For my video story, I wanted to highlight our veterinary clinic on Fort Drum. With COVID-19 going on, there’s been a lot of coverage and gratitude for the outstanding work healthcare workers have done. But, it’s easy to forget those who keep the other members of our families healthy and I wanted to tell the story of how they adapted to the new norm we find ourselves in.
I began the creation of this project by coordinating a time I could shoot video and record an interview with Capt. Breanna Johnson, the Fort Drum chief of veterinary services. We agreed on a day when she had plenty of appointments and I arrived ready to shoot.
I filmed the day’s appointments and my interview on my Nikon D-7500. This was the first time I’ve tried shooting video for a story using a DLSR instead of a digital video camera. I found the quality of the video to be much better than with my work’s Panasonic P2HD.
When filming, I tried to utilize the 5-shot method as much as possible; however, the confined spaces in the exam rooms, coupled with the unpredictable movement of the pets, didn’t always make it possible.
For my interview with Capt. Johnson, I set up my Nikon on my tripod, attached a lavalier wireless microphone and an LED camera light. I then asked a series of pre-drafted questions to record some good sound bites to use in my video story.
Once all of my video was collected, I created a new project in Premiere and imported all of my footage. I knew I wanted to create a narrative news story, so I went through my interview footage and created sub-clips of good soundbites. Once I had all of my soundbites, I knew how to draft my narrative. I then hooked my wireless mic up to my camera, recorded my narration, and dropped the file into my bin.
Now that I had all my digital media in my bin to make my story, I began organizing my audio soundbites along with my interview footage. Once everything was lined up the way I wanted, I could then start to layer supporting video on top of the narration.
I wanted to start my video with a shot of the exterior of the vet clinic, so I decided to start with a video of the clinic’s sign. I used the “dip to black” video transition to fade into the opening clip. I also used keyframes to have the audio fade in at the beginning.
I kept adding video to my timeline, adjusting the sound so it wouldn’t overpower my main audio. I wanted to ensure the start of my interview soundbites with Capt. Johnson didn’t start right away with her video, so I unlinked the video from the audio so I could drag the video and add video to go over the first part of her soundbite. Normally, I wouldn’t have to do this, but I had already placed her video on V2 instead of V1, and the supporting b-roll on V1, which means the interview footage took priority. It was just easier for me to adjust the video instead of changing everything to V1.
Toward the end of my video, I wanted a good way to direct the viewers to the vet clinic’s Facebook page, so I took a screenshot of their Facebook page, imported it into a new file in Photoshop (which I created with a 16×9 in. ration to match the video, and made a few minor edits to ensure my personal Facebook information wasn’t showing. I then dropped the newly created JPG file into my bin and added it to my timeline. I stretched it to be a reasonable length and added keyframes in the Position and Scale effects in Effect Controls to have the photo zoom out from the dog’s face to full frame. I also had to add cross dissolves to the final few video and photo clips to ensure a smooth transition between each.
Toward the end of my timeline, I ensured I had video stretch about two seconds past the end of my sign off and I added a “dip to black” transition on the video and added keyframes to the audio so it would go up after my narration and back down to fade out at the end of the timeline.
Once I was happy with the final product, I exported the media in H.264 format so it would export as an mp4 file. I then uploaded the final product to my YouTube page.
Thank you for taking the time to watch my video. I hope you enjoy.
