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 began to create my first draft by starting 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.
After I received some critique and feedback on my first draft, I went to work on my second draft. One of the key pointers I received was to add music to my video. Being that my video was more of a news piece, I knew I needed to move in a different direction, so I decided to transition my video into more of a multi-media project.
I started by removing all of my narration. I then began to replace my narration with text by using the Type Tool. I then went into the Graphics window and created a box by clicking and holding onto the Pen Tool, then selecting Rectangle Tool. I placed the box over the text, moved its position in the Edit box, and adjusted the opacity. I then copied and pasted the text to the other areas of the timeline, where I needed the graphic and changed the text to match what I needed in those areas. I then added various transitions to the text.
Within the text, I also changed the font color to highlight key words.
This is to help the viewer identify key pieces of information should they miss something while reading.
Next, I added credits by using the Text Tool to create additional text graphics at the end. I then used dip to black to fade the credits in and out.
For my music, I used a track from a music package I bought from Wavetracks Music. I went through the timeline and used keyframes to fade in and out the music where the interview soundbites began and ended.
I then went through and did some additional polishing of my clips to make sure the video was the best it could be.
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
0:00.5 Blank video Fade-in music
0:01 Fade in video of vet clinic Background music
sign
0:03 Split transition – 1st text graphic Background music
0:06 Front of building – 1st text Background music
graphic
0:10 CPT Johnson face – 1st text Background music
graphic
0:14 CPT Johnson w/ pet – 1st Background music
text graphic
0:15 CPT Johnson w/ pet – fade out Background music
1st text graphic
0:17 CPT Johnson w/ pet Fade-out background music –
fade-in Johnson interview
0:19 CPT Johnson interview – fade Johnson interview
in Johnson text
0:25 CPT Johnson interview – fade Johnson interview
out Johnson text
0:27 Close-up of dog paw Johnson interview
0:29 Soldier face close-up Johnson interview
0:32 Soldier petting dog – Fade-out Johnson interview –
fade-in 2nd text graphic fade-up background music
0:35 Close shot of clinic staff member Background music
on phone – 2nd text graphic
0:37 Close shot of clinic staff member Background music
on phone – 2nd to 3rd text graphic
wipe transition
0:39 Close shot of hands on keyboard, Background music
3rd text graphic
0:42 Mid shot of clinic Soldier, 3rd Background music
text graphic
0:44 Front of clinic shot – fade-out Background music fade-down –
3rd text graphic Fade-in Johnson interview
0:47 CPT Johnson interview Johnson interview
0:53 Clinic staff member with Johnson interview
customer at car
0:57 Cross dissolve to clinic staff Johnson interview
member bringing pet inside clinic
0:59 Staff member carrying pet – Split Fade-out interview – Fade-up
transition to 4th text graphic background music
1:00 Vet tech with cat carrier – 4rd text Background music
graphic
1:03 Close shot of vet tech face – Background music
4rd text graphic
1:06 Close shot of vet tech face – wipe Background music
transition to 5th text graphic
1:07 Cat on table, close shot – 5th text Background music
graphic
1:12 Vet techs working with cat – 5th Background music
text graphic
1:14 Vet techs working with cat – cross Background music
dissolve 5th text graphic out
1:16 Begin CPT Johnson interview Fade-down background music –
fade-up Johnson interview
1:25.5 CPT Johnson working w/ dog Johnson interview
1:30.5 Close shot of tech’s face Fade-out Johnson interview –
fade-up music
1:31 Close shot of tech’s face – split Background music
transition 6th text graphic
1:33 Close shot of hands on dog – Background music
6th text graphic
1:35 Mid shot of vet working on dog – Background music
6th text graphic
1:38 Mid shot of vet working on dog – Fade-down background music –
cross dissolve 6th graphic out fade-up Johnson interview
1:40 CPT Johnson interview Johnson interview
1:48 Zoom out shot of MWD board Johnson interview
1:53 Cross dissolve into close shot Fade-out Johnson interview –
of Soldier petting dog – fade-up background music
Split transition 7th text graphic
1:57 Cross dissolve into Facebook page Background music
photo – 7th text graphic
2:03 Cross dissolve into cat in carrier – Background music
7th text graphic
2:05 Second cat in carrier – cross Begin fade-out of background
dissolve 7th text graphic out music
2:08 Dip to black Complete music fade-out
2:09 Dip to black 1st credit n/a
2:16 Dip to black 2nd credit n/a
