Scavenger Hunt

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.

5 Tips For An Awesome Interview

1. Plan for the interview: To get a good interview you will want to plan out the questions your going to ask so you get the best answers. When asking questions you always want to start with the easier questions then make the questions harder by the end. The answers are the main part of an interview so you wan to make sure you get the best from your interviewee.

2. Be setup and prepared before the interviewee arrives: For a more efficient and better interview setting up before is the best way to go. Make sure that the camera is setup in a good spot with good lighting hitting the interviewee. Also before make sure your audio is working. You always want to make the interviewee comfortable so put them in a chair and a place that will fit their needs. Don't forget to put the interviewee in the rule of thirds with you diagonal to them so they are looking off to the side of the camera and not directly at it.

3. Location of the interview is very important: Having an interesting interview always starts with the location of the interview. The location should be based on what your interviewing the interviewee for. This spices up the interview when you have an interesting background. You  don't want to put them in front of a curtain or a window unless it goes with the topic of the interview. Like the picture up above we interviewed her because she was in the play and its a dramatic interview so it was appropriate to pout her in front of a curtain. No matter where you decide to do your interview try and make it as interesting as possible.

4. White balance the camera: Before your interviewee arrives at the interview always white balance your camera to get the best the hue. If you forget to white balance your hue could either turnout yellow or blue. To white balance hold up your hand or a white piece of paper in front of the camera then there should be button somewhere on the camera to change the color. It may not work the first time so keep trying to get the color you feel is the best.

5. During the interview stay quiet: As the interviewer you are responsible for making sure everything is perfect and nothing messes up but sometimes the interviewer may not know it but they could be the one to mess it up. During the interview remember to stay quiet the entire time. Don't laugh or comment to what the interviewee says because that could mess up the great answers your trying get. To make a interview efficient and great keep quiet until your completely done recording.

Follow the Yellow Brickroad

Wizard of Oz production 

 Olathe Northwest presented The Wizard of Oz, this video tells people what its about and who is featured in the play. Also this video shows sneak peeks of the songs and the overall concept behind this musical.

Well we knew that the musical was coming up so Samantha and I started thinking about interesting ways to promote the musical. Then we decided to choose the two main roles in the musical to interview which would be the wicked witch played by Allie Carroll and Dorothy who was played by Grace Horvat. After we interviewed our 2 main characters we went to one of their rehearsals after school to get some b-roll. Later we edited the video.

 From making this video I learned that interviewing them in interesting places will make it more interesting. Also I learned that nat noise really does spice up a video and is more appealing to viewers.Lastly I learned that getting more than enough b-roll really makes the editing process way faster.

I really liked the outcome of this video. Im really proud at the b-roll we got and how nicely we put it together. But somethings I would change about it was maybe interviewing the two lead roles together and maybe interviewing them in a more interesting place

There are a lot of things I would do the same on my next video like using a lot of nat noise on my b-roll and getting lot of interesting b-roll with sequencing. Lastly choosing interesting characters to interview.

Im really happy with the outcome of my video. I hope to continue to make good videos like this one. I feel like I really did a good job promoting the musical and hopefully persuaded more people to go and see it.

Shannon Smith reflection

1.This project was a feature story over a unique artist at Olathe Northwest who expresses herself through her appearance. By appearance I mean that she paints her face based on her mood that day. She also talks about what her plans are for the future and talks about her attitude about the road ahead for her.


2. A week before we had even started talking about what we were going to do for this video we wanted to find a unique person at ONW who wasn't afraid to express themselves. After we had chosen Shannon we started planning out what we were going to do, like what the interview was going to look like so then we wrote interview questions. After that we interviewed her and started to get B- roll of her in her art classes and we wanted something that would make the video come together really nicely and so we decided to have her paint her face for us and we would use that as some of our b-roll. Then of course we put all the video together to create a story that would show our school who Shannon was.



3. From making this video learned that getting a sequence of b-roll really does make the video look better as a whole but also makes it so that you don't have to go back and keeping more b-roll. Another thing I learned was that when you do 2 different angles on an interview try not to get to far on the side of her face get more in between the side and the front.



4. Overall I think this video is the best video I've ever done there is not much I would change about it. One thing I would have changed was the second interview angle was too far on the side of her face and that day she had face paint and we should've put the second camera on the side with the face paint on it would have definitely made that angle more interesting.



5.This video to me was a really good one. I think there are a lot of things I will do the same on my next video like getting good sequencing for b-roll and getting good interviews. Also choosing interesting characters who have interesting things to say. Im really proud on the outcome of this video.



6.Some experiences I would draw from this video like I said is get good sequencing and try and do interviews different ways to make the video more interesting.



7. Im really proud on the outcome of this video. For me I feel this is the best video I'm made this year so far and I'm going to continue and try to make good news packages like this one. I feel like this really told a great story about a unique artist here at ONW that some people may not have known.

Student Teachers

Video Reflection:









1. This project was about the Student teachers throughout ONW. They told us about what its like being a student teachers, what work goes into it, what their hopes and fears were about being a teacher and much more.



2. Our process of making this video was first we had to figure out which student teachers in the building would tell a good story and would want to be out in front of the camera. After we found our subjects we started to get b-roll of our subjects in the classrooms, then we wrote interview questions and got our 3 interviews for this video. Lastly we put the video together to make a story.



3. From making this video I learned not to do interviews in front of windows and also to get more than enough b-roll. Another thing I learned is to always bring headphones to make sure your audio is working during an interview.



4. This video could have been a really great video if we would have taken more time on it. Something I would have done differently is make sure the audio works during interviews by making sure I have headphones because redoing an interview takes up a lot of editing time. Also I would find better places to  do interviews instead of in front of a window because it makes the quality of the video not look very good if the lightning isn't good.



5. Something I would do the same is choose characters like these ones because they all had good things to says that were interesting and weren't juts one word answers they all actually explained their answers. Another thing I would do the same is some of the shots we got were really good so I would definitely try and get shots like these on my other videos to make it more intersting.



6. The experiences I would draw from this project are like I said to make sure the audio works and don't film in front of windows and lastly get more than enough b-roll!



7. Overall I felt like this video could have been way better if we would have put more effort and time into it I feel like we kind of rushed to put it together and thats why it didn't turn out the way we wanted it to.

6-Shot System

6- Shot System

The 6-shot system is a sequence of shots that shows a subject doing something. These shots are used in all sorts of videos like new packages commercials, music videos, movies and many more. A rule of the 6-shot system is the 180 rule, what this means is when filming a subject you have to stay on one side of that subject and don't cross over to the other side. 

 Close-up of hands: Shows what the subject is doing closer up.

 Close-up of face: Shows how they feel about what they are doing.
Close-up shots are more appealing to viewers

Medium Shot: A shot that shows whats going on around the person but only taken from the subject waste up.





Wide Shot: A shot that shows what the person is doing and what is going on around them. It also takes up the whole frame with their body making them the main focus.

Over the shoulder: This shot shows the point of view of the character and what they are doing. These type of shots are also really interesting to viewers.





Extra Wide shot: This shot is the establishing shot. It shows what going on all around the subject. This shot is probably the least used shot in any video because it doesn't focus on the character/subject as much.

Example: