It’s been a long, long time since I’ve last visited an amusement park.

The last visit was in 2006, the year I graduated from high school. Every year, the seniors get to go on a field trip to Kings Dominion; it’s sort of a nice farewell treat for enduring the four brutal years in high school (Everybody agrees with me, right? High school kinda sucks!).

Well. That year, as long-time readers may know, is the year I got hospitalized and officially diagnosed for anorexia nervosa. Even though my counselor didn’t really seem to want me to go for fear that I might faint or something during the trip, I went. And although I couldn’t eat the hot dogs and crinkled fries like my friends or ride the scary roller-coasters, I had a blast just walking around and cheering for my friends. I had just gotten my acceptance letter to Northwestern, so I was in good cheer and high hopes that things would get better from then on.

Eh. It didn’t. The next three years were agonizing. But that’s another story. And that story had brought me a long way to here.

I’d forgotten all about my trip to Kings Dominion until I sat down four minutes ago to write this post. I forgot how much I used to love visiting amusement park as a kid. I’m a wimp so I stuck to merry-go-rounds, ferry wheels and Little Teapot rides, but god I loved the laughter and screams of people whooshing down roller-coasters, the pastel dots of cotton candy, the warm, sugary aroma of donuts and funnel cakes (sometimes mingled with the faint smell of puke) and the never-ending swirl of colors.

Unfortunately, my amusement park experience is sorely lacking. I’ve been to California’s Universal Studio and Disneyland when I was 12. I’ve been to South Korea’s Lotte World a long, long time ago. I’ve been to Singapore’s now defunct  Fantasy Island at Sentosa in what feels like decades ago.

I’ve forgotten what amusement parks sound and look like. So when I learned that Monday’s assignment would be an all-day of filming at whatever location, for whatever topic I want, I chose Coney Island.

Coney Island, of course, is America’s most famous and iconic entertainment district in New York. It’s a place of wonderful and crazy history, a main attraction site for families, couples and freaks alike. Unlike the majority of today’s amusement parks, Coney Island was a motley of family-owned games and rides, which meant it was a pay-for-ride theme park. Which also meant that admission was free!

Monday’s project was for our film instructor Clayton Sizemore (the manager of operations at CNN, ooh-er!), and he wanted us to spend a whole day filming and then come back with enough material to create a 3-minute broadcast news video. If I’m going to toil under the 90-degree sun for 6 hours, might as well have fun doing it!

Funny thing how you remember stuff years later that prove to be extremely useful.

About a few years ago, I remember reading on some news publication that Coney Island was deteriorating. And then less than a week ago, I read on the New York Times that Coney Island had just released two brand new thrill rides as part of a multi-million dollar revitalization plan by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Boom. There’s my news angle! Woo hoo!

Mr. Sizemore was worried that going all the way to Coney Island (about a 50-minute subway ride) would be unsafe, but I already had my buddy and roommate, Catherine, hooked in as my film buddy.

We would be shooting separate packages, of course, but heck yes, we’re going to Coney Island! I purposely dressed in red, blue and (kinda) white in celebration of Memorial Day.

I was the only one to dress in patriotic colors, even though I’m one of the two only non-American citizen in our class. What’s up with that? Okay, I’ll admit, I dressed up only because I just bought those funky red jeans from UNIQLO (on sale for just $13!!).

Anyway. Here’s a slideshow of pictures I took at Coney Island.

 

 

Dude, it was HOT. I was sweating by the buckets! So I wasn’t in the best of mood when it was time for me to do my stand-up. Which is why I might have slipped a cuss word or two, and made a whole bunch of hideous faces.

 

 

Catherine insisted I post this on my blog in full. She thinks it’s hilarious. I think that guy who tried to hijack the screen is even more hilarious.

Unfortunately, my computer ran out of space so I had to delete a whole bunch of stuff. And then iMovie got stubborn and it took me more than 2 hours (I think it was like 2 hours and 48 minutes) to just upload my shots into the video editing software. By the time we were supposed to show off our package, I still had 23 minutes left before I even got any footage copied to iMovie.

Freak. Me.

I felt bad, but I had to be plugged into my computer trying to squeeze in a hasty edited package with voiceover while my classmates presented their videos. But I made it. Phew.

Here’s the finished package:

 

 

That’s not the original. The original package consists of a voiceover that is breathy and flustered, with an accent so thick even I couldn’t understand what the heck I said. I also made some inappropriate jokes about “freaks” that Mr. Sizemore recommended I leave out. So that video above consists of a new voiceover, though the visuals are the same.

By the time the whole class presented our videos, it was almost 11 p.m. It was a long, hectic, overwhelming and freaking fantastic day.

Just another day in the journalism world. And I love it!

Related posts:

1. Whoa, this is intense.
2. That’s the press, baby
3. Video: We are Young and Gluttonous
4. I suck at Haikus so here goes

Tagged as: Brooklyn, Coney Island, journalism, New York City, video, World Journalism Institute