CAPTURING MAGIC

Houston McCullough is the Lead Videographer for the Orlando Magic NBA team, but did you know that she never would have even touched a video camera if it wasn’t for her time in EAST? Check out what she remembers from her time producing and directing her program’s television show at Camden High School and learn how much of what she learned in EAST has helped her get to where she is today.

Q:

How did you start in EAST?

Being the middle child between two brothers, I typically just followed what my older brother did, and he was in EAST, so I thought it would be a fun elective. My facilitator’s name was Cathy Castille, and the class for us was mainly producing a broadcast news show for our school called “Card Copy,” since our mascot was the Cardinals. I kind of just self-appointed myself to the role of director, editor, and producer — I just took charge of it.”

Q:

What was your experience in EAST like?

At the beginning of the week, we would plan out what segments we wanted to do. The nice thing was that Mrs. Castille was hands-off and let us do everything on our own. We wrote our own scripts for segments. We would go film and edit, and then she would watch the product and say something like, ‘Yeah, that’s not awful.’ And then it would air during homeroom so that the whole school would watch it.

Q:

Was there anything else like EAST when you were in school?

It was the only opportunity I had. In terms of video and what I do in my career today, it all started in EAST. I had never picked up a video camera and I definitely didn’t know any editing software. We used FinalCut and used Panasonic cameras and tripods and used a teleprompter, so all of my video experience originates from EAST. If it wasn’t for EAST, I would have never touched a video camera.

Q:

What life skills did you take away from EAST?

I think EAST gave me a lot of the tools to build my personality into what it is today. It created a lot of the qualities that people say they like so much: that I’m a go-getter, and that they can send me on a shoot with a couple of players without help because I’m the person who can do it all by myself. That’s what EAST was like. We had our facilitator to make sure things didn’t catch on fire and that no one got hurt, but really, we just had to figure it out on our own. We weren’t afraid to ask questions, but we had the confidence to figure it out on our own.

Q:

What was your education following high school?

I ended up studying Film, Television and Digital Media at Texas Christian University. During my sophomore year, one of my sorority sisters sent me a job posting from the football program saying that they needed a video intern. So that’s how I got started in the sports media world and the more I got into it, the more I saw how much of a career it could turn into. After I graduated, I became a graduate assistant at Southern Miss for a year. When my athletic director left to go work at East Carolina University, he hired me for a fulltime job at ECU.

Q:

What’s it like working for the Orlando Magic?

Any video shoot, travel, or game, I am the priority videographer. I travel with the team for every road game and when I first started, I would also help create digital content for the Magic’s minor league hockey team and esports team. Within my first year, I received a promotion and became the Lead Videographer and shifted my focus to just working for the basketball team.

Q:

Do you still think about your time in EAST today?

I actually recently found some DVDs of our high school TV show and realized my friends on the show have become television anchors and weathermen on The Weather Channel. It’s crazy how far we came from EAST and how much we’ve spread out across the country. When I found the DVDs I became nostalgic, but didn’t want to watch them because I knew they were awful compared to where I am now. [laughs]