"One chance is all you need.” – Jesse Owens, Olympic Legend

Back in April, I was hoping for that one chance. At that time, I was nearing the end of my school year at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. I was planning on returning home to Grand Rapids to work during the summer. I applied for the ICTV Summer Internship position; a position that’s video production-heavy. I had served as an intern with ICTV for a semester in high school, but my work load was fairly light that go-around. While I had a few years of radio experience under my belt, I wanted to explore the television side of the media world. Besides a short slideshow with some music, I had zero video production experience, let alone for television airing. However, I applied anyway, just hoping for that chance. Then, a phone call came from Jennifer, offering me the position. I accepted so quickly that I think I cut her off mid-sentence. What can I say? I was excited!

Having been given the chance, I was ready to start, hoping that giving me this opportunity would not be something that Jennifer and the ICTV team would regret. I was set for a summer of learning, experience and fun!

And what a fun summer it’s been! I have learned so much about shooting video and producing that video. I now know about tight, medium and wide shots, shot composition, audio levels, wireless and wired microphones, auto and manual focus, importing video footage to a workspace, graphics, titles, rendering footage, sending it to the server and burning DVD copies. While that’s a lengthy series of things there, that’s really just touching the surface when it comes to what I’ve learned this summer!

Another aspect of the fun this summer was being able to go out-and-about in the community to shoot some of the programs. Dating back to late-May, I’ve been able to cover a wide variety of local government meetings, including meetings of the Cohasset City Council, La Prairie City Council, Harris Township, Itasca County Township and the Grand Rapids Public Utilities Commission. Along with those meetings, I was trusted to cover an abundance of events in the community, including Memorial Day Services, the GRHS Graduation Ceremony, GR Area Library Programs, a Hobbies, Inc. episode, the Chamber of Commerce meetings, the Itasca Vintage Car Show, the Itasca County Fair, the Farm & Antique Threshing Show in Blackberry, performances at the Reif Center, 4th of July fireworks in Nashwauk, the Wild Rice Festival Parade, Showboat, a business/marketing seminar, the KAXE River Festival, the Tall Timber Days Parade, a seminar about aquatic invasive species and a few of the performances from the Summer Concert Series.

My last assignment is to shoot the Reif Top Ten Talent Search program this Saturday night. I’ve had a fantastic summer at ICTV without question. What I’m going to miss most are the people here. It’s amazing how friendships can grow so strong in just a few months. I want to thank Jennifer, Beth, Trond, Cole, Nate and Courtney for making work an absolute blast this summer. I thank you all for trusting me, for allowing me to make mistakes and learn from them, for the countless tips and suggestions, for letting me be creative and, again, for giving me that one chance.

Thank you, ICTV.

Sincerely,
Joe Gigliotti