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Knight Center’s spring workshops end on a high note
Photo by: Deborah Acosta
Kristin Volk and Ben Harper speak with students at a special video journalism workshop hosted by the Knight Center for International Media.
Social network guru, Alex de Carvalho, led the last of six workshops the Knight Center hosted this semester.
"More and more people are engaging in the conversation online,” said de Carvalho. “Social media has grown so quickly that for continued effective communication, using these tools is no longer optional. It is required."
Trevor Green, Knight Center’s video editor and operations assistant, also contributed to the training.
“It was great to get a chance to share my experiences as a video editor with top people in the field of journalism and media relations,” he said.
Green led all lessons for faculty and staff, which were cumulative and focused this semester on Web news video production, an essential skill for anyone in the communications’ field.
The training included basic video shooting techniques – using both mini-DV and Flip Video cameras – and video editing with Final Cut Pro. In the last session with de Carvalho, Green taught participants how to properly export their video for the Web.
All sessions were hands-on, personalized and designed to address specific questions pertinent to each participant’s skill level and needs.
Participants ranged from members of the University Communication’s Office of Media Relations to Ph.D students and faculty members who are teaching journalism classes at the School of Communication.
“I am starting to feel comfortable with the equipment, and that will help me make the students more comfortable with it, too,” said School of Communication journalism faculty member Yves Colon.
Margot Winick, assistant vice president for Media Relations, said she appreciated the small size of classes of about five people, which allowed for personalized lessons. She had only one complaint. “Offer options more frequently,” she said, suggesting the need for more time to work on projects and possibly even assignments in between lessons.
All sessions lasted three hours and were held on Fridays, 2 pm to 5 pm, except for a video journalism workshop for students, which started at 1 pm.
At the beginning of the semester, coinciding with the 2009 WeMedia conference held annually at the University of Miami, the Knight Center brought two top professionals from Washington, D.C., to host this special training session, where students were shown examples of good video journalism on the Web and had an opportunity to shoot and edit their own news stories that ended up posted on UPI.
Kristin Volk, the director of UPI.com's online video news department, and Ben Harper, a State Department’s video producer and editor, spent four hours working with 10 students, both undergraduate and graduate. The student-reporters were exposed to new media reporting concepts and learned hands-on video shooting and editing techniques.
“It was very informative because it showed how to make a video from start to finish,” said Virginia Gil, print journalism graduate student, who like many other had only one negative comment. “No Fridays, please.” Three videos from this workshop were published on UPI’s Public Health Feature section:
Should parents have access to student health records?
Stress management: How do students unwind?
Skin cancer: Are students worried?
KNIGHT CENTER WORKSHOPS - SPRING 2009 FULL SCHEDULE
For SoC faculty and staff
Friday, February 20, 2009 2:00 pm - 5 pm @ room 3032 Instructor: Trevor Green Video production and shooting: sound, lights and action – (Mini-DV)
Friday, March 6, 2009 2:00 pm - 5 pm @ room 3032 Instructor: Trevor Green How to get the best of Flip Videos cameras and import the clips into Final Cut
Friday, March 27, 2009 2:00 pm - 5 pm @ room 3032 Instructor: Trevor Green Introduction to video editing - Final Cut (Flip and mini-DV)
Friday, April 10, 2009 2:00 pm - 5 pm @ room 3032 Instructor: Trevor Green Advanced video editing - Final Cut
Friday, April 24, 2009 2:00 pm - 5 pm @ room 3032 Instructors: Trevor Green & Alex de Carvalho Exporting on different formats and posting video online
Video journalism workshop for SoC students Friday, February 27, 2009 @1 pm – 5 pm, room 3032
Special Guests: Kristin Volk, a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, is in the business of storytelling. She is currently the director of UPI.com's online video news department, a department she established in 2006. In addition to overseeing the production of video content, she also produces news packages for UPI.com, researching, writing, shooting and editing each piece. Prior to UPI.com, Volk Harper worked for Potomac Television in Washington, D.C., as a field producer and reporter. With a microphone in hand, she often interviewed notables like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama. She has also worked for ABC 20/20 and Primetime in New York and WTVG 13 ABC as an investigative producer in her hometown of Toledo, OH. Ben Harper, State Department video producer and editor, has been shooting and editing video for the better part of the last decade. He has shot for television stations, documentary productions and everything in between -- on both sides of the camera and in the edit room. He has been working as a videographer and editor in Washington, D.C., for the past four years covering the events and the decision-makers that help shape this country. Along the way, he has developed a sense of what really matters at the heart of a story and how best to engage the intended audience.
Posted on April 30, 2009
