Comms 328 was such a wonderful experience.
This was definitely “my kind of class.” Seriously. If I were to design a class myself and choose what to do…Advanced Backpack Journalism would be it!
Thanks to the basic skills I have learned in the other communication classes (graphic design, video, news writing…etc.), I was finally able to put all those skills to use in this class and really build a portfolio that I am quite proud of.
I especially liked the aspect of freedom included in the class. We could tailor the class based on our individual skills and specialties. People, who have graduated with a communications degree, usually gravitate to a particular niche to specialize in their careers. I think this course was a good way to find our potential niches. At least I found mine!
I am extremely interested in politics and religion. I love writing, but even more than that, I love adding multimedia to a story. Digital links and videos and galleries and maps all make for a beautiful, aesthetic, audience-engaging product. Digital journalism can truly be beautiful. (And so fun to do, might I add). Through the required projects during this course, I have learned certain things about podcasting, package stories, and video.
PODCASTING
So podcasting was a new experience for me! As part of an internship last summer at Glenn Beck’s studios in Dallas, Texas, I worked with his radio podcasts that we would publish on soundcoud.com all the time. But, I never knew how to record my own. Podcasting is actually one of my new favorite things to do now. I want to continue to make more podcasts and become better at it. Podcasting is such a great new and growing way to digitally tell a story. I learned that podcasts can become pretty long…very easily. A good video is good when the audience is interested the entire time and don’t get bored. Therefore fun, engaging, and interesting shots must be executed in order to gain the audience’s interest. You don’t have “visual images” when it comes to podcasting. But I think a podcast is successful when it is edited very carefully. When the dialogue has too much “uhhhs” and “hmmms” and “uuuhmmms,” that gets tiresome to listen to. When the dialogue has interesting material told in an interesting angle, and is altogether brief, the podcast is much more interesting to listen to. I learned that other things that make podcasts more entertaining is the music and the sound effects…etc. For my “Women’s March” podcast, I put in the actual shouts and yelling the women were screaming about Trump being President. Instead of just having my interviewee “talk” about the yelling women, I added the actual yells. My podcast did go a bit long, so in the future, I hope to be able to tell the message I want send in a little shorter amount of time.
PACKAGE STORIES
I love package stories. I think they are so fun to do. I am all about writing and the traditional news story and all that good stuff…but I have to say that digital, package stories make a piece of writing so much more pretty! For this assignment, I went all out. I used the parallax scrolling, videos, fancy fonts, photographs…etc. I went all out! But that is really what engages the audience. This day and age, everything is flashier, prettier, and more colorful. If you want to compete with the rest of the world, you have to stay up to date with media trends. And what’s trending now? Multimedia everything. I am so grateful for a class that taught me how to “survive” in the communications world of this day and age. It isn’t just about writing, although that is a vital skill to have. It’s about being adaptable and versatile. I feel very confident about my skills not only in writing, but in social media, podcasting, video, graphic design, and photography. A resume with all that is a bit more in demand these days. So I am grateful I learned how to create a beautiful story through the means of digital multimedia. Several companies that have viewed my portfolio have specifically commented on how professional looking my package story (“Science: the safest place millennials put their trust”) is. And it is all thanks to the skills I learned from this class and then put to practice!
VIDEO
Video is definitely my favorite way of telling a story. I especially gravitate towards the “documentary style.” People have the most interesting stories. People are all around us! I think it is so important for us to share these important stories with each other. To learn and grow and become inspired by others. For isn’t that the entire reason we are here on earth for this mortal experience? Whether it’s a fun story (like “All in the family: siblings experience BYU together”), or an educational story (like “Science: the safest place millennials put their trust”), or a more inspirational story (like “Faith in Christ brightens a blind student’s world of darkness"), I believe people can feel emotion and learn and think about life a little deeper from these video stories. Let’s first think about how much junk and trash is in this world. There is way too much. Just like the little projects I completed in this course, I hope to be able to continue to write educational, good stories that uplift and inspire.
I am most proud of my story about Erin Nightingale. It was such a fulfilling experience producing her video. After all the interviews and filming and editing, I just felt to inspired and was grateful for the opportunity I had to learn from her. I had no idea the response was going to be so big once it went public. When people started watching the video and posting it on social media…the views and comments skyrocketed. In one day, the video got to 800 views! And it is still growing. (Currently the views are almost at 1K). And the responses on Erin and my facebook pages are heart warming. So many people wrote, ‘Thank you for sharing your story, Erin.’ ‘Erin, you are amazing.’ ‘You are the sweetest Erin, thank you for letting me learn of your amazing story.’ And they just go on and on and on. This is what I want to do. To continue to share good stories that inspire people.
That is what I have learned from this class. I am so grateful I was able to take the class. Thank you for everything Professor Cressman.