A semester of video April 30, 2008

So, my class has spent the whole semester learning about telling stories through video. I’ve definitely gained more confidence in my video skills this semester, but I do have room to improve. I want to make my shooting and editing skills more polished, and I’d really like to explore more of the video editing programs out there. The two videos I made this semester are decent for first attempts, but there is a lot of potential for improvement.

I have enjoyed our class’ exploration of longer films to help us gain perspective about storytelling in shorter formats, which is what I will do the most as a journalist. As much as I loathed doing it the first time, I now see how making a log of shots before capturing the video from the tape is beneficial. The same goes for writing a script. It can be tedious, but it does make the rest of the editing process easier. And, I think the more I edit video, the better I will become at identifying the best shots and writing a script that really facilitates the storytelling process.

I also appreciate the intro we had to making Flash projects. It was quite fun, and I see a lot of ways I can use this knowledge in the future.

All in all, I really value the skills and concepts I’ve learned this semester and I anticipate many opportunities to hone these skills in the future.

Lending a Helping Hand April 30, 2008

(Note: The above image is just a screen shot of our video. Click here to view it!)

For our final project, my classmate Shifen and I decided to make a video about healthcare in the Gainesville area. While I knew before starting this project that there were big problems with the healthcare system in our country, I had never spent much time with people who lacked access to good healthcare - or at least not people who shared this information about themselves with me.

Shifen and I got in touch with the director of a local free clinic (called Helping Hands clinic) that serves people in need of care. He invited us to come and see how things were run. We met Terry, a man who volunteers at and receives care at the clinic. His story seemed interesting, and he agreed to be interviewed on camera next time we came. Terry was sick the next two weeks, so the time we had planned to spend talking with him we spent watching how the clinic worked and talking with other patients and volunteers.

It was good to learn about the challenges faced by people without healthcare access. Ultimately, Terry’s story still turned out to be the best, so we focused on it most. But, I appreciated the chance to learn more about the issue.