Overview
The first step to completing an advanced feature news story is to brainstorm concept ideas. Topics ranging from broad current events to unique personal stories can be covered in the news. When writing news stories for Olathe Northwest, students do their best to link topics back to the school community. Throughout the brainstorming process, it is important to delineate the accessibility of subjects and locations to film. It is required to have at least two delayed leads and possible sets. Once completed, the film process begins.
Story Concept
Returning from a prolonged absence, I was pleased to find that my team was ahead of the game. They had confidently decided on covering the story of French foreign-exchange student, Louis Lambert, who had just arrived in America three months prior. With my pre-decided role as cinematographer, I swiftly slipped into work alongside my team. We began scheduling interviews and communicating with our subject on when he was available.
Process
Director Michael Decker kept in contact with our subject as we scripted our inquiries about Louis. Questions poured from our minds onto the document and before we knew it, we had a gratuitous amount of complex topics, as well as a few trivial. Once the interview was completed, we were excited to edit and present the finished cut to Louis, as he was equally excited to see the final version. With much difficulty, we cut down the interview into segments and decided on a less broad topic to edit with decisiveness. Removing most sport discussion and focusing on cultural boundaries, we began editing. With the interview covered, we only needed b-roll to satisfy the film requirements. Unfortunately, our subject explained that he wasn't carrying any footage nor pictures other than a few glossy, printed photos of him playing soccer which wouldn't fit into the story. That's when panic began to settle into our stomachs like hardening cement. With kinks in the deadline causing it approach faster than the speed of light, we scrambled to craft a voice-over and acquire footage to lay over the interview. As cinematographer, I feel as though I failed. The deadline caught up to me and I was only able to turn in a high-quality interview synced alongside low quality b-roll and voice-overs. As the semester comes to a close, I hope to complete this project for Louis, as I don't want to disappoint him.
Conclusion
Days subsequent to the deadline, I'm still struggling to decide how I would like to complete this piece, or if it's even worth finishing. With upcoming finals I'm struggling to find motivation, but I'm determined to finish this for Louis before winter-break. Whether or not it's actually presentable is undecided. Only time can tell, I suppose.
