Semester Final

Throughout this semester in Convergence Journalism I have learned a lot about what goes into making a solid news package. From story telling to sequencing, my packages have come along way in just a few months. With a total of 10 packages this semester, there was something to be learned from each one.

Story telling was one of the biggest things that I improved on this semester. No matter how boring a news topic is, you can make it interesting and something worth watching if you tell it in the right way. Starting with my first package about the new lunches I didn't want to just have the lunch ladies tell the audience about whats new and what is gone but rather tell the effects of it and get the students reactions. Taking an angle on a story is vital because otherwise you are going to just summarize something and it will put your audience to sleep. And with each and every story that I made I realized that it is important to stick to the angle and it is too easy to summarize something.

Sequencing separates the good packages from the great packages and is another huge component to keeping a package alive and moving forward. An Audience doesn't want to see a bunch of wide shots through a news story. They want it all. It may seem obvious but it is important to remember that the audience isn't there, so they are only going to see what you show them. The 6-shot system keeps the viewers hooked because it can really capture the moment and gives the viewers a good understanding of what is happening. The 6-shot system was pretty easy for me to catch on too and understand but sometimes while editing after filming ill think to myself, why didn't I sequence this or that. Which comes down to basic planning. I believe my best sequences are in the lunch package and the electrathon package.

Planning is essential to ensure a package is done on time and done how you want it. At first when I had a really good idea of what I wanted a finished project to look it would turn out to be something totally different. Once you have an idea stick to it and make it happen, don't settle for anything less than it. I learned to introduce my self and give the subject an idea of what was going to happen instead of me just showing up with a camera and start filming everything. If you establish a good relationship with your subjects before filming they will like you more and be more willing to help you do your job. If your planning is done correctly you can have story done easily within 2-4 days. My best example of this is the A&E to the moon and back package, it took me two days to film the whole thing by myself. Having done a previous package with the same teacher helped but still, I consider two days impressive.

With a lot already learned, there is still much to be discovered. I still haven't learned how to use the Tricaster and haven't even anchored. And I would also like to get to know my camera a little more. I know there is so much that I still don't know about it.

I have floor directed, monitored the teleprompter, and worked audio a dozen times but still have yet to use the Tricaster. I feel like that thing belongs at NASA and could launch a rocket into outer space if so desired. But really, I would like to at least know the basics and have a decent understanding of how it works.

I would also like to play around with my camera a little more and get to know it more and see what all else it can do. I still have issues with focusing and just recently learned how to set it up to ensure there is audio for each interview. Mastering the camera will allow me to film with confidence on every package.

Feature Proposal: Birth of the Ravens

My documentary is about the history of Olathe Northwest. Ultimately, I want the audience to feel grateful and to understand that ONW's history is something to be proud of. The characters of the story would be Dr. Poss and teachers who have been here since the beginning.

Dr. Poss would know anything about the beginning of Northwest. She Would be able to explain the birth of the ravens like nobody else and how we became a school. As the original principle of the school she would probably be the main character of the story and narrate the majority of it.

Other characters would include the teachers who were here on Northwest's first ever school day. They would explain what it was like the first few years at Northwest and describe how things have changed over the years.

The story would begin before Northwest was even built, with Dr. Poss explaining how ONW came to be. Then move towards the opening of the school and the first students and teachers to walk the halls of ONW.

Then it would go in the direction of how the school has changed and talk about school pride or how we were introduced to our 21st century programs. And slowly lead up to today and what Northwest is like today.

Once the history has been established, have the characters talk about present day Northwest and talk about the future of the school. Leave the audience having a sense of pride for the school and wishing the school the best in the future.

Prop Box

Prop Box is a way for Dr. Poss and the Friends of Rachel Club (FOR) to reckognize students that help one another and Olathe Northwest a better place to be. Each month students are encouraged to nominate a fellow raven who did something out of their way to help another student. At the end of each month we get a list with the names of the nominees and what they did to be nominated.

Prop Box can be filmed in many different ways and has been done many different ways in the past. And because their is so much freedom on how it can be done it becomes challenging deciding how you want to approach it, but I went with the single shot interview cropped in different ways throughout it. This was the first time I have done prop box and although I didn't know what to expect, it was a nice break from a normal package because I've completed 6 packages in the past 7 weeks. But it was a good learning experience and moving forward I know what I would do differently next time.

