This semester has been quite an interesting one to say the least. Between having to find and create new stories every week, and then being stuck into a quarantine for two months, this class was both stressful and exciting all at once. Every week was a new adventure and a learning experience. No video I made went perfectly but I managed to get them done. All of my videos were shot and edited in one day, and most times it was the day they were due.
My Beat for the semester covered clubs and organizations on NSU’s campus. My first video was about the Demons Writers Guild. For this video I went and sat in on one of the guilds first meetings of the semester. I think I had the most fun filming these guys because they were so close with each other. They all had a great time hanging out and writing creative works together.
My second report was on the Inter Fraternity Council (IFC). This is an organization that is made up of heads of all the different fraternities on campus. This video was a challenge to create for many reasons. For starters their meetings are supposed to be somewhat secretive so I was only able to get a small amount of footage from the actual meeting. I also didn’t get the best interviews so I had to do a lot of editing it post. Overall though, I was happy with how it turned out.
Following the IFC report I did a story on the NSU Gamers Guild. This story was another one that was fun to shoot because everyone involved was so relaxed and excited to talk about the club. I got some great interviews from this group and I learned a lot. If I had been able to continue reporting , and interviewing people throughout the semester, I would’ve liked to make another video about the E-sports team that was being created.
My next video was about the Fellowship of Christian Athletes on campus. In this video I got some of my favorite shots during my interviews because of the colorful backgrounds in the the field house. Their meeting was originally supposed to be held outside after a baseball game but had to be moved due to weather conditions.
The final video I shot before quarantine was about NSU’s Rowing team and the effects that the corona virus would potentially have on their season. It’s interesting to look back at this video and see how severely we underestimated the effects that the virus spread would have on the team, our school, and the world.
The final two videos that I created were about me searching for and eventually locating my grandfathers cattle after they escaped their enclosure. These videos weren’t my best but they took quite a lot of time and effort to make. I hope they were enjoyable and satisfactory to those who wanted to know how the story ended.
This is my second semester in a row with Mrs. Melody Gilbert as my professor and in my college experience I’ve never gotten to be so close with other students in my classes. Mrs. Gilbert always had us comment on each others works and encouraged us to help each other and I believe that that’s one of the best things a teacher can do. Over these past two courses I’ve taken with her I’ve learned more about shooting and editing videos than I ever would have imagined. She’s made it stressful at times but also fun and enriching when it’s finished and I know that she’s helped me gain skills that I will certainly be able to use for my future career in journalism.
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