Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Yes, by Totally Wild I am talking about the TV show. I'm currently halfway through a week of work experience at Adelaide's Channel Ten studios, and today was the first of two days in the Children's Unit, which holds one of three Totally Wild bases (Brisbane's the HQ and Melbourne plays a small role too).

To say I had a different experience to the general newsroom is an understatement. Today was one of the most fun days I've had in ages. Fun normal days that is (which I guess doesn't count parties/pub crawls etc. which lately have raised the bar). TW's feature format

First was overlay footage of two dogs for Bondi Vet (produced interstate); we had to get a Jack Russell (named Jack haha) to drink out of a swimming pool. It took us at least half an hour. Even then we only got a bit of footage and ended up getting him to drink out of a bowl. Turns out he likes chicken. Talk about never working with animals...

Our main story of the day was on arborists, who prune trees without harming them, etc. Standing in the wind for about 3.5 hours wasn't too ideal, but seeing Colin (the presenter) and Matt (cameraman) being harnessed and lifted 12m up a 30m redgum tree to get an interview was pretty awesome. Then I got my 15 minutes of fame. No, I did not go up the tree. Although that would've been pretty fun. But I'M IN THE STORY! With LINES!

I was 'Sarah', Colin's past love interest (fabricated for purposes of childish humour) who's curious about what he's doing up a tree. But I reject his invitation for a milkshake because I'm 'more into TV presenters'. It was so much fun; Colin, Matt and soundman Savvy are champs and I couldn't stop laughing as Colin was shouting after me from the tree with a broken voice. Hilarious. Won't be on air for about 2 months, but I'm glad I've got something to show for my work experience now (because I can't shoot a news story)!

After going out on politics/education-related interviews with the seriously awesome journos Daniela and Jemma, and the Totally Wild gang today, I understand the different types of news journos can present. Absolutely loving this week. It's getting better and better! Although I'll be sussing out why I was given what I think was a (mediocre) latte instead of a chai...