I started with picking the most exciting story between all of the nominees. I would have liked to of done multiple interviews but i didn't want to get ahead of myself. So it came down to Andrew Kern who made a card to Ciara Webb's family from the school. I setup a simple interview in the Library and asked him to walk me through from start to finish what he did and then took that interview and minimized it to the right length and every few seconds added a new crop to give it the effect of the camera hoping around. It kept the interview going instead of him just telling what happened. 

Next Time...

Moving forward, I know what worked and what didn't. If I were to do Prop Box again I would try to do multiple interviews or maybe only one but add some B-Roll in it and a voice over to make it an actual package. That would make it more interesting and keep the attention of the viewer because they could actually see what the person did to be nominated instead of the nominee just saying words and possibly losing the viewer.

Prop Box is important to Dr. Poss and the FOR Club and should be done in a manner that is interesting and encourages students to do good things for one another and the school. If Prop Box can be done in a way that does encourage students to do good things then the message is successful and the video worked. As we move forward to future Prop Box I hope we can achieve this message and keep Prop Box interesting to the entire school.

Progress in the Works

I believe that we have come a long way since last year. We really have turned Prop Box around and made it something worth watching but it isn't where it could be. My hopes are that by next year Prop Box will become something that people look forward to and can't wait for to see their classmates on ONW Now.

Non-stop Storytelling

In Bill Kanarick's article he discusses the ever changing way we enjoy entertainment. Kanarick argues that entertainment has evolved a lot over the past few decades, saying that we the consumers, ultimately chose how we view our storytelling and experiance our entertainment.  He has a strong argument that we have a lot of potential right now to change the future of story telling and the way everyone views media and entertainment. The Author doesn't have a clear conclusion but he rather ends his article abruptly. At the end I found myself looking for a next page to continue reading. He does support his main claims throughout the article but doesn't finish very strong. What wasn't made clear to me was what he meant by the "Golden Age". He references it a lot but he didn't make it very clear to the reader what exactly that means.

ONW Blood Drive Fall 2014

The Olathe Northwest Blood Drive attracts students to the flex theatre each semester. But this year numbers were down. My story began at registration with students entering the flex. At first I wanted to find students who had never done this before. Logan Green was it, he had never donated before  and he had a history of passing out when his blood was drawn. Once he began getting his blood drawn he started felling ill and had to lay down in order to get the blood to his head so he wouldn't pass out. But as that was happening nurses crowded around him and ordered me to back off and quit recording. So I did and had to start all over at registration.

I started scouting for interesting people who wanted to be on camera and who would talk me through the process. Audry Fisher was more then welcome to help me out. But once she was in the flex theatre she had her iron levels checked and she was a no go. I thought I was going to have to go back to the start again. But luckily her friend Maddie Schneider was with her the whole time so I just started up with her, which she already had the needle in her arm but I had to make it work. So from drawing blood to eating sweets I followed her through the process.

In the end, it all worked out with my story taking the angle of how difficult it can be when trying to donate. And with a few cheats in the package it all fell in place. They had too many restrictions on what you can and cannot film, like I'm there just to see people faint and blood being taken out of people.

ONW A&E To The Moon and Back

Olathe Northwests Aerospace and Engineering Freshman Took their skills to Kansas University to compete in the To The Moon and Back high school design competition. My story began with getting any useful info on the class from Mr. Edmondson. Unfortunately the competition already happened so I could not get any B-roll of the actual competition. But luckily the students were still working on their designs, which allowed me to still create a story.

After finding that the students were still working on their designs of their catapults, I started with B-roll. Some groups were testing and others modifying. I followed two groups in particular and stuck with them through the process. From drilling to launching we saw them assemble the catapults and then get to test them.

The hardest part of the package was the time frame I had to complete it in. From a thursday to the following wednesday. Not much got done on monday but I couldn't hold off the package because it wouldn't of been timely anymore and the show would have been one package. Their was some small errors on my part concerning the interviews with lighting and focus of the camera. Overall the package turned out alright and I look forward to doing more news over Aerospace and Engineering because their stories are always very visual and easy to film.

