and was introduced

to the team because a production was taking place. I introduced myself and got straight to work

setting up equipment I wasn’t very familiar with. It all seemed like so much at first because I did

not know anyone there. The experience really opened me up to a different world. Going into a

new job is the same for most people, you must be taught the basics before you can flourish. I was

asked to be the camera man for the production we had going on. The production dealt with

teenagers from Blair High school on the topic of bullying. I saw this as a great first start to my

internship because learning how to use the cameras is very important for anyone in media

production. I was then told to talk to my co-worker, John Pitt, who is very good with cameras

and tends to shoot most b-roll for important videos which need to be edited. He taught me the
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basic controls of the camera which I was slightly familiar with because of cameras I used in

Salisbury. Things began to click for me once I had the camera in my hand. I felt like I was

reliving the semester I just finished because of the many different videos I had to make for my

video field production class. The smooth transition I was feeling now from school experience

was very refreshing to my experience in Takoma Park TV.

Some weeks I would be faced with very different tasks at hand. My production manager,

Alvaro, had me scheduled for a radio show. I was very nervous because I have never been on

live radio before. I would dabble with recording my own voice for projects at Salisbury for audio

class, but nothing like this. I kept telling myself they will walk me through this new experience

and that’s exactly what happened. The radio shows would usually consist of Alvaro and my other

co-worker Bien. I would be there to incorporate PSA’s, (Public Service Announcements), and

speak on events Takoma Park was having coming up that week. This was a very incredible

experience for me because it’s a very powerful thing. The radio station we used was WOWD.LP

(Takoma Park Radio). I just loved how much fun radio was and thinking about all the people

listening. I now see radio as something I might try and get into later in life. The ability to reach

many people around the city of Takoma Park allowed me to truly see the impact my new

communications team has for the community.

After I managed to succeed with the first steps taught to me, I began learning editing. I

was a bit nervous jumping into a new editing program because Salisbury offered me AVID

software. My production manager referred me to John Pitt about figuring out times we could

both meet so he could teach me the new software, Final Cut Pro. John was a great mentor when

it came to the ins and outs of Final Cut Pro. I became very familiar with everything in just a

week because of him. I was given my first editing task of a Childs business fair for the “We Are
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Takoma Show” that took place in the Takoma Park community. My goal was to make the video

around thirty minutes long because they did not offer me too much b-roll (cover videos) or

interviews. I had to maintain a very fluid storyline throughout all the interviews. This was

challenging for me because I did not really know what an ideal finished video was. I decided to

do research of my own and find videos they have previously posted on YouTube to the We Are

Takoma Show page. I quickly realized what changes had to be made to creating a well-made

video. I soon showed John Pitt my completed work which I was very nervous to do because I did

not think he would approve of it yet. He told me it was very good and said I could show my

production manager. I soon called my production manager to come down to the editing room to

review my completed project. At this point I was very happy with my work and thought he

would say it is good. I was soon told a handful of things needed to be fixed and I should try and

add more b-roll and extend the lengths of them. I tried to just accept the fact I did not edit the

video perfectly, but I did a good job. This was a huge accomplishment for me because at

Salisbury I really struggled with editing. I cannot really tell if it was the teaching from professors

that created a problem for me or just the software in general. I was surprised Final Cut Pro

allowed me to feel comfortable with what I was doing. The ability to feel this way for editing is

something I never saw happening before I came to Takoma Park TV.

Not all productions were easy. I was faced with many difficult obstacles while

participating in events away from the Takoma Park Community Center where we kept our

production equipment. The communication team would have to assemble very early in the

morning for some productions because equipment can be a burden carrying from one place to

another. The first hard production I had to work in was a baseball game. Hauling all the

equipment in dollies down a floor to our business cars was a very difficult task and required at
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least six people. Three cars would always be filled with all the electronics and equipment

required for a successful live recording. My first baseball game was at Blair High school where

we filmed Division 1 and Division 2 baseball players on summer teams since the college

semester was over. We would always arrive five hours before the game at 2pm because that gave

us the necessary time to set up everything without struggling last minute. It was always

excruciatingly hot every time we would have to record these games. My production manager

would always provide us with water and food because the production schedule for the day would

last at least nine hours. I was assigned the role of camera man for this game. The teams playing

were from Takoma Park and Bethesda. Alvaro, the production manager, has certain roles for

each camera. I was told to constantly follow the person batting from the hit to the base. I was, at

first, very uncomfortable with the camera and had to pretty much teach myself or have my co-

worker, Rob, walk me through it quickly. Once I got the hang of it, I was doing very well. Our

communication team all have intercoms on so we can constantly be on top of what Alvaro wants

for the production. After the game, we would have the cars packed up around 11:00 p.m. due to

the amount of equipment brought to the game; it was astounding. Once we successfully

unpacked the production equipment, I was praised by multiple people from the communications

team about how well I did for my first time. I could not stop thinking about how good it felt to

have done well for this important live game recording after a brutally exhausting day.

The same week, another huge production was taking place on July 4th. The City of

Takoma Park was having its annual Takoma Park parade through the streets by the community

center. I was told by multiple co-workers this was going to be the most stressful day of my

internship not to mention it was supposed to be another killer hot day. I took this as a challenge

and listened to the game plan for the entirety of the parade. The production manager wanted
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three different manned cameras on either side of the street where the parade would flow through.

