From Then to Now

 The move to Convergence

This semester in convergence journalism I have grown as a student. Making the transition from being a sophomore and being in one hour of a video class and doing many different things to having two hour of convergence journalism and focusing on one major thing, ONW Now.

Ive come a long way from the beginning of this year to now. I've been able to learn some many new things that I can incorporate into my projects and also things I that will be valuable in the future.

Being able to take on new tasks and make new experiences enables me to grow as a student in convergence journalism. From learning how to work with our new studios equipment to working on improving my news packages every week.  Im really proud of the work that i've been doing this semester and I hope to keep improving and get my projects to be the best that they can be.

The Art of storytelling 

As the new school year was here. In convergence journalism class I began to learn new things that would improve the outcome of my video packages. One major aspect of a good video is the story behind it. Having a beginning, middle and end in a video really pulls it together. With this idea out makes a story flow better and makes the audience want to watch it more. Having no storyline behind a video really defeats the whole purpose of the video. 

A part of having a storyline in a video package is the footage that makes that up the story. I learned this year that when getting b-roll for a video sequencing makes all the difference. What I mean by sequencing is the 6 shot system. What i've drawn from this system is that if you put it into your video along with the 180 rule you tend to see a difference in the way your videos look. 

Interview setup with Allie Carroll

Overall from learning these ideas the outcomes of my videos have improved greatly. I can really see the changes that I've made have made an impact on my videos and grades. 

From Old to New

The best part of being in this convergence journalism class is being able to have the opportunity to do ONW Now. Being a sophomore last year I wasn't able to be apart of that experience. A lot has changed for the production of ONW Now last year to this year. Changing the setup of our studio from an actual desk to a green screen. With the green screen is the major change which something called the tricaster. What the tricaster is a program that allows us to have a fake studio that looks real. 

Working with the new tricaster.

At the being of the year when this new program was first introduced I was able to learn how to use the tricaster. Its really cool to learn to something so complex. With the tricaster we've only learned a part of it and what it can do for just our ONW Now set but there is so much more that hopefully we will be able to learn and do with this program.

Overall having this program has really improved the way ONW Now looks and works. There is so much growth from last year to this year and the production of ONW Now. 

The Process of Video Editing

Final Cut pro: the editing program.

Every week before ONW Now is made, video packages that go on ONW Now have to be edited. The editing process can either be long or short depending on the amount of footage you get. This year i've learned that while editing my videos its easier to favorite all the clips that look good and that you might use. Then I learned that put the interview in first then put the b-roll in according to the interview clip you have. Then last you  put voice overs and any other finishing touches to your video in. 

Following this process really helped my videos improve. Learning these new ways to edit made the process more efficient. Overall the outcome of my videos from the beginning of the year to the end shows how I've grown. 

Goals for next semester...

1. Becoming a better writer: As we finish off this year and come back next year I hope to become a better writer. Next semester as we begin to write news stories for the website. I hope to improve my writing. By this I mean i hope yo become more familiar with blogger.com and they layout/setup that is used to write blogs and new stories. 

2. More ideas for news packages: This year something our class struggled with was coming up with story ideas for new packages. Hopefully next semester we will find new innovative ways that will allow us to come up with interesting news stories. Coming up with more story ideas will improve the production of ONW Now and make searching for story ideas not as complicated.