When I was looking into choosing where I wanted to go to school, I was absolutely convinced that I wanted to study Broadcast Journalism at Mizzou. And then I had my meeting with Ron Gilette who pitched the Convergence Sequence to my naive mind. At the time, I didn't realize that this was a trap that would inevitably suck my soul from my body and into my computer which has now become some crude extension of my own mind. But I'm glad for it because Convergence has more to offer me than any other sequence, and that's everything. I tend to be a control freak to the core. I'm not easy to work with in groups as a warning, it pretty much has to be right and on schedule otherwise I tend to flip my lid. I have a mind that is constantly at work and am happiest when I'm learning to do something, even when I am frustrated. And to be perfectly honest, that's why Convergence appealed to me. It's cornering the market...cool. It's where journalism is heading...neat. You get to learn to do it all...I'M IN!!!
As to Stone's argument that Convergence makes a jack of all trades, and a master of none. I disagree. I am a master of a trade all of my own, convergence. It's not mediocrity, it's excellence in a new all-encompassing form. I can learn to specialize in one thing, but in the end, I'm not sticking to strictly TV or print journalism. Convergence is an all new ball game the in my opinion the news media as a whole just doesn't quite know how to play yet. But, that's where Mizzou comes in! Just because I've spread my abilities over all of the platforms doesn't mean that I am a showcase of mediocrity. It just means I want to be able to do more.
One other interesting point that I want to note. In class today it was briefly mentioned that it is easier to do a convergence project on a long-term story. And that the convergence field doesn't lend well to breaking news. Stone brought up the same point, and to that I ask why? I understand not all stories can be done in a hit-and-run style, and it is easier to build something on such a large scale over a longer period of time. But send me to the scene of a house fire with a broadcast truck, camera, tripod, tape recorder, and my trusty computer and watch me go. (That song "Anything you can do, I can do better" is currently on repeat in my head)
*I apologize. My posts are long, and probably pretty scattered idea-wise. My thoughts tend to be collisions of ideas in my brain, and like a highway wreck at rush hour, even I can't be sure when or where the next car is going to go.*
No comments:
Post a Comment