ONW Band Parade NYC

This package is my first that I have done completely on my own and it turned out to be pretty good. The story was very interesting and easy to shoot. The only struggle was getting a good sequence. And so far this class has brought me behind the cafeteria, up to the cat walk, and now in the band directors tower.

The package began with meeting with Mr. Davis and fitting myself into his schedule. The next day I was out at the practice field filming in 30 degrees 7 AM. The only downside was how much the band and dance team where moving around the field. It was keeping me from getting good close ups. But I was able to get to go up in the tower and get some extra wide shots. 

Mr. Davis requested that the story be more student orientated because he felt like he was on camera too much. Which was perfectly fine with me, it allowed the students to tell the story. I shot the whole story in 2 days, one day brill and the other for the interviews. I think the story was solid considering how fast i was able to put it together by my self. I learned to work independently and effeciently.

A Perfect Interview

An Interview is very important in a news package and it must be done in a professional way to create a great package. If you can follow these 5 simple tips you'll have a great interview.

1) Location and set
You want a location that is quit and still ideal for the story. You want to have a good audio recording so you need to isolate you and the interviewee from any loud and distracting noises. But at the same time you want the location to be relevant. For example, last year I did a story over the weights and P.E. classes and made a huge mistake by interviewing the person right by the weights room in the hall way. All you could hear in the interview was iron slamming more iron, over and over again. The audio was horrible. A better area for such an interview would have probablly have been in a secluded area of the gym where there wouldn't have been as much noise. That would have worked because it is quit and you still have a relevant location behind your interviewee.

2) Framing
The framing is very important because it is what the viewer will be seeing and it can be done the right way and the wrong way. You want to see the interviewees face. not the side of his face, not his waist, not his feet, his face. it is very simple. level your tripod to the level of the interviewees head and shoot from over your shoulder, making the interviewee look right past the camera. Don't get too close to his face, you don't want too make it too dramatic, but make sure you can see his shoulders up. if you are doing a double interview then yes, zoom out and be sure to have both of them fit the frame.

3) Lighting
Its an easy one but still, from time to time you'll make the mistake of interviewing next to or in front of a window. You want to have a fully lit area so that there won't be any major shadows being casted onto your interviewee.

4) Be Thorough
When you meet your interviewee be firm and prompt with them. Introduce yourself and tell them what you need from them to make a good interview. Things like looking at you, repeating the question, and elaborating the answers to your questions. You don't want them to go crazy eyes on you and have them looking any where but your face. You also want them to restate the question...on every question. Often I will tell them to restate the questions and they only restate the first question and they forget to restate the rest of them. if they don't restate the question that sound bite becomes less valuable because it is hard to understand what that person is talking about while in editing. You also need them to be elaborate on their answers but also not go into full detail. they need to make each word they say valuable in that it gets the point across without ranting on and on about it. Always be thorough with them and make sure they understand why you have them do little things like repeating a question in their answers.

5)  Editing
After the interview the tools of editing are your best friends. Rarely will you ever get a perfect sound bite from someone. You will have to play around with the interview, mashing up bites and pieces and making them look seamless. But no worries, your B-Roll will mask any obvious jumps in the interview.  while your getting interviews always keep editing in mind. It will help you think about what your final product will look like.

German Exchange Students

Olathe Northwest had the oppurtunity to have 9 students from Penzberg, Germany come to the school. So when Convergence Journalism heard about the students coming we knew we had to do a story on it. We Started with getting to know the students and know their schedule for the little time that they spent here. They were busy exploring the school, going to the Legends, Going to Lawrence, attending the football game, and even learning how to play baseball.

The Students were very shy and scared to be on camera at first but by the end of the week they were used to use filming them. We got shots of them in the classroom and playing baseball. Them playing baseball for the first time is great because it very timely with the Royals being in the World Series at the moment.

On this package Kami and Savannah did most of the talking with the teacher getting times setup and giving us the flexibility to get it done on time. Which was helpful for me to get the shots and intyerviews that needed to happen. Overall this package is solid considering we got it done in one week instead of two and it clocks in at 2 minutes and 28 seconds. We cut what we could but if it aint broke don't fix it.

