Overview
Multimedia Journalism at The Daily Californian was part of the newspaper's initiative to incorporate digital media and new forms of storytelling. Thanks to the fast pace of the news cycle, our team had to film, edit, and publish videos quickly. As newspaper staff, I also published columns and infographics.
Summary: Publishing videos on Daily Cal's website and YouTube and Facebook pages
Audience: Viewers on campus, YouTube community
Highlights
A controversial video that was popular on Reddit and garnered 700,000+ views on YouTube. It was awarded Best News Video from the California College Media Association.
Exploring the Intellectual Playground
My graduation farewell column
This feature takes a look at the important role Cal's marching band plays in school spirit on campus.
Letting It Go
A Disney-themed meditation on life's irritations
Tools Used
DSLR camera, lavalier mike, Adobe Premiere Pro, YouTube, Ableton Live
Process
Understand & Explore
The first step in any story was to understand the key people involved - the "stakeholders." Often this is the mastermind of a protest or the leader of a group at an event. It's best to get people from opposing points of views to understand a conflict (good stories often center on a conflict).
Define & Ideate
I can get a good idea of how the story will flow from talking to the stakeholders or reading press releases. I'll know what kind of quotes I want to include in the video, so I'll ask someone to describe an event or protest to get a "summary" quote before digging into how they feel about it. The fun part of each shoot is collecting B-roll footage from my surroundings to set the scene.
Implement
After I collect the footage, I load the clips back at the office and start editing. The story structure emerges - I search for the right quotes to open and close the video, then match B-roll shots on top of the relevant interviews. It’s actually similar to editing a written article. If music is necessary, I'll write my own music or request a clip from a music producer.
Iterate
The Multimedia editor has to approve a video before publishing it to make sure the story make sense and complies with paper guidelines. The video could go through multiple iterations during this process before being published on YouTube, Facebook, and the Daily Cal website.
Conclusion
I found that I improved with each video. Once, I got a nasty shock when I played back my clips and heard only silence. After that fiasco, I made sure to test my microphones before every interview.
It’s always a great feeling when people appreciate that I took the time to tell their stories. Journalism is most rewarding when I make connections with people and communities.