Sunday, September 06, 2009

{Learning in Progress}

Time to share two stories I made last semester.
I'm excited about both of them! But...

Here's my disclaimer: My standups are pretty rough. :)
(That's the time when I'm on camera.) I'm not looking for
reassurance. I just don't want you to think that I think they're
good. I've now done a total of five standups -- all of which are
from last semester -- and they're all way, way too long.
But I figured I'd show you where I was last semester, in all
my amateur glory, so when I do much better stand ups in the
coming months, you'll be able to see progress. :)

Otherwise, I really hope you enjoy the stories themselves!

***********

Story 1 -- Stand up = Too long. Forgot what I was saying half
way through. The background didn't enhance the story, and I
look terrified. Lame-o. But the rest of the story is solid, I think.
I had some good sequencing and a strong central character that
made the piece work.



Story 2 -- Brace yourselves. For this one, we were required to
appear three times. We had to open and close the piece as if
we were live on location. Plus, we had to do a stand up in the
middle of the story. It was purely for practice. In the real world,
you don't show your face this many times in a two minutes story.
Not unless your Diane Sawyer. Either way, I still spoke for too
long every time I was on camera, but at least I felt much more
comfortable doing it!



Here's what I now know about stand ups:
- They should be 2, maybe 3, sentences long. That's it.

- Movement should be motivated. So, if you're going to
walk and talk, you should walk to something that you
want to show the viewer.

- It's good when they reveal something (visuals, facts or
conflict in the story) that are difficult to demonstrate with
video.

- They should inform and educate the viewer by adding to
the story -- not just be a way to get the reporter on air.

- The best ones act as a bridge or transition in the story.

- Multi-part stand ups are more interesting to watch. (Where
you say your couple of sentences but do so using more than
one shot.)

3 comments:

TruJen Phtography said...

Well lady, there's not much more to say that you haven't covered in your points below. (I'm not saying I think the same thing, just that you've listed a lot of things you think you'd like to change.)
I think the stories are great. I liked the library one the most. I think you sound and look great in it! The old guy cracked me up! :o)
I love the blue shirt you wore in the first one! That color is all you baby!!!
Thanks for sharing these. It's so great to see what you're working on and how you've improved on certain techniques! Can't wait to see what you're doing currently!
:o)

Olivia said...

Wow! I know you're not looking for reassurance, but you did AWESOME! Great job!

Kristi @ Mi Vida Ocupada said...

I love watching your video pieces! I thought these were both great but that library looks really cool! Great job!