Interview with a Soon-to-Be Legend

Jared Haskell on his last day, with his grip from last year and this year's blogger
(That is to say, Jigga and me)

In addition to being a tremendous event, the New York BattleCry was also the last day of work for staff DP Jared Haskell, who heads back to Texas just long enough to figure out what's next.

Up first? Seeing Atlanta with the members of Unhindered.

Here with a look at his last job is Jigga himself.



By the way, working with Jigga has a way of rubbing off on you. After working as a cable-monkey grip for him for a single weekend, I still have the habit of wrapping my power supply over-under every time I pack up my computer A FULL YEAR LATER. He's a great DP and an amazing guy all around, and it's been a blessing to work with him for the last sixteen months.

The Beginning of the End...

The final session...


Be the Love Encounter

We have reached the end of the event. Unhindered did a big final set, complete with confetti cannons, after Ron Luce gave his "Listen to Love/Be the Love Encounter" message. And the live show wrapped up right on time, with Kemtal Glasgow giving the final exhortation on-air.



Now it's time for clean-up and load-out. I've already helped Logan pack up the lights from the crow's nest, and now breakdown at the tape truck is go. Let the wild rumpus start!!

(Also, can I just say that Anna is way too kind in her assessment of my posts? Anna, you did an edited mini-highlights piece yesterday. No matter how many videos I put up, yours put mine to shame. But thank you so much anyway.)

A little poetry from the event..

So Tyler and I were just sitting in the team room, watching as people prepare to load out, since the event will be getting over soon.. And I was talking about how sometimes I can be very random and that I would probably just post random thoughts and poems that I wrote off the top of my head.. So he said, go for it.. So here’s a little poem that I’m making off the top of my head about this weekend.. There will probably be a rhymning scheme, but it won't probably be that good..

Ode to BattleCry

The weeks, the months we prepared and slaved..

Never compared to what we had to brave..

Hard work and long days..

Oh you helped us perservere in so many ways..

Finally the day of the event came..

I don’t think I’ll ever be the same..

From speakers like Ron Luce and Mike Guzzardo..

They was definitely no Ricky Ricardo..

But they came and they won peoples hearts for the Lord..

Not a person this weekend was ever bored..

The bands and special guest blew our minds..

They were definitely very good finds..

But now alas it’s coming to and end..

I’m pretty sure we all made a life long friend..

His name is Jesus and he died for me..

So thank you BattleCry because now I’m free..

Whoa..! A little corny but defintely not phoney.. Watch out I’m speaking in rhyme this sure isn’t a crime.. Unless I’m just really bad at it then that’s not so rad.. I hope you had a lot of fun.. There’s some more post to come, oh yeah we’re not done..

Enjoy the Night.. Please don’t get in a fight..

(okay I’m done with rhyming..)

Anna

Interview with a Staffer

Lauren Baize isn't your average CCMer. In fact, she's not an intern -- she's a staff member, working as acting coach and Sterling College representative! This weekend, though, she's jumped into the event with both feet, working as tape supervisor to make sure all our footage comes back the way it's supposed to be.

... which, past problems suggest, is pretty much the most important thing ever.

Way to go, Lauren!!

Makeup time!

So I’ve had quite an exciting time. After dinner I was able to help out in the interview room and be in there while my fellow CCMer, Keshia Weaver, produced the interview with Canton Jones. It was so awesome to hear him talk about how his wife keeps him accountable in their relationship and in his profession, hear him talk about his kids and his business and him reaching out for this generation.

After the interview I got a total makeover. I was able to visit my very good friends Aspen Henry and Kristina Kutscher and get a make up makeover from them.. Not only did I get my whole face done, but in the process I got my hair curled by, Shannon Haack, and got a very nice and soothing hand massage. If I must say anything it would have to be this, these girls are really good at their jobs and if you ever need makeup done, go see them.

Update Time

Oh my goodness. Can I just say right now that Tyler is a blog updating machine..? I’m proud of my 5 updates. And then we’ve got Tyler in the corner over here pumping out a update every minute it seems! Good job, buddy. You are one talented writer. I guess that’s what you get when you stick a writer/producer on blogging. Me a lowly editor can barely keep up with him! But hey, it’s all good, we all do what we can. And this blog is looking pretty spectacular.

