Friday, April 7

Using Google Video

Showcasing Student Work!
Thanks to Google Video, I'm able to showcase student work at WCN. This first showcase features the work of Mike Wolenski as well as Luke Garrett.

You may recall my blog entry in Feburary where I related details about how these two young men currently work weekends
as newscast directors at competing Youngstown television stations (while they participate in a full-time class schedule at Westminster).

It turns out both are also enrolled in my BC 312 course (Broadcast Journalism II/Television Reporting). Sure they're cordial to each other and some might even suggest friends, but deep inside burns an intense rivalry (LOL).


The first story comes from Mike Wolenski. After holding the Northwest Regional Science Olympiad for nearly 20 years Westminster College says goodbye to the event. The final Westminster-based Science Olympiad welcomed 900 high school and middle school students. The County Line's Mike Wolenski shows us how some of these students tested their skills, knowledge and problem-solving skills.


The next story is from Luke Garrett (a BC Capstone Weblogger). The County Line's Luke Garrett takes a different approach to storytelling by staying behind the camera shooting and producing a video essay profiling a Lawrence County man known as Cowboy Rick on the chainsaw carving circuit. This story introduces us to this colorful neighbor who wants to become a full-time chainsaw wielding wood carver.



So what do you think about their stories? What do you think about showcasing their work on Google Video and my blog? I welcome all feedback!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

where's this old cowboy from?

Mike Wolenski said...

I'm a big fan of embedding the video with google video. It's great that it doesn't have to launch Windows Media Player to play the clips. Later Tonight I plan on uploading a slideshow and montage of interviews from Relay For Life.
I really like the way my science olympiad story came out. I think it's one of the best stories I have done to date which is great because it was also my deadline project. I like the texture that all of the short soundbytes give it. I also like that I was able to keep the voiceovers short.
I was worried that I would date the story espicially because there is no County Line next week. But I was able to make the story about the students learning and having fun, instead of the event taking place. That makes a much more compelling story because it's about people and people make for good stories.
Luke did a nice job with his chainsaw story too. Lots of NAT sound and well shot. However I like my story better because it moves faster. I'm also not a big fan of the video essays that don't have a reporter because the sound bytes tend to have to drag on to get all of the information in. Like John McQuiston said in his DVD we watched in BC312 you should only use sound bytes to portray the emotions that you can't write. When you do a video essay you're forced into having sound bytes be narration.