A Day In The Life: Content Department Style
12/28/2009 11:44:09 AM

By Matt Schimmoeller, Coordinating Producer

Hi I’m Matt, MediaSource's resident Coordinating Producer, and here is a sneak peek at a day in the life of the Content Department. I’m sort of the “air traffic controller” of all content created at MediaSource and impact projects in many different ways, but my main priority is making my list and checking it twice - so that the products we deliver are spectacularly nice. Here's a typical day in my world:

9:15 a.m.: Every day we meet as a team to discuss the day’s agenda, last-minute changes to projects, hot deadlines and of course what we’re all planning to eat for lunch (more on this later). This meeting is really special. It’s casual, prompt and poignant and we all bring our own unique spice to the table! Why meet every day, you might ask? Since we collaborate on every project and there is no idea, effect or design that is left untested, so this daily forum is instrumental for us to produce our best work in an efficient manner.

10:00 a.m.: We’re gearing up (literally) for a shoot today in Sugar Creek, Ohio for a health Multimedia Content Package we’ve got stewing on the prevalence of cancer in the Amish community. We need to pack all the gear we’ll need to capture some pretty moving pictures and it requires a little bit of thinking. What lights will we need? Is the teleprompter necessary? Boom mic or wireless lav? Shooting 720 or 1080 HD? Wait: we’re going to Amish Country, where there is no electricity! (But there is delicious homemade pie!)

12:30 p.m.: Lunchtime in the break room - family style. Yes, we eat lunch together every day as jokes, mixed with work talk, float around the table. Some of us bring leftovers, some of us get fast food and some of us throw on a chef hat and start cooking. It’s quite the experience, as everyday conversation turns into a new brainstorm-fest, which, in the end ensures we’re keeping our fingers on the pulse of the ever-changing world of multimedia and technology.

2:00 p.m.: The motion graphics suite looks and sounds a little more like the North Pole today, because we’re hard at work on the 2009 MediaSource holiday card. The card brings staff caricatures, created by our motion graphics artist Chris, to life and puts them to work in Santa’s workshop creating content and buzz. Now that we’ve nailed down just the right music, it’s time to polish up the animations and get it wrapped in time for special delivery.

Wow, who knew all this chatting with you folks would be so exhausting?! Duty calls, time to grab the sledgehammer and get back to it. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little snippet of what we’ve got cooking in the Content department. Be sure to check out our video gallery to see what pops out at the end of the assembly line! Until next time...