Trial and Error

I knew I had reached the big time when I didn’t have to count myself down.

OK, fine. It was just a one-time thing. Still, when I went to Revision3’s $500,000 hi-def studios on Monday to shoot an episode of the New Media Minute with the amazingly talented Sarah Lane, host of Revision3’s “PopSiren,” I got a taste of a real studio.

You see, I’m used to shooting the New Media Minute with just my husband behind the camera. It’s a scrappy operation we run, like most Web video creators. And when we shoot our episodes, I do the traditional 3-2-1 countdown before I start talking.

So when I was on the set with Sarah on Monday and producer Heather Frank said to start the run-through, I naturally jumped into my 3-2-1 countdown. Immediately, but politely, the show’s studio manager Joshua Villegas interrupted to let me know he’d count me in. Wow. Talk about service. You might have just pinched me then. I think I was dreaming.

Suffice to say, the shoot was big-time in other ways, too. We used three cameras and a teleprompter. I have used a teleprompter once before (when I shot a few episodes at the PixelCorps studio, and the teleprompter was a liberating experience), but switching between cameras was a bit challenging. I’m used to one camera, but I had to suddenly shift between the cameras several times during the episode depending on whether I was reading, listening or talking to Sarah. I hope I pulled it off without completely embarrassing myself, Sarah, Revision3 or TVWeek. If not, I hope you enjoy it anyway.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I also finally (there is a God, now I am sure) got to meet my Internet hero, idol, superstar, crush, etc., in person: The one and only Martin Sargent of “Internet Superstar” fame. You can see the proof here with this photo.

And here’s Sarah and me: