On my eighth day in Ireland I had the pleasure of going on a guided tour of RTÉ and hearing two industry professionals talk about their experiences in this vocation. Additionally, I took an Irish dancing class.
This was a very good day, though that is an extremely biased opinion in all honesty. I am a broadcasting production student so obviously this day was interesting to me. It was a great experience to get a intimate look at a professional broadcasting studio.
I do UVIEW at Point Park University so it was very academically beneficial to see how their studio was different than ours. For instance, the scale of their operation and how advanced their equipment was.
One thing that was very interesting is how the vernacular and camera angles are somewhat different in their studio. For instance, they do not call it B-Roll here, they call it VIZ. Another thing that was interesting is how the studio did not use any over the shoulder shots on their talent. Finally, it was also interesting how the studio still manually scrolls their teleprompter. I had heard most studios were now either using an automated system or the talent themselves controlled it through a hidden pedal, it was nice to see they were still doing it the old way.
The two industry professional were also very interesting and their stories gave us a good glimpse into the industry. One was once a news correspondent working in the United States for an Irish news company. It was interesting hearing his perspective on American news and politics and how that job was done.
After we were done at RTÉ, we took yet another group photo and took a bus back to the part of Dublin we were staying in.
Later in the day we attended the Irish dancing class. I won’t lie to you, I was dreading this particular excursion. however, I will be truthful, I had fun.
The man teaching the class was unassuming but very musically inclined I learned shortly. He jumped from instrument to instrument and played each one mellifluously. He told us about traditional Irish instruments like the tin whistle, the harp, and the bodhrán.
After he was done displaying his talents he tried to teach us some dances. We learned two group dances. He would teach us each move step by step, demonstrating how to do the move. Then he would slowly stitch the movement together and would add music.
It’s funny how quickly something can come together if you just give it enough time and patience. The beginning was shaky and awkward, but soon a cohesive flow formed between all of us and we danced without really thinking of anything in particular.
This was a particular interesting day because it was both an academic and cultural learning experience for me. One thing I should always do when talking about this trip is preface the statement by saying I regret nothing, not one day.