#dmc102

12.12.17 | 8 Lessons From My Fall Semester

Learn to Listen Better -  There's a difference between assertive and aggressive. Don’t give excuses, find solutions. Learn the difference between someone attacking your thoughts or helping you expand perceptive.

Get accustomed to feedback -  The internet is not kind, nor does it apologize when it is wrong. If you work for an org or own your own business, being able to take feedback is essential to your success. In 2013 Forbes stated not being able to handle feedback is a trait of “leadership dysfunction”

Be Diverse -  There are multiple ways to tell a story, don’t be stuck on one medium or what makes you comfortable. Yes, we all love video stories, However a photo/audio story can be just as compelling.

Tell a good story. -  The audience are not attracted to you as much as they are attracted to a “good story”.The best writing is not about the writer, the best writing is absolutely not about the writer, it’s about us, it’s about the reader.

Dig for the nugget. -  Listen and decipher from your story that one moment or quote that wil translate clearly to your audience.

Good audio is imperative -  Above all, good audio is imperative …..Unless you are into silent films of course.

Know Your Strengths -  Focus on your strengths while working on your weaknesses.

12.7.17 | A Special Story

I had an amazing opportunity to work with video production company “A Special Story”, after getting an invite from the owner to be her production assistant for a commercial job at the Jewish Community Center in Buffalo, NY.

These are the lessons I took from my experience: 

Inform your subjects of everything you are doing in detail.

Don’t be afraid to get close up on your subject.

Close up shots add a warm, intimate element to your project.

Stay on task, don’t let your environment distract you.

Be organized and ready a day prior to production. (create a checklist)

Photo/Audio Story Redo!

11.27.17 | Buffalo’s East Side gems

Co-founder, Darron Whitsett shares with us how they started a production company on the East Side of Buffalo,NY in 2010 influenced by their time in college. In December 2015, their production company found six collaborators and started recording interviews, skits, reaction videos and pop-culture news and launched the “iRockLive” YouTube channel.

As Darron speaks on his passion for content creation with hopes to find a way to make a living producing shows like this.

10.25.17 | The Interviewer 

Chapter 1 of the Digital Storytelling Cookbook was about finding your story and being an effective storyteller. The chapter also describes how to manager a story in the section “Guidelines for the Interviewer”.

the following Guidelines are:

1. Memorizing the questions, so you are not reading of the paper. Keep eye contact for the interviewee. The Interview should have a natural flow similiar to an conversation.

2. Unlike a radio or TV interviewer that is concerned with “dead air” in the conversation, give the interviewee all the time desired to think through and restart and finish his or her thoughts.

3. Often a person’s initial thoughts about a question only retrieves a broad outline of a memory. Request specifics or details that would clarify or expand upon a general response.

10.25.17 | Let’s Talk About Video

After watching Media Storm’s video on shooting video for multimedia. Three key points stood out to me, which techniques I will apply to future projects. 

 “Show body language” 80% of communication is body language and capturing it when filming helps advance the story.

 “Power of Video” it conveys action and motion in a dramatic way, and also shows the progression of expressions. 

“A clean in & clean out” is when you allow entities to enter the frame, go through the frame and leave the frame. Then you allow a 10-15 second buffer to pass after entities have left the frame. 

10/19/17

For my Introduction to Editing class, an updated photo essay was assigned. These are my pictures for the photo essay, featuring Adam Grabowski, a stand up comedian.