Let me tell you a few things that I have been able to witness at today’s event.. I was able to slip into the arena while Nick Vuijicic was speaking.. If you just see him that alone is amazing, to see how God has used this man’s life and his situation to speak to thousands.

Another thing that I was able to see was HeeSun Lee the spoken-word rapper.. It was very cool seeing her rap. Yeah. (I’m not to sure how to describe.) Why don’t you just watch this clip to check her out.

Also for your enjoyment, here are some more pictures for you to see first hand what the event is like.

HeeSun Lee doing her Spoken Word

Shannon Haack enjoying her break while listening to Nick Vuijicic

Another picture of HeeSun Lee

The crowd

Mike Guzzardo talking to the crowd

Another shot of the crowd

Tyler and I working hard

Ron Luce speaking

On a Lighter Note...

"Where are you, Christmas? Why can't I find you?"

Remember when I said Kristina had a quirky sense of style? Perhaps this is no more apparent than in the discovery of Kristina Lou Who, who is no more than two.

Just in case the event was starting to seem a little overwhelming, every now and then you come across a little gem like this picture, which reminds us what the truly great thing about working in media is... it's entertainment. Sometimes it's inspirational, moving, informative entertainment -- and sometimes it isn't something like this. But no matter what, our work in entertainment always has two things going for it.

1) It can be used to bring glory to God;
2) It's FUN!

Case in point...

I saw this on posters around the concourse, detailing the events on the schedule for the IZOD Center, and the placement of our very own "Acquire the Fire presents the Greater New York BattleCry" in the scheme of other events made me laugh. So I had to pull out my cell phone and take a picture... which is currently my cell phone wallpaper.



That's right. Last week was Stars on Ice, this weekend is BattleCry, and Monday is WWE Raw. That's almost as good as this summer, featuring Doo-wop... followed by Megadeth.

Is it just me, or is this one of the funniest, most random combination of things in a very, very long time?

A Video from our Fearless Leader

This exclusive clip of the inner workings of the TV truck comes to us courtesy of Doug Rittenhouse, director of the CCM program and executive producer of all the great stuff we put out.



Inside the Production Truck during the broadcast of a Live Event at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands. This is just part of a team of 75 people that it took to produce more than 15 Hours of Live Television.

For more from Mr. Rittenhouse, check his Twitter feed... he's got a lot of TwitPics up from the event.

And, while you're at it, follow CCM Studios on Twitter, too!

Interview with a PA

Shannon Haack wasn't content to just shoot a simple interview -- she hijacked the full-broadcast interview room for her own literal moment in the spotlight.

Of course, a simple blogger's inexperience with video work on his personal digital camera was still our downfall, and the zoom suddenly kicked in by accident about halfway through.

In any case, she takes her moment to shine and shares a bit about what "production assistants" actually do... and how the weekend's been shaping up from the viewpoint of the corridors of power.

Interview with a Grip

Caleb Lennie shares some of the "adrenaline rush" that comes with running cable for Jigga at LiveCam 3, a position near and dear to this blogger's own heart, since I did it last year.

"Another Update for the Text Nation"

If you've been to an ATF or BattleCry lately, you've probably seen a time when the big screens are given over to "Shout-Outs" from text messages. If you're watching the live broadcast on satellite TV or GodTV.com, there's another set of Shout-Outs that goes up there.

But have you ever wondered how, exactly those go up online?

Well, for the two different environments, there are two different systems, though they work pretty much the same way.

A texting-computer operator connects a phone -- with a SIM card dedicated to this specific task, though we got 14 calls to the text-only number before the event even started last night -- to the computer, and feeds the texts into a program designed to pull them off and organize them. And, obviously, to filter out things like swear words.

From there, the operators can feed the texts into the graphics programs for the projectors, feeding them straight through, changing up the order, or inserting their own in case there's a lag in cell service. (Sadly, often there is a lag as the phone gets a little overwhelmed with volume.)

