Days Of Future Past

1st Oct – 3rd Oct 2004. CTVN. Signal Hill, Pennsylvania.

A trained engineer, turned communicator, and now a technical guy...ha! Talk about identity crisis…God help me…I’m a master of non…

First week at work. Started on Monday, 27th Sept, and on Thursday, it was the Telethon campaign for CTVN. Each campaign lasts for 2 weeks. 3 times a year, CTVN stages a fund raising campaign for the station as well as its Missions affiliations. Cornerstone Television Network is a non-profit Christian broadcast network, and donors provide all of its funds. The orphans we’re raising funds for really is heartbreaking, especially when one sees their faces on TV. The missionaries visited them and stayed with them. Some adopted them. All those children were so happy when someone actually truly cares for them. They feel loved, and their faces show it.

Thursday, 30th Sept, first day of Telethon. Did you know that large pieces of brown paper splattered with paint looks awfully real on television as boulders? Awfully real, and awful on set, but nice on TV. Haha! Sawed down 2 telephone poles with a chain saw to prop as pier poles on a dock. The poles made 12 logs, which have rotted partially and were full of bugs, termites and centipedes. Everything was recycled, handmade or improvised. That’s budget and non-profit television for you. Learned about lightings, remote (out of station) commercial shoots, and had a studio shoot. Asked so many questions, that I amazed myself at my own ignorance…ha! Learned at lot too (obviously after all the questions).

Telethon is LIVE, and so, as an intern, I was thrown into the deep end…Anyway, I was scheduled to be one of the 7 cameramen running 4 cameras. NO past experience of any technical practice of any sorts, I was scheduled for cameras 3 and 4; a pedestal camera and a handheld one. Thank God everything went smoothly, and I did a pretty decent job. It was very fast paces and despite having a floor and programmed schedule to follow, many impromptu decisions were made. There were blips, but no major mess-ups though, and the entire crew’s hard work was appreciated. Well, this was only the first day of Telethon. There are 8 more days to go…

Now for those who know much about television and are great technical specialists, I truly respect that. So, forgive me if I sound just a little overwhelmed by things happening here in an actual TV station. I know…those were not much, but hey, my background is only engineering, and Media & Communication Management…I don’t know no nothing about all the techniques that goes into turning, adjusting and tuning all those knobs and buttons and even those electric powered illuminating gizmos we call lights. The training I’m having may yet be enough for me to be a good cameraman, or a proficient soundman, or a good editor, or a good producer…Or even enough to start and run a network. Which is why…”God help me”. I’m only able to be here learning because it was Him who changed the lights from red to green. That’s more than enough for me…

I’m not bragging. I’m just not afraid to say that despite our faults, our Father sustains and provides us with more than what we need to follow Jesus. Our confidence should always be in Him, even though we waiver in our faith so VERY often (speaking more for myself…ha). Well, true to His word, He is faithful…“…I am with you always… (Matt 28:20)”. I’m so thankful for those green lights. I’m also thankful and deeply encouraged by Ji-Reh (multiply liao mar…hee) and every single one of my friends…you know who you are…

For many who have not cultivated a relationship with God, I believe it is true enough that the term “Thank God” is just an exclamatory filling for expressions of disgust. Let us all be truly thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness.

posted by HanQiang @ 1:37 am