6 Shot System

The 6 shot system is used to help develop a story and make your package much more interesting. It is a sequence of shots arranged in a order to show what a subject is doing. A little sequencing can go a long way in a story but it is important know how to do it correctly. Just follow a few rules and you can have a great package.

The Shots

Wide-
Wide shots help establish what is happening and who your character is. This is normally your first shot.

Close Up of Face-
A close up of the persons face is one of the most important. if you take the close up of face out of a sequence it won't make sense and will your sequence won't look sequenced.

Close Up of Hands-
The hands are another important shot because it shows how things are done and what has to happen in order for something to work, whatever it may be. But it can't be a shot of hands just doing anything, it has to progress your story. There are good shots of hands and then there are better shots of hands.













Medium-
The medium brings you back to your whole subject and what they are doing. It helps to have this shot to keep the progress going.

Over the Shoulder-
The OTS is a tricky one to get but it is very important because it puts you in the characters point of view.

Extra Wide-
This is a good shot to finish with because it lets you capture the whole moment all in one. The subject  and its surroundings.

Rules-
The most important thing to keep in mind while filming is to think about what your film will look like on screen and what audio will go with it. What your hearing must go with what your seeing. Otherwise your viewers will be confused. The 180 degrees rule is another important rule to follow that will pay off while editing. You must stay on one side of your subject and only sequence on that side. it easy to do but hard to remember.

Sequencing is very easy to do with the 6 shot system. It can make a simple story go a long way.

Web vs. TV

New York times web version was the better of the three because it had the best beginning, middle, and end. It had great shots and the beginning grabbed your attention by showing her tricks and then ease into the timeline of things. Starting with her first cleats and then her struggling with learning and then ending with her going to college and possibly playing professionally. The other web version was good but didn't have as mush potential as NY times did. The TV version was pitiful. It was one of the weirdest interviews with her dad in the garage with her dribbling in the back ground. It would of been much better if it was simply him on a couch. The web versions were more of a short documentary which let the stories be more in-depth. But  a news package needs to be short and to the point and that can be difficult with certain stories such as the life of teenager soccer free stylist. So it is up to the journalist to pick the most important angle of the story to air on TV.

http://nyti.ms/1t4PNDO - New York Times
http://espn.go.com/high-school/girls-soccer/video/clip?id=6610683 - ESPN
http://www.highschoolot.com/content/video/9536197/#/vid9536197 - TV version

A&E Electrathon

As far as filming this package it was very easy. The package is a combination of good things. A story is much easier to film when it is about something that is hands on and easy to catch your subject at work. Mr. Edmondson was very flexible about us filming and was excited to have a story about his class be on ONW NOW. The students encouraged us to stage a few shots so you got a better idea on how the car looks in action. 

In my opinion, a story that is more visual will always be better than a story that you can't visually see.  You could have the most exciting news but it is important to know how to execute it correctly, if it is something that hasn't happened yet, then it will be harder to get good footage. If you have a boring story but is happening and is alive then it is much easier to get the footage you need to tell the story. I think that that was the case with this story to be honest. How many kids at ONW do you actually think that are now amazed by this electric car? probably none. But that doesn't mean you can't have a good story about it. You can make anything into an interesting story, its all about the execution of doing it.

Another thing that makes a story good is having the right people that are willing to help you make your job easier. Whether it be just filming in the class or setting up an interview, the small things help. Mr. Edmondson was great about this and was a great interviewee. It is good to have characters that thrive to be in your video. They are the characters you want in your video. They are the characters you need. The ones that know what their talking about.

The students in the class where the ones asking us if they could stage something for us, usually its the other way around. The students asked us what to do and we told them to just ignore us and let us film them doing their everyday work, but the students insisted that they stage a few shots for us because it was a slow day. I didn't argue with them. They gave us tons of more interesting shots from assembling the car to getting in and driving it. 

The things that might of made it better is a few shot placements but still very minor. My voice over could of been a little more interesting and I think that seeing the story while you record your voice over would help you be more "into" the story. But other than that I think the video turned out well and gives a good reference to what future videos should be like.

Q&A with Luis Ruiz

Luis Ruiz

When did you start soccer?

I started playing organized soccer when I was 4 years old.

Who is your favorite soccer player?