In the course of this tour, a crack team of CCMers has been assembled to handle the texting computers, growing from one outgoing staff member to three young interns, and Michael Mistretta, Phillip-Michael Fletcher and Margo Kittok have become superstars as they put up salutations from attendees up for thousands of others to see.

For the NY event, two separate texting stations are needed.



One, which serves the in-arena texts, is run from "Video World," where the ministry team processes graphics and videos to run on the screens in the event. Margo is working this station for this event, occasionally throwing in shout-outs to the full slate of fellow CCMers in the crowd.


For a chance at showing up on this bank of Shout-Outs at this evening's session, text 903.504.1202.

On a completely different processing software is the TV-text station, which is outside by the TV truck, where CCM has set up their recording station to handle the tape copies of everything being broadcast.



Between running around doing PA work, Phillip has been on the broadcast station, handling the bumpers as needed by the director for an audience of potentially millions, all around the globe.


For a chance at showing up there, text 903.521.6848, though remember all applicable country codes if texting from outside the United States.

It Starts with One Thing...

Jan. CCMer, GFX guru, still photographer and excellent bus-bunkmate John Manalo

As noted before, one of the keys to being successful in the media world is the flexibility to adapt to a new plan. On a very similar note, I posted from Hamilton in October that the hallmark of the media lifestyle was a willingness to do whatever was needed, since "the show must go on."

You put the two together, and you quickly realize that there's a skill that comes in very handy.

Some people have it, some people don't.

Media folk need it.

It's called multitasking.

In addition to running this blog, along with my lovely editrix and friend Anna Crowley (a co-blogger so awesome she even brought me a cookie last night), yours truly has been, at various times, a lighting grip (running "sun gun" for Walk-n-Talk shots -- see more on that from a Hamilton post -- or a stageside prayer from Ron Luce during last night's altar call) and a GFX assist (as noted in previous posts, working on the opener video). Plus, I'm credited as a writer, since I worked on the creative team for this year's tour, and I supervised re-writes of the drama for the NY venue (though most got changed back). And, on top of that, I produced the latest event-specific promo and appeared in some of the drama videos. So I'm pretty much all over.

But it's not just me. It's almost everybody.

John Manalo, my bus-bunkmate and January GFX guy, estimates he's had five separate jobs this weekend. Graduate Alex Clark, editor and all-around fix-it-man, has been on standby for anything and everything that might need his attention. His job, he would say, is to "save the day."



Both Clark and John, in fact, were called in to help set up the Honor Academy breakout, currently in progress. The breakout space simply wasn't big enough after the Global Expeditions moment, so, for the afternoon, it was moved outside -- to a space that looked more like a wedding setup than an informational meeting (or, at least, it would have given that impression had it not been set up under a bridge to the racetrack).



John is actually the third person this weekend to be assigned to the one-man post of CCM's official still photographer, after Amber Boehler and Michael Mistretta, pictured below.


This picture is for Michael's mom, who pretty much told us we needed to put up another picture of him.

The beauty of this arrangement: A single weekend is giving lots of us the chance to gain loads of varied experience, in things we may already know and in things we've never done before, as well as showing off how well CCM works with the rest of the event as a whole.

And for those who have managed to stick with one job… well, the view's not bad for them, either.


Caleb, running grip for Jigga on Live Cam 3, watches Unhindered's acoustic set

Interview with a Promo Rep

Casey Flores isn't technically a CCMer. But we're proud to call him one anyway. He's with Teen Mania's Honor Academy, so he was assigned to our admissions and promotions team, and he's a vital part of the CCM experience, helping bring new potential CCMers into the program. Along with a few others -- like Kristina, as mentioned before -- under the guidance of Gail Rittenhouse, he is the voice of CCM, if you will. And for a lot of people who are attending events from the Encounter tour, he's also the Face of the place -- he's the first person associated with the program that they're going to see.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
--Hebrews 12:1

In the videos meant to represent the "Great Cloud of Witnesses" who interact with the angelic characters of the drama, Casey gets to play the only Biblical figure who gets to interact with a human character. Appearing to Zack Brahinsky in a dream and inspiring him to assume the superheroic mantle he never thought himself capable of shouldering, Casey plays Gideon. (For those who don't remember, Gideon was the hero who rose up from being the least son of the smallest family of Israel in a time when they all hid out like cowards, threshing their wheat inside winepresses in case the Midianites came to steal it, and led an army -- cut down to size by God -- against the Midianites with only trumpets and clay pots. And won.)

