Andy and Jackie

Sunday, December 12, 2010

J198

I learned a lot this semester in J198; more than I thought I would learn. I did some video editing for projects in high school, so I though that wouldn’t be bad. And for the most part, I was right. What I didn’t know anything about was actually shooting video. I had heard of b-roll before, but had no idea what it really was or how to shoot it. B-roll was easy; find something interesting and pan slowly, to give the viewer of sense of where they are or what they’re looking at. The worst part about video for me was the awkward part. Setting up an interview by phone or e-mail wasn’t so bad, but I hated walking up to a random person, explaining the project and asking for an interview. It was especially frustrating when someone would be friendly and talk to us but would back out when we mentioned a video camera.
Another aspect of the class that interested me was blogging. When we were first introduced to the idea, I knew immediately that I’d be blogging about the Reds; they were making their playoff push and were seemingly always on my mind. This idea worked for a while, I wrote about whatever I thought, usually a recap of a game. Come playoff time, when the Phillies swept the Reds, I was out of ideas. I wrote about the rest of the remaining teams and matchups but couldn’t really relate it to the Reds. I quickly learned why the Reds blogs I read and followed died during the offseason. I could write about next season or about re-signing players, but that wasn’t of great interest to me.
At first, I was apathetic towards Twitter. I thought it was just another social network but didn’t know how it was different. Once I started following people, my friends, community members and celebrities alike, I found that it was much more useful than Facebook. I tried to promote my blog with Twitter, but to no avail. Twitter eventually became more and more of my friend. I used it to talk about whatever I was thinking about (usually sports) and to see what others were saying about it.
The biggest part of this class was the final project. Jackie and I used every skill we had already acquired; video shooting and editing, making picture slideshows, audio slideshows and podcasts and using Twitter to contact possible sources. We also learned how to use different formats to present material and information on our website through Weebly. What I got most out of the project was setting aside other work to make progress on our project. As busy as we both were, we found time to meet together and get valuable work done.
J198 was certainly an experience for me, it got me out of my comfort zone and taught me about things I had no interest in before the class. I learned how easy and useful it was to create a brand for myself and our group project. I learned a whole new aspect of journalism; an aspect I want to learn more about in the future.

J198 Evaluation

I had no idea what I was in for when I signed up for J198. I was hesitant because registering for the course meant I would hit 18 credits, but my advisor highly recommended the class so I went for it. I remember the day I received the introduction email outlining what we needed to do in preparation for J198. Start a blog: check. Make a Youtube account: check. Learn how to edit videos: check. Make a twitter account: …you've got to be joking. If there was one social website that I (thought I) hated, it was Twitter. I've used Facebook for quite a while now, and don't even update my status once a month. Why on earth would I ever want a Twitter? I don't care what people had for breakfast! My excitement for the class quickly dwindled.

It's safe to say that I underestimated not only Twitter, but the class in its entirety. What turned out to be my hands down favorite class of the semester taught me so much. The wide world of social media has really opened my eyes to opportunities I never thought possible. For example, I didn’t think I had it in me to start a music blog, let alone a successful one. I learned how to blog and keep readers attention with different types of media, i.e. photos, media players, videos, links, etc. Twitter played a key role in my blog’s development. The more I learned about the networking potential Twitter had to offer, the more I learned how to utilize it, and therefore increase my blog readers. Because of social media, artists, record labels, and music publications have not only read my blog, but have shared it with their followers. I can’t think of anything cooler.

I also came into this class thinking there was nothing more to learn about film editing with Windows Movie Maker. I was greatly mistaken. Although I have taken an Introduction to Video Production and Editing course in the Design department, and have been on the Brown and White videography staff, I learned so much about filming and editing a video and turning it into a story. Editing quickly became one of my favorite aspects of the class (seriously…ask Andrew), and I have enjoyed learning new and inventive ways to tell a story through film.

I know that I have so much more to learn about social media, and I can't wait to do so. Because of Multimedia Reporting, I will have a leg up in whatever field I choose. It isn’t often that you can say a class has really changed your career path and where you see yourself in the future, but J198 has truly opened my eyes to endless opportunities. I feel sorry for any students at Lehigh University who don’t take this class and never get to experience that.