An interview with Tess Novotny!

Chris Tibbitts

Tess Novotny Interview

                The interview with Tess Novotny went very well. I was pleased with her bubbly personality, as well as her attention to detail in her answers.

                The first question I had for her was this: “How did you get started in this career?”. She answered by talking about her beginnings, going to the university and then getting an offer to work for Oregon Public Broadcasting.

In this screen capture, Tess is discussing how she got started in her career.

                The second question I had for her consisted of two parts. The first was, “What is the equipment you use?”. She answered by discussing her audio recording hardware, as well as the fact she uses Adobe Audition. She and I discussed the pitfalls of using sub-optimal hardware to edit video. She really elaborated on the need for capable hardware when editing.

Here, Tess points out some of the major features of her audio recording device.

                The second part of the second question was to tell me a funny story from her career. She proceeded to tell the story where she covered a murderer who had killed a neighbor in a certain neighborhood. She reached out to him after she was done covering the story…and he said to her “what is a beautiful woman like you doing without a ring on her finger? I can provide such a ring”. She proceeded to politely decline (and leave the area very quickly).

                The third and final question was one piece of advice she would give to anyone looking to get into her profession. She responded that the first thing she would tell anyone is TO GET INVOLVED IN COMMUNICATION SKILLS. She stressed this a lot, continually repeating it in the course of answering this question. She said that one of the biggest tools in this field is constant communication.

                What did I enjoy most about talking to Miss Novotny? I’d say her personality is a big plus, as well as her astonishing wealth of knowledge on this subject. It really impressed me the amount to which she was able to elaborate upon her experiences…particularly about her beginnings. She was really willing to discuss how she came to get the job she has now…and it was simply a lot like my current path now (albeit with a few differences in terms of my career in the military!). She also went to a four-year college in Oregon, stuck her neck out a bit with internships, and got the job with Oregon Public Broadcasting.

                Also interesting was her elaboration on the equipment she uses. She learned about Adobe only a few years ago, sort of like myself (except I learned it from a certain Mr. Zachary Putnam: great guy if you’ve ever met him). She usually works with Adobe Audition rather than wrestle with the Audio portion of Adobe Premiere. She works with external microphones a lot, because (as you frequently harp upon) camera microphones are often not as good as external microphones.

                In conclusion, this chat with Miss Novotny was a really cool experience. She was willing to answer my questions thoroughly, and laugh and joke throughout. It was an honor to get to talk to such a personable professional.