The scene in the drama tends to make a pretty hefty impression (made even more amazing by the fact that, during the many shoots it took to get right, poor Casey was recovering from pnuemonia).

Here, he talks about his experience with the promo booth, and his brush with fame.

A Special Event Calls for Special Guests

The New York event, being our second live broadcast of the tour, gets special billing from its guest speakers. Where we normally have sessions led by Mike Guzzardo and Joel Johnson, ATF's go-to speakers and quite good speakers in their own right, the New York event calls for some extras.

Mike Guzzardo in this case is joining April Hernandez, who spoke last at last year's event, as emcee. April is best known for playing Eva in the movie "Freedom Writers." This morning, the sex-and-relationships talk that's included in every Teen Mania event was given by Lakita Garth-Wright, abstinence advocate known on the speaking circuit for her catchy and sometimes scandalous turns of phrase (notably "no ringy, no dingy") and known to the United States Congress lobbying for abstinence education. And currently onstage is Nick Vujicic, a man born with no arms and no legs, who still travels the world inspiring people blessed with "normal" stature to take full advantage and live the life God has planned for them.



(You can check him out at lifewithoutlimbs.org.)

One of the biggest advantages to working an ATF or BattleCry -- when awesome sessions like this come along, you're there to see it. Oh, yeah, and to broadcast it to the world at large.


Jigga gets a good shot of Nick as he looks out to the crowd

Interview with the Makeup Crew

Aspen Henry and Kristina Kutscher were pretty much fearless already.

For eight months, Aspen has been the only girl in CCM's acting track, and came in only to meet the daunting job of the Master Tech Script for North America's largest youth conference and its eight-month, 30-city tour.

Kristina still serves in our promo department even after moving over to production, where she's blazing her own trail as our first real music composer. (Not to mention that, with Sam Davis helping come up with content for NEXT YEAR's ATF tour, Kristina's had to shoulder casting responsibilities.)

So who better to be the team that comes face to face with ALL the talent, charged with helping the likes of Joel Houston and Bishop Hezekiah Walker relax and be comfortable to take the stage?

Also, they're both known for their wonderfully quirky sense of style, so who better to help them look good for the stage and for the TV cameras?

Best of all, who better to help us all focus on the spiritual development you find even in the most hectic workday, seeing everything you do as worship?

Interview with a Driver

Wes Trost is many things.
He's an editor.
He's our dolly-cam operator.
He's the broadcast director's son.

But gifted with navigation he isn't.

Everybody is staying relatively close by (CCMers are staying on a bus in the parking lot, in fact, though some of the film crew is in a hotel down the road), but Wes managed to end up at Newark Airport -- twenty minutes away -- and it took him two hours to get back.

And yet... the enthusiasm never dies. And why should it? After this, Wes has done live camera for 60 hours over four events with ATF/BattleCry alone.

Interview with a Live Cam Op

Here, briefly, is Logan May's take on the weekend -- succinctly defining the way people talk over headsets while trying to get the live broadcast on air.

Also, when he talks about his many responsibilities, I feel like I'm filming an Old Spice commercial. He just has that air about him.

Interview with an ENG Team

Cody Greeley graduated from CCM having always done GFX work. Joe Ferrara is our current GFX superstar. But this week, they're working on an ENG (Electronic News Gathering, or testimony-interview gathering) crew... many times, without another producer.

Joelle also jumped into the interview, but it's possible she saw the sun breaking through the rainclouds in the window behind Cody and just wanted to look like she had a halo.

