What a rollercoaster of semester this class has been, and I loved every second of it! Everything I've learned, everything I've done, means a lot to me and I don't ever want to forget any of it. Though my heart still stays with cinematography, I have a greater respect and understanding of what newscasters do everyday to make their projects look flawless. Below are a few images that I just love from my projects. The first two are from the first project I did this semester, Don't You Know iAm Cyon. The title screen and a picture from some years back when I took one of my sisters to college. The next image is from my six-word story; three sisters, one pill, two sisters. The project shaped me in a way I didn't think it would. I constructed my story like a mini film, and I'd never attempted to tackle such a personal topic before. The last image is a depth shot from my FYI News Package. I learned so many important things from the project, and you can see what I learned in my previous post. But, all in all, I completely adore this class and would/will take this class, if my schedule permits. In August, I would've probably had a hundred complaints about Broadcast Tech., but I truly love it so much and hope I can take it again before graduation! Thank you so much, Mr. Goble and Ms. Davidson for an amazing year! And thanks also to my friend, Sarah (her website), for helping me film most all of my shots and making jokes together while we worked. I'm gonna miss Broadcast Tech. so much next semester!
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I've reached the end of this road... that's a bit of an exaggeration- I have this class for another two hours. However, it definitely feels like the end. In the past five weeks, I've been working on my final project in Broadcast Tech, doing interviews, capturing B-Roll, and editing. The project is to construct a 1-2 minute news package about a topic of interest. I chose the Ferguson Youth Initiative and am extremely proud of what I've done. I send an immense amount of gratitude to Mr. Goble and Ms. Davidson for helping understand what it took to truly be a broadcaster. Among other notes, I learned a thing or two about working on this project that couldn't be taught in a classroom. For example, I learned the importance of thinking on the fly, because you won't get anywhere otherwise. In the span of ten minutes, I had to change my concept, shot, and perception fifteen times. Yes, fifteen times. Because not everyone can operate on the plan that I have in my mind. And, also very important, I learned that I should keep my cool while working, and then go home and complain to my family. Trying to construct my vision with other people rarely works, and I just had to hold my tongue and then gripe to my parents and sisters at the house, giving them a laugh. All negatives aside, I loved this project and wouldn't change anything that I've done. To watch the final product, click here
As the final project for my Broadcast Tech. class, I will be constructing a complete news-package. Since the project is so extensive, we've started to analyze different interviews from Steve Hartman. The interviews he has done, including the series "On the road with Steve Hartman", he uses an algorithm of "hey, you, see, so" to help the interview flow. The picture on the right is from an interview Steve did with a Georgian 6-year old after he lost his father and mother. The boy began to handout trinkets to strangers in his city that looked sad in hoping to brighten their day. The 'hey' of the story was that the small boy was an orphan, and the 'see' was that he created the idea to brighten other people's days. Conversely, the picture on the right is from an interview Steve did with the Olivet football team in Olivet, Michigan. The team created a plan for Keith, a player with a mental disability, to score a goal for the team. The 'you' of the package is the community of the team coming together for the individual player, Keith. And the 'so' of the package summarizes and concludes the story as a middle school team in a small town in Michigan coming together to make one of their teammate's day.
One main part of becoming a better journalist and broadcaster is knowing how to interview properly. Having a genuine discussion between the interviewer and the interviewed is a lot harder than simply asking questions. As an interviewer, I had to learn how to ask questions according to what the subject said, as oppose to going down the list of questions that were prepared. When someone provides an interesting, exciting, or powerful point, it is more important to follow that. Also, watching someone's facial expressions can silently display a hidden important point. In the beginning, it is essential to preface the subject that everything is going to go alright. Especially if the subject is shy or nervous, make sure they are comfortable. It will help them open up and become more confident in what they're saying. If the subject is pacing or sways while standing during an interview, it is up to the judgement of the cameraman or interviewer to pause the project and move everyone to seats. Remaining seated for someone who has nervous moving tics will make their tics less noticeable and help with shooting. Ask open-ended questions that result in the subject talking more than the interviewer. Structure questions like, "tell me about..." or "explain why...." that are related to the subject at hand to create a flowing conversations. This are only a few tiny things that don't cover all interviewing tips and rules, but I still have a lot to learn.
