End of Year Reflection

Its been a solid final year in e-Communication. Nothing too eventful, but I definitely learned a lot.

One of the most useful things I learned this year is how to edit lighting, exposure and saturation in Final Cut Pro. I was editing the Sports Highlights video for the assembly and my classmate Ben Whitney recommended it. It definitely helped improve the quality and overall look of my interviews and added to the Golf joke I had in there. I didn't really face any challenges with it, as it was pretty simple and easy to get the hang of. I learned how to collaborate with other people better to enhance the quality of my packages. A great example is the aforementioned Golf joke, as well as the short video I did on honoring Ventura after he passed. My classmate Riley suggested that I show a tweet, then a clip, and so on and so forth like that. I learned more effective ways of communicating whether or not I'm going to finish a story. It's much better to tell the Producer rather than one of your friends. That way there's time to kind of re-plan the show so it's not in the script and doesn't accidentally get mentioned when we're live. I learned how to better plan interviews and when I need to film so that I have adequate time left afterwards to write the script, edit the video, and get it uploaded to my YouTube channel as well as my portfolio. I also learned how to be a better leader when I produced the show. I had to make sure the script and all of the news packages were going to be finished on time. I also managed the production of the show to ensure that everything went smoothly.

Learning new things definitely helped me identify what I was and wasn't very good at. With that being said, one of my greatest strengths is editing. I think I definitely improved a lot this year since I learned how to edit exposure and saturation, as well as stabilize a shot in Final Cut Pro. I also became a little better at editing highlight videos to the beat. Another one of my strengths is collaboration. I think I work pretty well with others and got a little better at it after receiving tips from classmates about what to do with some of my packages.

A weakness of mine is definitely filming. I think I improved a little bit this year since I tried to bring tripods to every interview and paid closer attention when I'm filming to make sure I'm holding the camera as steady as possible; however, there were slip ups here and there.

Taking from everything I've learned, I'm definitely going to apply these skills in the workforce in Broadcast Journalism. After shadowing a live broadcast of a Motocross event in St. Louis and meeting with a News Anchor from Fox 4, I've been told that I'm miles ahead of where they were at my age, so everything I've learned is going to be extremely useful.

Looking back on everything, I don't think there's anything I would change.

Overall, I think I had a pretty good year and surprisingly I'm not too nervous for College. I'm looking forward to how everything unfolds in college and where this takes me. It's been a long ride, but this next show is my last one. Feels great to finally be done, but it's hard to let go of all the friends I've made because I know there's a good chance I won't see a lot of them again.