Interview with a Runner

Sam Davis--actor, extraordinary casting director, and writer for NEXT YEAR's tour--thought he was in for a job he knew exactly how to do -- after all, he was "tape runner" for last year's BattleCry.

Then he got an entire CREW.

Get a look inside what goes on behind the scenes for making logistics work!

The Video Recap is finally here!

I told you all that I would get a video of the doors opening and the opener of the event.. and here it is FINALLY..!! It took a long time, but it's here now!

It's time to get the recap party going!

So last night is definitely one to remember. When Unhindered began worship, you could tell this event was going to be amazing! The drama was probably one of the best that they've done since the beginning of the tour, and when Ron Luce came out to do the altar call, almost every person was out of their seats! When Hillsong United came out and just blew the roof off the building, I'm sure that lives were changed and affected.

I seem to talk about lives being changed a lot. It's because this event is so different from any other one. Not only was there over 16,000 people here last night, but also, this event is on live TV and millions of other lives are being changed as they watch this event. So of course I'm going to see just what the impact of what everyone's hard work is doing. I'm going to see the hours spent on editing a video, making a graphic, producing, directing, writing and shooting a piece and see how a 2 minute video that CCM has made can change the lives of thousands. It sometimes can amaze me that a video that we have made can do that. It can change someone’s life!

I guess that’s all I really want to say for now. So why don’t you sit back and relax and enjoy a few pictures.

Stage getting ready for the start of the event

Crowd waiting in anticipation for BattleCry to start

A DJ getting his groove on!

Bree Lester shooting some crowd reactions

The countdown to the event starting is about to start

Can't get anywhere behind stage without this

Bree preparing for her camera operating debut

Joe Ferrara, Heather Long, and Cody Greeley getting ready for interviews

Semper Gumby

So, with this event, as with so many other things in life, plans are subject to lots of little changes. Sometimes they're funny, and sometimes they're a little more difficult to cope with. When working in a fast-paced, project-driven and, ultimately, unstable industry like media, the key is to roll with the punches and fix whatever needs fixing.

Sometimes it's a relatively easy fix… like the discovery that our CCM Promo table had been moved just a little bit down the hall during ATF concourse setup, meaning two signs were now pointing out the ridiculously roundabout way to get there.



Peel, walk to where they make sense, stick again. Hooray!

Other times, however, the fix means a big restructuring in what people are doing for the weekend. Once we got here, we realized that, with people sitting behind the stage, the speakers would sometimes turn around and address them directly, so we were going to need a TV camera back there.

And so a giant complication became an amazing opportunity.

Say hello to Amber Boehler (say it with me... "BAYh-ler"), aka the unprecedented LIVE CAMERA #7.



Day 2 will soon be underway! Doors open any minute now.

So Let Hope Rise, Darkness Tremble

With every job come massive perks.

When you work for CCM, this sometimes means "You're called to take pictures or guard the jib as the crowd presses the stage and the event runs late into the night -- but that means you're up at the very front when Hillsong United leads worship."

I know. It sounds rough, right?

Work never felt so much like fun -- or so much like worship.


Singer Joel Houston, about to launch into another song


Hillsong United plays "Mighty to Save"


CCMers, with about 16,000 attendees from the New York area, stand with arms high and heart abandoned.

Interview with a Producer

Keshia Weaver is a CCM producer and Project Area Manager. Here in New York, she runs the interview room, which has kept her busy. However, they also fulfilled Joelle's dreams by interviewing two members of Hillsong United!



For the uninitiated, "Jigga" is staff director of photography Jared Haskell, who, if he stood up straight, would tower over MOST people at a very lanky 6'5".

It's taking some time..

Here we are an hour or so into the event and all you guys have is a simple blog entry of what the event opener was like.. But I want to give you so much more..! Well the video of the pre-doors opening and the event is on its way, sadly the wifi here is quite slow and it's taking FOREVER..!! I'll make sure to post it as soon as it's up..!

Anna

Quick Note from the EVENT

And, people of the world, the event is ON!! An hour ago, a drumline and mass choir took the stage, and since then, Ron Luce welcomed the crowd to this year's Encounter. As we speak, the first worship session of the night is in full swing, led by Unhindered!

