Infographic Reflection

     Following video production, my newest assignment was an infographic over something I am passionate about. For this, I chose organ donation because I feel it is something people should know more about, and I love helping people so having a creative way to spread the word helped.     My research did not consist of much, as I already knew so much about my topic. I used the Gift Of Life website as well as the Donate Life website. These two websites provided me with the most important information that I was able to incorporate into my infographic.
     The original rough draft was easiest for me to come up with because I already had a vivid idea of exactly how I wanted this project to look. I started with a rectangle all the way across the page which consisted of my title. Following that, I had two rectangles directly below that which held two additional components on information. The middle was split into two, the left side being larger than the other where I placed a graphic, and the left side touching the bottom of the infographic. Finally I added a small box under my graphic for the last bit of information.

     My process for the creation was mostly done in one day. I happened to leave school, sick, and went home and worked on it for the rest of the day. I started with the graphic which took the most time, and then moved outward from there. Statistics were added next, then the states of Kansas and Missouri. After that, the basic information was put into place and the final touches were added (the little people, the title, the little vectored images of the organs, ect.)

     The only feedback I was given, was that my "Statistic" triangle needed to be moved close to the "125,000". In the image above, it has already been adjusted. Aside from the small fix, everyone in my class really liked it. I was complimented on how even though I had more words than normal, it looked very minimal and was super easy to read in under a minute. Everything looked clean, organized, my colors went well together, and overall it was just a very good infographic.

     In conclusion, this is probably one of my favorite projects so far because I got to make it based on something I really love, and am very passionate about. It was not a difficult project which eliminated frustration, and it was something that was just extremely enjoyable to make.

Feature Story Reflection

Andy Donnelly - Transplant Mentor/Liver Recipient 

Assignment: 

Our assignment was to create another feature in hopes of improving from our first feature story. We were to plan, film, edit, and produce a story noticeably different than the first. 

Pre Production: 

The process began with extensive planning. Coming up with a topic, creating interview questions, having a day-to-day schedule, as well as having days we were taking cameras home for additional footage. 

I chose the foundation of Gift Of Life as my original story. After conducting interviews with Kim Harbur and Andy Donnelly, I found that my original plan involved too many stories. I was trying to tell the story of Gift Of Life, Andy's Transplant, and Kim's experience as a recipient mom which was too much for a simple feature. From there I went with Andy's story, and began the production process.

Production:

Production began by sorting out all of Andy's good soundbites where he answered all the interview questions. After that I decided I was only going to use a small clip of his interview to tell the story. After that, a voice over was created, B-Roll was collected and the video was pulled together. The final product is what you are shown below. 

Post Production:

In post production I noticed many things I thought were good, but what also what I really struggle with. B-Roll seems to be the most difficult. None of my footage was relevant to my story except for the pictures at the end showing a liver transplant. My peer critics let me know that the video story was very good, and they felt the additional interview was not needed but relative B-Roll would have made the story much stronger, as well as slowing the pictures down a bit because they were very fast. 

Along with that, we took notes during the critic process in how we can improve our feature videos. This will be useful as we are going toe doing a news package next, and then come semester time we will be moving into entertainment.
In conclusion, I do believe this project was much better than my last although I did not blog about it. My audio skills, as well as my video skills have improved even though I know I need to work on rule of thirds during interviews, as well as the 6-shot system during B-Roll. 

"The Bravest Woman in Seattle" By Eli Sanders

"For herself, for the woman she loved, for the justice, the survivor of the South Park attacks tells a courtroom what happened that night." - Eli Sanders

          The Bravest Woman in Seattle is about a woman (who is not named in the article for privacy reasons) and her partner Teresa Butz, and the unfortunate events that took place on the night of July 19, 2009. The article is a court case about Isaiah Kalebu, the rapist and murdered of Teresa Buts, and her partner who is still alive today. While this is not something I would generally feel comfortable writing a blog post about, I thought this was by for one of the most unique and interesting articles I have ever read in my life. The article was not written in a way to scare you off, but more as a made up story that keeps you involved and wanting to hear what happens next.
          The author sticks to telling strictly the victim side of the story. He write about exactly what the two women go through, their thoughts at every moment, what they did to try and get out of it, and of course what is happening present day (the court case).
          The article itself is a very strong one. It takes this event no one is really interested in hearing about and turns it into a story which in my opinion is what every journalist should be able to do. Sanders goes back a forth between his own writing of the story, and the victim testimony which is what we do in our digital feature stories when going from interview to voice overs. The only thing I would comment on is that Sanders has a really promising hook and unfortunately I feel as if the article just kinda stopped after she mentions waning ti hear Teresa speak again. I feel like there should be another sentence pulling it all together. In this article, 'main points' are not exactly prominent because this focuses on a real life case that happened a couple years back.
          I fell that the reason this story made such an impact on me is because I love writing. He took a sensitive subject and not only added a more positive connotation to it, but made it not seem 'so scary after all' even though the situation was terrible. As a videographer, the main goal is to have a story that pulls you in, that bring emotion, gives you a heavy feeling, but also does not leave you confused, or mislead on what the actual story was about and Eli Sanders was able to follow through with that just through his writing which is why I found it so amazing.
       

For anyone who does not get discouraged by sensitive subjects, this is something I recommend you read. It is quite lengthy, but it is most definitely worth your while.