8sian Media TV Anchor Workshop

By Bianca Chiu

On October 4, 2015, the LaJaJa Kids Jr. Journalists visited the 8sian Media studio in Arcadia, CA. Mr. Adam Shiu, the vice president, explained to us about the company and the way it operates.

            What is 8sian Media and what does it do? When you go to some restaurants, do you realize that there are TVs? 8sian Media is the company that installs those TVs into the restaurants such as Kirin Buffet, New Fusion, and Garden Cafe, and then they make the shows that are played on them. The company has installed those TVs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. They are currently working on Chicago and Houston. The TVs broadcast a lot of famous Asian TV shows which are managed by 8sian Media on the Internet. The company also has more than 2,000,000 monthly impressions on Internet. 8sian Media is working on a project to install HotSpots into the restaurants.

            The restaurant does not pay 8sian Media to install the TV, so where does their income come from? All of the money the company gets is from playing advertisements on the TVs. After they get the money they share some of it with the restaurants. Mr. Shiu also showed us a spa advertisement while he told us about how they got the money.

            After we talked a little bit more about the company, we went into the studio and did some on-camera activities. Before we went to 8sian Media, we had to study some hosting scripts. The scripts we studied were actually a few sentences that introduced the “hook” to us. The “hook” is basically telling you that when you are a host of a show or when you are interviewing someone, your first words are very important. It decides if any audience would want to pay attention to what you are saying. The hosting scripts we had were guidelines to making a good impression.

            In the studio, we had our hosting scripts all memorized, and so we stood in front of a green screen and some other jr. journalists would film you as you recited your script. Before or after you were done, you would get a chance to play with the cameras and be the floor manager. If you were one of the three camera people, you would be filming other people saying their scripts. If you were the floor manager, you have to count down from three and signal the journalists to tell them when to start talking.

            After we were all done filming, we went to the other part of the studio and took turns editing our videos. Since we had to do more than one take when filming, we chose which take we liked more and then changed the green screen into a lovely background. We typed our names down next to us and chose a color for the letters.

            I can’t wait for the film to go on TV!

Rise of the Jack O Lanterns

By Bianca Chiu

On October 18, 2015, three Lajaja Kids Junior Journalists went to Santa Anita Park to see Rise of the Jack O’ Lanterns. What is that? It is 5,000 themed jack o’ lanterns aligned in a ⅓ mile trail. Families and friends come and go by at night to enjoy the unique lit-up jack o’lanterns hand-carved and painted by professional pumpkin artists. The Rise of the Jack O’ Lanterns started in New York in 2012, but the workers there decided it would be nice to let other people in the world enjoy the beauty of the jack o’ lanterns, so nowadays the show is in Los Angeles, San Diego, and New York, where it originally started.

One very nice thing about Rise of the Jack O’ Lanterns is that the pumpkins are themed to fit what everyone likes. The themes include dinosaurs, cars, Spiderman, safari animals, Sesame Street, Minecraft, celebrities, Minions, emoji, Inside Out, Love Section, and even an In Memory… theme, where people who died this year were carved on a pumpkin.

Why don’t the pumpkins rot on the field? The answer is, they do. Every week, thousands of special Howden pumpkins are shipped to Rise of the Jack O’ Lanterns, where the moldy jack o’lanterns are recycled. Then, the carvers have to come back and carve every single one of the jack o’lanterns again. It’s hard to imagine they do that every single week.

Before going into the field, the journalists interviewed one of the professional pumpkin carvers, Greg.

All About Greg

Why did he start carving pumpkins?

Greg loved painting, sculpting, and doing art, and one day, his friend suggested that he try carving pumpkins. Greg made a jack o’lantern, and that is how he started making those.

What was the hardest thing he ever carved out of a pumpkin?

Greg says that the hardest thing he ever carved was the famous politician Donald Trump.

What was the scariest jack o’lantern he ever made?

Greg claims that the scariest jack o’lantern he ever made was of his mother-in-law.

How does Greg carve his pumpkins?

First, he scrapes the skin off with a peeler. Then, layer by layer, you need to scrape more details as the tools you use get smaller.

How long does his jack o’ lanterns last before they rot?

Greg’s pumpkins usually last a week, unless he sprays it with kitchen bleach.

Where does he get his ideas for jack o’ lanterns?

When Greg carves, he just does what the pumpkin tells him to do. For example, if he feels like it wants to be a witch, he makes it a witch. If it wanted to be a Cyclops, Greg would make it a Cyclops.
That was how Rise of the Jack O’ Lanterns was like. Happy Halloween!

8sian Media TV Anchor Workshop

On October 4, 2015, the LaJaJa Kids Jr. Journalists visited the 8sian Media studio in Arcadia, CA. Mr. Adam Shiu, the vice president, explained to us about the company and the way it operates.

What is 8sian Media and what does it do? When you go to some restaurants, do you realize that there are TVs? 8sian Media is the company that installs those TVs into the restaurants such as Kirin Buffet, New Fusion, and Garden Cafe, and then they make the shows that are played on them. The company has installed those TVs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. They are currently working on Chicago and Houston. The TVs broadcast a lot of famous Asian TV shows which are managed by 8sian Media on the Internet. The company also has more than 2,000,000 monthly impressions on Internet. 8sian Media is working on a project to install HotSpots into the restaurants.

The restaurant does not pay 8sian Media to install the TV, so where does their income come from? All of the money the company gets is from playing advertisements on the TVs. After they get the money they share some of it with the restaurants. Mr. Shiu also showed us a spa advertisement while he told us about how they got the money.

After we talked a little bit more about the company, we went into the studio and did some on-camera activities. Before we went to 8sian Media, we had to study some hosting scripts. The scripts we studied were actually a few sentences that introduced the “hook” to us. The “hook” is basically telling you that when you are a host of a show or when you are interviewing someone, your first words are very important. It decides if any audience would want to pay attention to what you are saying. The hosting scripts we had were guidelines to making a good impression.

In the studio, we had our hosting scripts all memorized, and so we stood in front of a green screen and some other jr. journalists would film you as you recited your script. Before or after you were done, you would get a chance to play with the cameras and be the floor manager. If you were one of the three camera people, you would be filming other people saying their scripts. If you were the floor manager, you have to count down from three and signal the journalists to tell them when to start talking.

After we were all done filming, we went to the other part of the studio and took turns editing our videos. Since we had to do more than one take when filming, we chose which take we liked more and then changed the green screen into a lovely background. We typed our names down next to us and chose a color for the letters.

I can’t wait for the film to go on TV!