Monday, June 1, 2009

Behind the Scenes, In Front of the Scene


Foreground: Clean Skies News Photojournalist Ian McCallister performing one of the tasks not expressly listed within his job description, making me look sharper than I am.
Background (not pictured): Flamanville-3, the EPW nuclear reactor Areva is currently building for Electricite de France.

The low wall you see behind Ian and me is a retainer that separates a winding, two-lane road from the short beach of Flamanville, France. We're facing north, with the EDF Flamanville nuclear generation site behind us. That's also where Areva is building a third reactor for the plant, but because of EDF press restrictions while the reactor is under construction, this is as close we we could get to shoot video. And by "close", I mean more than 1/4-mile from the site.

We're about to tape a "stand-up" segment for our future story on reactor design and the potential for a nuclear build-out here in the U.S. Because of EDF's restrictions, and our own travel schedule, Ian and I had roughly five minutes to set-up our camera, get this microphone on my collar, and start knocking out intelligible stand-ups. Pressure? Nah, not after some of the things we've both experienced cutting our teeth in local news.

The result: two good takes worthy of airtime, one take interrupted by a passing bus, and a timely arrival at the nearby train station to catch our ride back to Paris. Oh, and the anticipated rush of adrenaline that comes from meeting a rock-hard deadline.

My celebratory meal? A protein bar and a quart of 2% milk. Couldn't find any skim at the local market.

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