How COVID-19 Put Us Into Elite Graduate Schools

Quentin (left) and Ethan (right)

When asked about "the most positive takeaway from the COVID-19 pandemic" many answers included becoming closer with nature, closer relationships with family members, picked up a new hobby, etc. However, my perspective entering the pandemic was a bit different. I viewed the pandemic as a "brief pause" in my life -- a time where I could re-create my narrative for a future that would reshape the course of my professional career. My roommate felt the same way, and so did thousands of other upcoming undergraduates in 2021.

The theme of my news video is that without the COVID-19 pandemic, my roommate, Quentin Van Der Lee, and I would not be attending Southern Methodist University or Cornell Law.

To make this video come to life, I incorporated forms of both A and B roll, as well as implemented a voice-over narration speaking about the background information of each interview and story. 

My favorite aspect of my video was how the video started. I compiled news stories that set the tone of the video -- a tone that even amidst one of the darkest times in recent history, there was a positive that came out of it. 

When beginning to put together this short video, I found myself always changing or altering my original outline. In the middle of filming one scene, I would get an idea and want to act upon it immediately. This continuous pattern left me with a ton of shots, but no solid idea. As a consumer, I never think about how much self-restraint and control creators have when bringing these types of projects to life. Yes, coming up with a new and original idea is hard; however, sticking to that idea is even harder.

Another aspect of videography that struck me as very interesting is the variety of shots a creator can have of the same scene and how much it can change the viewer's interpretation. For example, I tended to find myself relying on longer shots to fill transitional periods within my video. However, when I wanted to focus on a certain aspect or main point the shots became medium and close. I believe this relates to wanting to bring my viewer's attention closer to analyze and listen to what the narrator is saying.

Medium shot of Quentin 

Overall, what worked best for my video was utilizing the shots I had from our senior night soccer game the previous weekend. It allowed me to use a variety of shots: close, medium, and long, without losing cohesion throughout the video. Without them, my video may have been too sporadic and may have lost the viewer.

What I could have done differently was implementing a better method of catching narrative audio for I felt that there were parts of the video where the volume may have been higher than others. This was due heavily to background noise or even my distance from the mic on my iPhone. I understand now the heightened importance of a good microphone. iPhones can achieve the purpose of this video project, but for a high-quality video -- it fails to satisfy the cleanliness of sound that a microphone offers.

In the end, this video was drastically different from my first draft -- in both quality and creativity. It pushed me to find new ways of capturing the essence of the message I wanted to communicate with the viewer without boring them with long-winded explanations. I am very happy to have completed this project and believe that it provided me with some lessons that I can apply in other forms of presentation.