Feature Story #2 Experience

For my feature story no. 2, I made my concept focused on debate, specifically Olathe Northwest's speech and debate team. I interviewed a student that has been in debate for two years, Nick Cornell, and the new head coach for our team, Eric Skoglund. 

My Narrative Lead
My narrative lead impacts the work by introducing the contrast of what speech and debate provides for an individual as compared to sports or other extracurricular activities, which are usually discussed more. Occupations like policymaking and law are very specific, and it is typically thought that they cannot be kickstarted in high school- however this is not the case. 

My Two Interviews 
My first interview was Nick Cornell, a debate student. He explained debate from his perspective- what the students do, how you compete, and what is typical of being on the team. He mentions doing research and having intellectual and political discussions with peers. My alternate interview is Eric Skoglund, the head coach of our team. He explains the best part of debate for him, and witnessing how it affects students and their confidence. These two interviews cover all the bases of debate- what it is like for students and participants; and what it is like officially and outside of itself. They, together, tell a complete story of our debate team and the benefits of debate in general.

Shooting 
My video was fairly simplistic to shoot; I used my own Canon T3i for B-Roll and Mr. Skoglund's interview, and couldn't for Nick, so I used the school camera for that portion. However, despite the simplicity of the shots, that is something I could have improved on. Filming 'action' B-Roll for debate is quite arduous considering I can't film a round at a tournament, but it would have been interesting to have shots from a practice round. The other adversity was the fact that my interview with Mr. Skolund was last minute, but the band was creating a bit of a din in the background. I probably should have moved him somewhere else.

Editing
Editing it was easy enough; although balancing out the audio to be just right was a little difficult, considering it was two different cameras and two different mics. I additionally had to use the transform effect on Mr. Skoglund's footage, as it was filmed very crooked. 

Feedback
The class didn't have much negative feedback, except mentioning what I had much dreaded as soon as I noticed it (That there was a person in the reflection behind Nick). The teacher mentioned my other concern in that it was hard to attain very eye-catching B-Roll. Otherwise, it was positive feedback. 

Conclusion 
Overall, I think it has been getting easier to create these convergence videos as I get acclimated to the usual procedures. Making them is a snowball effect of efficiency- each time I make another one, it takes less time and usually is better in at least one aspect.