If you scroll down on my blog page by a little, you'll see that I've been doing research and working on this project for quite some time. Originally, I thought it was going to be the easiest project thus far because the concept is simple; write a story in six-words, film this story in six shots, done. But, of course, I was totally wrong. The first step, writing the 6-words, was possibly the hardest part. Since I wanted to write about a story that would convey emotion, the writing process felt a lot like writing poetry, which is something I am really bad at. After taking the two needed classes to write and fill out an organizer, it was time to film. For my story, "three sister, one pill, two sisters", I had to ask for help from my own sister, Courteney, and a friend, Raiven. It was difficult trying to display what I had in my mind into reality, but the privilege of creative freedom allowed everything to fall in line. My story means a lot to me because I can relate to having strained relationships with family because of addiction. The concept hitting so close to home encouraged me to do the story justice even more. To view the video, click here.
Any truly successful director has the ability to convey emotions through camera angles and movements. However, I'm not a successful director (yet?), so I'm responsible for capturing 19 different shots to practice. There's no storyboard right now and there's no connection between anything I recorded. All of the work being done right now is just about becoming comfortable with different positions. The very first photo is of an extreme close-up, which I decided to post because of how time consuming it was to capture. I had to get really close to my friend Sarah (check out her website) and we got the giggles. So all of my shots were shaky, but we figured it out.The second shot is also of Sarah and is an extreme angle. I had to lay on the floor and risk being stepped on. I enjoy the third shot because whenever I try to film anyone being candid, they notice me. The first try filming clueless people was a success! Next is a master shot of the new construction. There's something about seeing new parts of the building mixing with the old parts that seems really cool to me. The fifth shot is an over-the-shoulder of my friend Will. Extreme boredom had attacked our class, so I decided to make the best of it. The last shot is titled 'low or dramatic'. I find it interesting because if Victoria would've made a face of menace or mischief, it would look like she was drawing something suspicious.
As of last Wednesday, the Ladue softball season 2017 is over!! It, even now, hard for me to understand that it's over already. I feel like a few days ago, I was given the chance to meet so many new freshmen and be a mentor for a sport they've never played. Yet, here I am, looking over all our memories and just smiling at the past. I can't, and won't, say the season or the team was perfect. Because speaking honestly, we struggled a lot with drama. However, in my personal opinion, the majority of the drama was caused by one person or a couple people- not everyone. Or even half for that matter. But that's neither here nor there but everyone's being given a break from each other and getting about 2.5 hours a day back into their lives. I look forward to hanging out with some members off the field as soon as possible. Because not even drama can keep me from hanging out with my favorite girls!
In summary, Ernest Hemingway's significance in my life is his famous six-word memoir, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn". At first, this story meant nothing to me and I assumed it was self-explanatory. However, with actual research, things weren't as simple as I thought. The author was skillful in short-story writing and having the ability to be concise through his literature. I'm responsible for writing my own 6-word story and film those words in 6 shots. Right now, my personal focus is to write a story that isn't incredibly depressing, but still tells a story. A few of my ideas seem solid, but I have yet to make a choice on which one I like the most, or finding more enjoyable to shoot. Here's a link to my favorite website for stories.
"Freeze! Don't move!" "I'm just..." "BANG!" From 9/18 through today, 9/26, our projects have become more advanced. As opposed to the simplicity of the previous Video Scavenger Hunt project, the WALLDO project represents the 6 most common angles used for film in broadcasting; Wide, Angled, Low, Linking, Depth, and Opposite. That sounds simple of enough, but in all reality, the construction (no pun intended) and organization of the shots was really difficult. A wide shot wouldn't look wide, linking shots didn't really make sense, etc. It absolutely tested my knowledge. Nonetheless, in the end, all my shots came together and I'm really proud of the process I'm making. To view the entire project, click here
For the last two weeks, in my Broadcast Technology class, we were given the opportunity to work with a partner and capture a list of shots, such as teachers, a locker, etc. Once we had all the shots needed for the partnership, we were given the first opportunity to upload our clips and edit with the app Final Cut Pro. Though set up similarly to iMovie, Final Cut Pro provides more selections and better editing software. We learned how to edit in transitions and music along with cutting clips and finding the perfect 3-5 seconds. The basics of the software can be taught, but the majority of what makes editing so great is really fiddling around with trial and error to learn. I really enjoy being give the reigns over my own work. Every clip segment was also given a visual edit, such as what you see above.
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Cyon SailorI'm just a fifteen-year old with an almost exciting life and a lot to say Archives
December 2017
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