On Monday, Nov. 11, I, alongside the other communications and graphic design students of Professor Alan Ives’s COM424x class, took an overnight field trip to New York City where we had the opportunity to visit multiple ABC Studios buildings. We watched reporters and camera crews film live shows and spoke with the advertisers and producers behind these TV shows to learn how they operate.
The field trip began that Monday morning at Riverside Station where we took a coach bus to New York City. It was around three and a half hours, and we were delighted to find ourselves in The New Yorker Hotel, right across from Madison Square Garden, by the end of the bus ride.
After dropping off our bags, we all had some free time to visit the stores, attractions, and food stalls spread throughout the concrete jungle. Around dinner time, we met with several Lasell alumni who are currently working in the industry in roles like broadcast journalists and columnists. We got a good insight into the job market and how the alumni got to where they are now. We were also given the opportunity to exchange information and network with people in the communications and advertising job market.
We had the rest of the evening to ourselves either to go to explore the city or relax in the hotel. It was the next day that everything was in store.
We woke up bright and early at 7 a.m. and met up with our professor, Alan Ives, outside of “Good Morning America.” Our class with him was over Zoom the entire semester, so this was the first time we met him in person.
Everyone at all of the studios knew him somehow; from the other producers behind the scenes to the celebrities on camera. He acted as our tour guide as he led us around the control rooms and the set as the show was on air. We got to see how the cameras worked behind the scenes as well as how the assistants would strike the set and move to the next scene. We toured the control rooms and the offices where everyone else worked at ABC; creating advertisements and running shows. We even got to sit in the audience of “The View” starring TV personality Whoopi Goldberg.
“[Going] behind the scenes at ABC Studios was an opportunity of a lifetime,” said junior graphic design major Nick Fernandez, who also attended the trip. “We were able to network with producers, designers, writers, even celebrities like Michael Strahan. Yes, THE Michael Strahan from “Good Morning America!”
The students had the opportunity to shake hands and chat with him after the show finished filming.
I had quite the experience on “The View” myself. I had just been sitting down in the front row with a plush attached to my bag and swung around to rest on my lap. Then, at the beginning of one of the commercial breaks, Whoopi Goldberg herself turned to me and asked what it was I had, motioning to the plush. I was so stunned I just started rambling about it and she told me to stand up and hold it up to the crowd. It is a moment that I won’t ever forget.
Our assignment, when we returned, was to create a video; an advertisement to be more specific. What are we advertising, you ask? The class, the field trip and the experience; We’re creating a video that encourages students to take COM424x with Professor Ives. Seeing as advertising is mainly what both Professor Ives and his colleagues do, it only makes sense that we now have to make one of our own using the images and videos we shot over the course of the field trip. We selected from the roles of video editors, videographers, photographers, and graphic designers and are currently collaborating in creating this and presenting it to underclassmen who may be interested.
I, of course, was a photographer for the trip, carrying around my camera and all. I got some good photos of the sets we were on and the shows we attended, and even got some nice videos. My favorite video that I shot was one of all of the students shaking hands with Michael Strahan of
“Good Morning America.” As for the photos, we all gathered and got one behind the “Good Morning America” desk. Between that and some street photography, I was in photographer heaven.
This class teaches students plenty about the marketing and technical aspects of the communications industry and just how much goes into it. I believe that it, alongside the field trip, should be experienced by any and all communications or even graphic design students who have the opportunity to take it. Not only does it help expand your knowledge in the field but it gives you the perfect opportunity to network and get to know the people in the market for when it comes time to start up your career.