I was specifically given the task of going out with two other co-workers to record interviews of

people all over the streets enjoying the parade. I saw this as a great opportunity to flourish with

the camera because I was also asked to get tons of raw footage of the whole event as it was

happening live. My two co-workers and I set out to start from the beginning of the parade which

was a five-minute walk up a hill by the fire house. Everyone in the community was having a

great time, so we decided to start shooting some interviews while people were not too exhausted

from being there too long. The first interview we got was from some locals who had been

coming to the parade for 20 years. I was astounded by how tight the community was and how

much the people really care about where they live. Where I live, my community is not this

involved with everything in the area. I loved being at this event and shooting footage of everyone

having a great time watching or participating in the events. I never thought I would feel so close

to a community when I don’t even live in the area. I started to grow fond of everyone I worked

with and the City of Takoma Park as a whole.

The day went on and I had captured at least 10 different interviews to give the person

editing many different videos to incorporate into a comprehensive, great video. The camera I was

using today was one I became familiar with at Salisbury University called a P2 camera. I kept

thinking about how lucky I was to have used this camera last semester. I did very well in all my

classes with this camera and was confident I would bring back great footage for my production

manager once the parade came to an end. The team assembled to take everything down and I was

just so giddy about enjoying the day everyone told me was going to be the most stressful for me.

It was the complete opposite. I loved what I was doing, and I wanted to honestly keep going. My
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mentality towards this job had completely started making me want to continue working here after

this internship.

Enjoying this internship began to feel like what I was here to do at Takoma Park all

along. I have become so familiar with things I’d never see myself doing a year ago and it felt

great. I started to become very fluent in editing video that was given to me. I kept persistent, as I

was motivated from the first task I was given, editing the Children’s Business Fair earlier in the

internship, because I wanted it perfect. The days went on, offering me more experience with

editing I’d never think to learn at college. It was the same experience learning an editing

program but, in a new environment. I felt more comfortable in Takoma Park. The people around

me were encouraging me to do better and show my potential with video editing I wasn’t very

familiar with. I continued to go with the flow of editing and wait for the opportunities of new

productions coming my way each week. Towards my last weeks, my production manager,

Alvaro, told the communications group we had another big baseball game to record live. I knew

I’d have a big position in this game because he praised me for my previous camera work on the

last game. I was only following the batter in the previous game but, now the position assigned to

me was following the ball. I didn’t really think it was going to be as difficult as I later found out.

The amount of different ways my production manager, Alvaro, wanted me to shoot, kept me on

my toes. I was cycling through zooming with the camera and focusing at the same time. I was

not experienced with multitasking on a camera like that before this game. I tried to dabble with

both at the same time when I was in Salisbury working on my video production class but, I

couldn’t really get the hang of it like I did at this game. I started out shaky when the game began

only following the ball with focus. I was then told to zoom at the same time giving the live shot

more emphases making it look better. My comfort using both focus and zoom at the same time
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progressively got better and I finished the game feeling I did a solid job. Finishing these baseball

games with few flaws recording feels great. I am not a professional videographer at all but, the

feeling of completing a whole baseball game which ran three hours felt good in the end.

During my time at Tacoma Park City TV for my internship, there were usually weekly

productions in the Tacoma Park community center. The productions were very diverse and had

very different content weekly. One of my most memorable productions at the community center

was in the auditorium for a production called “El Barrio Tambien Canta”. This translates from

Spanish to “The Neighborhood Also Sings”. The production offered locals of the Tacoma Park

area the opportunity to display their talents, by singing live on the Tacoma Park City TV

broadcast. The production manager assigned me to be the audio operator for the entire event. The

position consisted of multiple different jobs throughout the whole production. I was given this

position to test my skills as well as an opportunity to learn to use a MIDAS soundboard. There

was going to be three mics I had to mute or unmute while the production was going on. The host

always had a mic, so I was always on my toes with which mics to mute. My co-worker, Bien,

told me he has been the audio operator most of the time for productions like this and he told me

he had one bad day doing it. He explained that technical difficulties happen all the time and I

should not worry if anything happens. This instantly set me into a panic mode thinking I was

going to have problems with the sound board since it was my first time. I began the production

perfectly setting sound levels to the appropriate levels and muting mics when people were ready

to perform. The second person got on stage and the music wouldn’t play and I was panicking

because I didn’t know what happened. I had to call over to my co-worker John to troubleshoot

the whole problem, but he couldn’t figure it out either. It was all a mess until my other co-

worker, Rob, stepped in and figured out he didn’t plug the audio into the right input. The show
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continued and I finished the production flustered. The set was taken down and Bien told me I did

a good job and joked that he told me it wouldn’t be that bad. I laughed it off and was told by the

production manager it was a good live production and I did well just without any prior

knowledge. This made me feel a little less stressed out, but I was thankful to have my great team

behind me through all the problems that occurred.

I never once saw myself pursuing a career in Communications when I was younger. This

internship introduced me to something I enjoy doing. People tell me all the time that they do not

enjoy what they do and finding a job you love is the most difficult, but important thing. The

Takoma Park City TV gave me an opportunity that fully showed me the true experience of the

degree I am studying for at Salisbury University. I have learned so much through my journey at

Salisbury University that it made my transition into this workplace smooth as I could have ever

hoped. All the nervousness I had at the start of the internship has finally subdued and I feel better

than ever. They even want me to come back and work full time for the Takoma Park City TV

which is exactly what I want to do. The communications team was the greatest help to me

succeeding and I am thankful for the knowledge they shared with me and the confidence they

gave me in my abilities. I wouldn’t have wanted my experience at Takoma Park any other way. I

am now convinced that I will continue this field of work when I graduate from Salisbury

University.