“Go Make a Difference” – Lucille’s Story
Telling stories is so crucial to who I am and the work that I do. They are the building blocks that make people who they are.
Creating or telling stories to elicit emotions is what I love to do. The mediums that I typically use to do this are in graphic design and photography. This is where my expertise and formal learning has been focused on.
However, I am always looking to learn new ways to tell stories and create content. A week ago, I began planning for the creation of a mini documentary. If you are interested in my process for that or the full document, check out the blog I put out last week.
This story is about Lucille Marottolo, an employee and alumni if Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. She transferred to the school after not feeling like she was getting what she wanted out of her previous school. 37 years of employment and 3 degrees later, Lucille is still at QU and continues to love it.
I encourage you to watch the mini-documentary above to learn more about Lucille and her journey at Quinnipiac.
Readings
After completing The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video, I took away a lot of information that I was not expecting. When it comes to the technical side of using a camera and composing a good shot, I have a decent level of expertise. This is because I work as a photographer, so many of those skills transferred over.
What was new for me however in the book was the basics. The things that are less complicated to teach but have to be known to create a high-quality film. Things like the 180-degree rule, techniques for recording audio, or basic camera moves were things that I did not know directly by name. Some of it was familiar just from watching and consuming films and videos from other people, but know I know how to implement them into my own work.
Overall, the book is a great starting point for all the basic things you need to know to start shooting video. I would highly recommend it to anyone trying to pick up the skill and encourage them to use the techniques in their own work.
Research
Inside Fall Fest – The Quinnipiac Chronicle
This video is actually a documentary created by a friend for the student newspaper at my school that we both used to work for. It is a story following the behind the scenes work that goes into putting on the annual fall fest concert at the University.
A good example of a J-cut happens early on in the video. You hear the audio from the meeting that was going on before you end up actually seeing anyone talking. This allows the visuals to give context as to where the meeting is happening as you see the “meeting room” sign. It also helps to transition into the part of the video where there is talking as before we just were hearing ambient noise.
Photo News Fix – Jared Polin
This video is a weekly photo-news show that photographer Jared Polin posts to his YouTube channel. Despite the goofy jokes and pop culture references throughout these videos, they are pretty informative about what is happening in the world of photography.
A number of L-cuts can be seen in this video. This is because Jared is often discussing a topic, then they will include visuals of what he is talking about over his voice. One example of this is at 0:19 when Jared is talking about his sponsor. As he is talking about the company, he cuts clips of their website over his voice to give context about what he is discussing. This can be seen a number of times throughout the video.
Hi! My name is Peyton McKenzie.
I am a professional graphic designer, photographer and content creator.
I encourage you to explore my portfolio to get a better idea of the work I create. If you are interested in working with me or have inquiries of any kind, don’t hesitate to reach out over email.