Cristiano Ronaldo because he is the best player in the world.

Why do play soccer?

Soccer is the best sport in the world and is really fun.

What is your favorite memory in soccer?

The game was tied 0-0 with 20 minutes left and I dribbled the ball down and shot the ball into the lower left corner scoring. The final score was 1-0.

What do you like doing away from soccer?

I like to hang with friends and play Fifa.

What is your favorite class in school?

That’s got to be SID with Mr. Allam 6^th and 7^th hour.

Do you plan on playing in College?

I do, but it is going to be a lot of work.

What are your goals for this season?

I plan on starting again and being more of a leader on the field.

How do you feel about you and your team right now?

At first we started slow and tying games. Now we are able to put the ball at the back of the net more often and we have built up a lot of confidence.

Is there a Rivalry game you look forward to?

Yes, for club soccer some of my old friends are on Kansas Rush Soccer Club team and we always get into an intense game because we really don’t like each other anymore.

What are your strengths in soccer?

My ability to last a whole game is a strength I have and my ability on and off the ball are good to. I’m able to stay on the ball and push people off the ball.

Who did you want to win the World Cup?

I really wanted to see Spain win but Germany pulled through for the victory.

You Matter

This news package focused on an in depth look at what goes into making entertainments "You Matter" music video. We began with talking to entertainment and finding out who the lead roles were. After speaking with Pheonixx Cartwright we set up an interview. She was a great character that knew what she was talking about which helped the story. We had a lot of footage to sort through but after it all we had good shots of them doing the same thing but at different angles giving it a double camera effect. I would be more carful of getting my shots perfect because there were a few that were blurry.

The Entertainment strand of eComm thought of the music video before the school year even started. The idea began with another music video that has similarities with what they created. It is similar to the Lip Dub they did three years ago but instead the students are coming to them instead of the camera going to the students. It took many practices on the students part to ensure they could get a mass number of students out of the flex theatre in less then 15 seconds and then have another group of different students take their part on stage.

The behind the scenes package displays what their preparation looks like. They ran through it at least hundred times in the first two hours I spent with them in the flex theatre. This allowed me to obtain multiple angles of them doing the same thing, giving it an effect of two cameras being their.

The second time I spent with them during 6th and 7th hour I got more footage, but with actual students rehearsing. There were shots from all over the flex, including many shots from the catwalk. Unfortunately, none of this footage was captured due to the SD card running out of footage. So if their is anything to take away from this project it is that it i important to check every thing before filming, no matter how small it my be.

ELL

In this weeks news package, I learned that it can be hard to pick a character that doesn't speak much english and that you must choose your characters wisely. It is also important to do good planning and decide your angle on your story and to stick with it. Our original story was about a girl from Algeria who recently moved to America and was in an ELL class. Then our story turned out to be about the ELL class as a whole. over all the story turned out to be decent but we did have an audio error on Mr. Mendez's second interview. Now I know to always keep everything on audio 2 to ensure that the audio is set up correctly for an interview.

Lunch

The cooperation of the lunch staff help a lot because it allowed us to get behind the scenes of the school lunches. They were very nice and helped us get a lot of good B-roll of them working. We learned that it is important to know who you're interviewing and to pick people who are informed on the subject or else your interviewer will be very uncomfortable on camera and give you a poor interview. We interviewed 4 students but only used one because he actually had an opinion on the subject and gave us decent answers.

Challenge 1

In Challenge #1, I learned that it is important to have a good sequence. To tell a good story you have to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The Audio Slideshow was a good first project because it was simple but it also required things like story telling, sequences, and it helped us review how an interview should look. The most important thing to take out of this project is that in a news package it is important to go deep into developing a character and focusing your story on only person if you can. Challenge #1 was a fun project and I look forward to the any future challenges.

goals for 2014-2015

This year I plan on getting much more familiar with final cut pro and be able to use it to my full advantage for making the best news packages. It is important to know and understand the software that you are working with to ensure you are making quality videos. I also plan on making e-comm have a good reputation because I know that my work can reflect positive or negative influence on the e-comm program. What ever role I am to assume throughout the year I know that I will put my all into making the best of it. It is my goal to be fully immersed in the program and to make quality content for myself and for e-comm.