So a friend of mine was on TV today -- specifically, he was a guest on the show Tech Support on People TV, which is broadcast live to whoever is watching in metro Atlanta. Since it's not everyday that most people get on TV, and there was supposedly room in the studio for 3 friends to watch, I went with two other people to watch David be on TV. Which was going to be fun.
So we get to People TV, which was highly reminiscent of UHF, but it was really neat to be hanging around the studio, and we were going to be sitting in the control room watching the show.
At least that was the plan until about 40 seconds (literally) before the show started, when the producer of the show asks us "are you three on camera?" We thought that he was asking us if we were going to be on the show, so we said "no" -- to which he said "Well, you are now," and started herding us through the door into the studio. We were trying to tell him that we weren't on the show until we realized that what he wanted us to do was operate the cameras.
So we operated the cameras, which was cool. Since none of us knew what we were doing, it was a bit interesting at first, but we had lots of fun and really got the hang of it by the end. And we got on the credits of the show, which was neat even though they spelled my name wrong. Plus we learned lots of neat things like how to zoom and focus and roll the cameras around, plus some cool TV cameraman phrases like "I need a two shot, left."
After the show, we were hanging around outside the building waiting for David to take care of some paperwork to get a VHS copy of the show, but he was taking too long so we went inside to get some free pizza and escape some weird drunk guy. So we're eating pizza in the hallway, and the producer comes out and says "hey, do you want to run cameras for the next show?"
Of course we said yes, and this time even got a more active role in the production process, which is really hectic by the way -- especially for live broadcasts.
Oh, and they spelled my name wrong on the credits again, but differently this time.
So anyway, definitely an interesting day. I wonder if I can go and operate the cameras more; that was fun. He said we could come back; maybe we can take him up on his offer :)