I went into my MEJO 121 class feeling extremely worried that I was going to do horribly. I knew I was a good storyteller on paper, but I have absolutely no experience doing it through video. After a few struggles, I was pleasantly surprised to see my progression throughout the semester. It amazed me to see how a simple camera angle can change an entire facet of a story. The white balance was another setting I originally had trouble with. I would tend to leave it as it is from shot-to-shot creating undesirable results. Once I got the hang of manually adjusting it, the coloring in my video vastly improved. It became an enhancement for my story instead of a distraction. It’s fascinating how one minute detail can change a film in so many ways.
My thought process behind Peril in Parkland was to create an emotional aspect to the video to really show to the audience how traumatic of event this was for not only the city of Parkland by for the entire nation. Since I knew Lou going into the project, I expected him to not show much emotion. He has done several interviews in the past, so I probably was not going to get any tears out of him. However, my goal was to utilize techniques that I had learned in class to bring the element of sadness out. Each one did their own part in putting together the vision that I had in mind.
Filming this project helped me discover the power of b-roll. Just one four second shot can dramatically manipulate the story. I spent hours filming b-roll, and then a few more hours debating which clips I should use for the video. I began the video with clips of news footage from the day the shooting I used the Quicktime screen recorder to translate it onto Premiere Pro. Those snippets put into perspective the devastation of the event. This is especially noticeable when I incorporate clips of children fleeing the scene. It takes me back to when I watched the event on the news and the horror I felt. I hope my audience just gets a slight understanding of how shockingly terrifying it was. I also traveled to the school to take pictures of what it currently looks like. The b-roll shows the lasting impact of the shooting instills the emotion to Lou’s story.
While editing the video, I had to make sure everything was in the proper order to tell my story as effectively as I can. During class, we watched several how-to videos made by the Disney’s Pixar animation team. What I took from the videos is that one little alteration in sequence changes how your story is told. I realized I had to be very careful in arranging both my interview and b-roll footage, so I told the story of a school shooting and its aftermath and not something totally different.
I also have no prior knowledge regarding web design. In class we were taught the elements of hierarchy and how the order in which they are placed greatly affects its overall meaning. It was especially helpful when we analyzed the structure of Elizabeth Warren’s website. I was great to be able to apply what I learned. It was made clear to me that every single part of the website was made for a reason. I took each element in the hierarchy to heart when creating this website. Everything from order, font, margins, and background images were done intentionally. This part of the class really got me to bring out my creative side, which I knew I had in me. I was proud to execute my vision and I thank my professor for helping me get there.
I am very thankful to have gotten to spend the past three and a half month in MEJO 121. While I have no interest in pursuing film in my future career, it have assisted me immensely in my quest to complete the journalism major at UNC. I have a more confidence in myself as storyteller, especially now that I can now tell them in a variety of medias.