TV production is in full swing, too; the dolly is rolling, the jib is swinging over the crowd, and the live-shots look AMAZING.

And, by the way, the GFX of the event opener were pretty amazing. Well done, crew.

Interview with an Alumna

Emily Kelly is in a unique position for this New York BattleCry. She's in New York for three reasons:

1) She came up for vacation.
2) Along with Alex Clark, Adam Overfelt, Cody Greeley and Ron Ordonez, she, as a former CCMer, is coming along for our NY Professional Encounter.
3) As a current School of Worship intern, she's around here not to work with CCM but to man the SOW booth.

So she's currently pulling something like double-duty for Teen Mania. On top of all that, she was part of a team of seven CCMers who contributed to writing content for "The Encounter" tour, so she's now seeing things she helped create come to life in a spectacular new venue, through a live broadcast manned by a young and fresh CCM staff, all from the vantage point of someone now on the outside.



Oh, yeah, and, by the way, attendance numbers have now passed 16,000, making this Teen Mania's largest event in four years.

That's pretty awesome.

We're Kind of a Big Deal

One more quick note, just to give you guys a sense of the scale of this event...



This screen is set up behind everything. It gives people a view of what's going on onstage, even when you have to sit directly behind the stage itself.

This is the venue...


With chairs filling the floor like so...


And we have people sitting behind the stage.

This. Event. Is. Going. To. Be. Huge.

Interview with a DP

Joelle also shared a little bit about her job… though, as she said, contents of this video are always "subject to change."



Less than four hours to go! Even as I type, Hillsong United is soundchecking all of 100 feet away.

Video Time...

I don’t know about all of you guys, but I love it when I can watch videos on a blog.. Tyler has posted a couple interviews from our fellow CCMers and so I thought I’d join in and show you some more of CCM..

With only hours until the event starting we are all awaiting in anticipation to see what God has in store for this weekend..! I can’t wait to see the faces of all the teens when they see the drama, the videos, and everything that so many people have put their time into..!

And now.. For your entertainment here is a little interview with my friends Bree Lester and Cody Greeley..

Interview with a January

Here with a personal account of what this weekend should look like is one of our newest CCMers, Phillip-Michael Fletcher...

Today is the Day...

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, today is the day the event goes live, and CCM -- as well as the ATF support crew, ministry team and School of Worship, have spent the last day getting everything set up!

To give you just a little sense of how much is going on, we made sure to get a few pictures.


Cody and CCM graduate (turned School-of-Worship intern) Emily lend a hand to ATF setup, sorting and tagging merch.


Linzie takes care of sorting out some merch for ATF.


Texting station setup: Getting ready for shoutouts from around the world.


Event setup: Thursday afternoon...


Dolly setup: Checking the motion along the track.


Jib Setup: Attaching the camera to the crane.


Jared surveys the crow's nest setup, where GodTV's Emma Owen will host the introduction to the event.


Logan starts the long trek to the crow's nest, this time with a tripod.


Logan was busy setting up a tripod taller than he is. Jared... supervised.


CCM graduate Ron Ordonez gets back into the habit of over-under cable-wrapping.


Our fearless leader talks shop.


Keshia takes a moment to get logistics taken care of
(Also, I love the whiteness of this hallway.)


Getting the interview room set up...


First pass at a click track for opener rehearsal


CCM Graduate Adam Overfelt, who returned for the NY Professional Encounter, helps out ATF by going a little Crazygonuts with a price tag gun.


Ministry Teamer Curran Rappe, who plays Zack Brahinsky in the drama, watches setup


The IZOD Center's "Winner's Club," now a base of operation for CCM runners.


The jib, towering over the fully set-up venue.


Bright lights on the School of Worship soundcheck, featuring bassist Lucas Milbrandt, a former roommate of several CCMers


Working on the click track for the NOW-COMPLETED OPENER!


Margo and Michael, aka "Texty McGee" and "Texting Magoo," apparently


Cody gets B-Roll of setup during the School of Worship soundcheck