Vid #1: Let's Look At Some Vidoes!

Okay, so here's the video recap, in order in which video was turned in. I ask that you please look at EACH video and read my comments for EACH video (not just your own!), so we can learn like we've learned from each other throughout this semester.

Overall, I thought we did very, very well on this assignment, especially considering it was a first-time video in this class. Lots of good B-roll, good story flows, ect. Certainly some things that can be tweaked, but that's to be expected. Really, this was the best one of my classes has ever done on this assignment; congrats to all!

Let's look for what worked and what didn't and what we could borrow for the next time and what we need to avoid doing again.

BTW, unless you received an email from me noting a specific grade, your grade for this exercise was a 4.0, with it equaling a practice story in final grade weight. (Future assignments will be evaluated and graded much more specifically based on execution and will be of higher grade weight, though).

Here we go:

Chelsea S.: Let's always be aware of audio and sound conditions. The microphones are a bit distant and the interview space has a bit of an echo, which can be problematic. The best places to do interviews are small rooms with no background noise and low ceilings. And getting a mic as close as possible to a speaker's mouth is always preferred.

Anna S.: For this exercise we're working with very basic equipment and editing programs, so we're gonna have a bit of lack of polish at times that's not our fault. With this vid, instead of the quality of video concentrate on structure, use of sound bytes and b-roll, captioning, etc.

Meg D.: If we're shooting for a horizontal screen (like that of a TV, laptop, tablet or smart phone) then we need to shoot video with our phone in a horizontal position, or else we end up with the black side bars like here.

Asha D.: Let's remember this is still a news story and must adhere to news standards, like no unattributed opinion. So the "Enroll now!" caption shouldn't be in there, like we wouldn't want it in a print news story. Same values, regardless of medium, apply.

Kelsey F.: Nice creativity unique to video in the lede. In captioning, we only need the initial caption, since viewers of video have a cue to use to identify the person after first attribution: their face. So that will suffice in place of subsequent attribution.

Jason R.: The b-roll is a bit random; we should try to pair b-roll that illustrates what is being talked bout (for example, if someone is talking about how they learned to write better, have b-roll showing them typing on a keyboard).

Emma-Jean B.: Very nice use of the Rule of Thirds in the interview shots, and a nice, broad variety of B-roll.

Emily N.:  With the title slide, let's emphasize the title over the author credit. The news is what the video is about, not who created it. Emphasize the news.

Mary A.: Let's be sure to be following standard attribution rules, which means first and last names on first references. Here, we have a first name only for me. Video viewers need to know who your sources are as much as print readers. The nice thing with video is we don't need a second attribution at all, since the audience has another cue at that point: the source's face.

Also, we have to adhere to fact-checking standards like we do in print. Here, we have a misspelled name: it's Easterling, not Easter. Even with a change in mediums, we still need to check every noun (person, place or thing), every title, every statistical unit, etc. for accuracy, before and after we shoot and edit.

Plus, I'm pretty sure you broke federal law by using a professional band's song. Congrats; I'll see you in prison. We cannot use the music, words or pictures of others unless we (a.) ahve their written permission to do so (and no, it's not enough to simply credit it), or (B) we find and use royalty-free music, words or pictures that we can search for online using that specific search term: royalty-free.

Something I liked about this vid was that it showed far more than it told. And that's good; video is a visual medium; we want to emphasize what video does best, which is showing things. This vid did just that.

Alana E.:  Again, using a professional song will send us to prison. We're missing captions identifying the speaker (which acts like attribution does in print), we don't have enough B-roll in the first interview segment (which is the equivalent of running just a string of quotes in print, without any contextual breaks), we have staged B-roll (which is okay for commercials and such, but not for journalism in the same way staged is okay for fiction or creative writing, but not for journalism) and that B-roll isn't relevant to what is being spoken about (akin to a quote or fact that has little relevance in print).

Travis D.: On a technical level, nice "dissolves" between B-roll segments and interview clips. Again, it's a visual medium; make the visual interesting. Plus, we're not going to prison for this one (please note closing credits).