Fort Drum Veterinary Clinic Video Storyboard
Timestamp Visuals Audio
0:00 Blank video n/a
0:02 Fade into Vet clinic sign Breeze fade-in
0:04 Vet clinic sign Begin narration
0:06 Building front Narration
0:10 CPT Johnson – close Narration
0:14 CPT Johnson w/ pet – mid Narration
0:17 cont. CPT Johnson w/ pet– mid Begin CPT Johnson interview
0:18 CPT Johnson interview CPT Johnson interview
0:26 Close-up of dog paw CPT Johnson interview
0:29 Soldier face close-up CPT Johnson interview
0:32 Soldier petting dog Begin narration
0:35 Close shot of clinic staff Narration
member on phone
0:39 Close shot of hands on keyboard Narration
0:42 Mid shot of clinic staff Narration
member on phone
0:44 Front of clinic shot Begin second part of CPT Johnson
interview
0:47 CPT Johnson interview CPT Johnson interview
0:53 Clinic staff member with CPT Johnson interview
customer at car
0:56 Clinic staff member bringing pet CPT Johnson interview
inside clinic
1:00 Vet tech with cat carrier Begin narration
1:03 Close shot of vet tech face Narration
1:07 Cat on table, close shot Narration
1:12 Vet techs working with cat Narration
1:16 Begin CPT Johnson interview Begin CPT Johnson interview
1:26 CPT Johnson working with dog CPT Johnson interview
1:30 Close shot of tech’s face Begin narration
1:33 Close shot of hands on dog Narration
1:35 Mid shot of vet working on dog Narration, begin CPT Johnson
interview
1:40 Begin CPT Johnson interview CPT Johnson interview
1:47 Zoom out shot of MWD board CPT Johnson interview
1:53 Cross dissolve into close shot Begin narration
of Soldier petting dog
1:57 Cross dissolve into photo of Narration
Vet Clinic Facebook page
2:03 Cross dissolve into cat in carrier Narration to sign off
2:05 Second cat in carrier -fade Sign off narration
to black
Hi! Your blog has been my favorite to follow so I knew this would be good but I had no idea how good. I am impressed. I think you showcased the veterinary hospital very well. I liked how it went from slide to slide and faded out from one and then into the next one. I also like how you were talking about taking appointments over the phone and then showing the person on the phone and the other parts where it lined up like that. I would like to see a starting page and/or an ending page. Adding a page that introduces it or adding a text page at the end with text box saying who created it I think would make it more personalized. Thank you for sharing and thank them for being open through this pandemic for the animals.
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Hi Warren,
You have got to slow down, this is a draft, give the rest of us a chance. Just kidding keep the throttle high. This is a wonderful news item that is technically perfect to my eyes. I appreciate that you detailed the equipment you used as the wireless microphone would be a good addition to my kit. The lighting, sound and editing flowed really nicely and would fit well into any news broadcast.
It is always interesting to learn about life on base and seeing the veterinary professionals at work was compelling. The circumstances of covid19 and the adjustments of procedures will make this video a good snapshot of life during this time in general but also at Ft. Drum. The only room for improvement or part I was left wondering about was if anyone can see the vets at Ft. Drum or just Army families? Great job on this project and I enjoyed watching it.
Thanks,
Evan
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I really liked your use of a logo in the video at the very start. Your narration is also very clear. You were able to capture the video in different angles very well. Is there any supporting text you can add to the video or different type of transitions? For instance, including the link of the Facebook page. Are there any ambient sounds you can add?
This is very well done. Even with the types of interview questions you were asking that allowed the individual to dive deep in the explanation. Great job!
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Hi Warren,
Thanks for sharing your video project. This was an interesting view of how vets are changing their practices during this challenging time. I thought you did a great job with your intro and ending clips, zooming in on the veterinary clinic’s Facebook page was a nice touch. Your production is professional and polished, great work. The only critique I have is that the audio was not lined up with the video when it showed your interview footage with the veterinarian. I am not sure if that is a problem with your video or if my connection was lagging.
Nice work!
Rachel
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For my project, I wanted to focus on something that many people probably don’t think about when they think about healthcare. I’m glad the professionals at the Fort Drum Veterinary Clinic gave me the opportunity to come out and cover how they’ve adjusted to COVID-19.
My first self-critique is how I collected my footage. The space inside the exam rooms was pretty tight, which made for getting varying shot types a little difficult. I also don’t think I got enough video of the vet techs’ interactions with customers at their cars. That made editing a bit difficult as I didn’t have the shots I exactly wanted, so I had to make do with what I had. I also probably had too much video. It made going through it all and deciding what I was going to use and what I was going to discard hard.
Next, I think my video is a little too “basic news” for me. When I go back to re-edit my video project, I want to make it more into a multi-media type of product by adding music and getting rid of the lower thirds for some more creative text to identify the location and the interviewee.
As far as my interview, I think I did a good job capturing great audio and video of Capt. Johnson. Her interview really makes the entire story come to life. I’m lucky I have a DSLR and access to an LED light, which only helped to make my interview pop that much more.
Thank you for watching.
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