With the further enhancements and development of WHCA’s Production Crew Experience (PCE) Program, we have a first hand experience from one of our Summer 2025 PCE Members, Allison Whitman. Below is her testimony on one of her first hands-on experiences shooting a live event and covering what she learned, how she tackled challenges, and the creative choices that brought her vision to life.

“On Sunday, June 29th, I attended a unique road race in Whitman called a “0.0K”, meaning that you finish the race where you start. Interesting, huh? But the event was in good spirit as it was raiding money for local charities and spreading awareness for the fire fighting union. While it was quieter and less people there than I expected, I was still able to capture a good amount of footage that could make a 10 to 15 minute video.

I arrived at the Whitman VFW where the event was being held around 11:30 AM and registration began. There were a good amount of people excluding the event organizers and volunteers. When filming began, I noticed the footage looked a little blue, like it was a cloudy evening. It turns out that the white balance had to be adjusted and I would have to later do some color grading in post-production. One of the mistakes I made previously in my first live event is some of the footage was in focus while other things were out of focus. I made sure that everything was focused, even when zooming in.

I also learned from my previous event coverage to have motivated shots with more tilting and panning. This makes the shots feel more alive and the viewers can feels like they’re moving along with the video and not always at a standstill.

Nothing was was handheld and everything was shot on a tripod, which at times required some height adjustment and movement to different spots around the parking lot. Carrying the camera on a tripod wasn’t too bad, but there were a couple of times where I had to break down the equipment entirely to make it easier to carry around.

Overall, covering the 0.0K race was much easier and smaller than I had anticipated. Hopefully, the Whitman Fire Department will host the event again next year as it was a unique experience, had good intentions, and brought a silly idea to life.”

You can watch the 0.0K Race Episode of Around Town here! For more information on our Production Crew Experience Program, visit us at whca.tv/production-crew/.