Why I Love My Job

It's no secret that I love technology.  I love it a whole whole lot.  I am so fortunate and blessed to be in a job that revolves around solely that: technology!  I get to spend my time helping others with tech problems, teaching them new things they can do with a program or on their phones/computers, and, probably my favorite part, still teaching students in the tech realm.  If I can't stay home with my babies, this is what I want to be doing.

One of the classes I teach is video production.  This is such a fun class -- the students learn a ton about mobile journalism, videoing and interviewing techniques, editing, content gathering, and so much more.  One of the biggest things I've taught them is NO VERTICAL VIDEOS...

(I hope you learned something watching that too!) -- I am guilty of recording video holding my phone upright cause, let's be honest, it's just easier to record one handed that way.  HOWEVER, most of the time you really are cutting off a ton of "stuff" that you could be capturing if you just flipped your phone over and recorded horizontally!  Crazy, isn't it?!!  Try it next time you're recording a movie...

Anyways, so!  I love my job.  Earlier today was one of the big reasons why.  Last week, I took a group of my students down to KSDK news channel 5.  Well, this week they were in for a treat: my buddy Kay Quinn from KSDK was coming to UA to see our video production and broadcast setup!  How cool, right?!!  My students were sooooo jazzed that she was coming and that they'd get to show off some of their own broadcasting skills to her.

Kay arrived this morning and I gave her a tour around our campus and introduced her to a few people, and then she met with the day's broadcast team.  I don't teach broadcast (although I'd love to if I was ever given the chance!), but I was able to be the broadcast director for today since a few of my students who are in my video production class are also on the broadcast team and were up to do shows this week.

The students wanted Kay to be a co-anchor for the day's broadcast, and she happily obliged!  How cool is that, right?!!

They did a run-through of the show and then went live.  It.was.awesome.  I was beaming with pride for them because they did such an amazing job on the teleprompter, control board, directing, and anchoring.  It went flawlessly!

The feedback the girls got about their broadcast was just terrific -- even now, well after the school day is over, I'm just giddy with excitement for them that they got to have this awesome learning experience!  I hope it's something they truly never forgot.

So, this is just one of the reasons why I flippin' love my job.  Getting to help orchestrate experiences like this for my students just makes everything I do worth it.  I am fortunate to be in a teaching position that is very 'real life' applicable and I love love LOVE being able to show, give, and teach my students things that they can not only learn from, but apply to their real lives as well.

Video Production PSAs

Apologies for this late blog post...been a little busy around here!  But I wanted to share with you some of my video production students' final projects from last semester.

I had them reflect on their semester and all of the projects they did in class, and then create a PSA with what they learned as well as promoting the video production course for others to take next year.

I am super impressed with how these turned out!  Each of the students had to make their own storyboard first before filming/compiling their footage.  I really think this is an essential part to doing any movie, and I hope I've ingrained it in these ladies to always plan out and storyboard first before jumping in to make a movie!

Well done ladies--you should feel very proud of yourselves for all of the awesome videos you made and what you've accomplished this semester!  Bravo!

Show-Me a Movie Contest

A couple years ago, I had my students create videos for the 2012 Show-Me a Movie Contest; however, we couldn't submit them because of my oversight in that they had to be less than 2 minutes long, and all of my students' videos were over 2 minutes.  Woops.

So this year, for the 2014 Show-Me a Movie Contest my video production class each created videos in the Show-Me Your Community category.  One of the groups explored how the St. Louis community is fixated on the "Where did you go to high school?" question, another group explored the Ursuline community and theme of "Serviam" (through claymation), and the last group looked at the new Strange Donuts that opened in the Kirkwood community and how much they give back.

Overall, I am super impressed with these videos and really love how different they all are but still showcase how the community is across these different areas.  Enjoy...I sure did!

UA Video Production

I have blogged recently about mobile journalism at UA, and this being an integral part of my video production class.  Although my students do a large number of mobile journalism projects, they have recently expanded on their creativity to highlight issues that are unique to UA, such as fire drill procedures and "girl code" issues as well.  Another group took their creativity to the next level and created a creepy, short movie in the spirit of Halloween.

I do want to again plug the awesomeness which is WeVideo--all of these movies were shot with iPhones, and edited using WeVideo's online editing software.  I am so impressed with not only the quality of these videos but also the vast editing capabilities that WeVideo offers on a web interface that is accessible across all platforms, PC, Mac, or Chromebook (and mobile devices as well!).  If you're a teacher and looking for fantastic sharable editing software that's web-based, check out WeVideo.  You will not be disappointed!  I cannot speak highly enough to it, and how awesome (and fast!) their customer service response is!  Anyways, definitely check it out and give it a whirl in your classroom (or for your own personal video editing use!)

Enjoy these recent videos produced by my fantastic video production students!  Well done ladies!

Mobile Journalism

In my Video Production class, students have been diligently working on various mobile journalism pieces that are use in our bi/tri-weekly UA Today Broadcasts.  They are currently working on new pieces now, but have finalized and begun to show their first pieces on the Broadcasts that are being aired currently.

Before each group made their digital MoJo pieces using WeVideo, they used this template to create a storyboard for their piece--because you HAVE to do an outline/draft before you do the final product, even with videos!

Each group came up with their own stories they wanted to showcase: the new lunch food program in the cafeteria, a fun US trivia challenge with the students, a showcase of a recent concert event (Loufest), and study skills.

Overall, I am very impressed with these ladies' first MoJo pieces!  I cannot wait to see what their subsequent ones look like--I'm sure they'll keep getting better and better!

Also, students did only use their cell phones AND WeVideo to create these pieces--I'm super impressed with that and how these turned out!