Five Questions Interview Example

 

An assignment I enjoy in my television production class is called "Five Questions." Students work in three- member teams as producers-videographers, interview hosts and guests. 

The student behind the camera directs the show and records specific shots needed to piece the completed interview so it looks like there were two cameras in use, not just one. 

The students learn about two shots, reverse questions, and listening or cutaway shots. 

And they are instructed on different techniques and tools when editing their interviews on Adobe Premiere Pro. 

Below you can see the interview that I produced using Carroll Kelley's video. 

Jalen Gasque interviewed Dominic Reaves, a defensive back on SC State's football team. 

Carroll will still produce the piece himself. I wanted to do it for demonstration purposes. 

The interview runs about three minutes. Last class, I showed the students my Premiere Pro process (below) and how to tweak things such as audio levels, color quality, as well as adding supers, titles and music, then exporting the finished project before posting it on my YouTube channel. 

Fall 2025 First TV Production Project

In my Television Production class, I call the first assignment "Me in 30 Seconds." It gives the students early exposure and experience in front of and behind the camera. 

During previous classes, we went over camera, microphone, tripod and lighting operations. And I gave the students tips on speaking on camera. In this photo, Summer Gray is speaking with Dallas Barnes recording her. RJ Steadman is the timekeeper. 

Like many things in television production, this project must be carefully timed: as close to 30 seconds as possible. A cue is given when there are 10 seconds left. Reshoots are OK. 

The project also involves putting the video on YouTube, so I did that on my channel. Below is the unedited version. 

Adobe Premiere Pro: Scale to Frame Size and Cropping Clips

 In Adobe Premiere Pro if your video clip doesn't look right when you put it in the storyboard, then right click on the clip and scroll down to "Scale to Frame Size." 

If a clip will look better if it is cropped, do the steps shown in this brief tutorial to crop the top, bottom and sides as you see fit.

Here is my brief demo video showing how these tools are used. Thank you to Delano Whitfield for use of his back-to-school clip! 

Here is a screenshot showing show the process to do this. 

Adobe Premiere Pro 2022 Version Tutorial

 For my Basic Television Production class, I produced a step-by-step using Adobe Premiere Pro 2022 tutorial. 

See the YouTube link below. To the right is the Premiere interface from a completed project. That is a short introductory video I am having the students do as their first project. 

Here is the tutorial: 

And here is the short video I produced as an example for the students. They are doing a 30 video introducing themselves and talking about things such as what they like about going to SC State. 

Fixing Poor Lighting in Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro is a truly powerful editing tool used mostly for video but also still photographs.

This post shows how video clips can be lightened or darkened. Ideally, interviews, b-roll and other types of video shots look perfect when done in the field.

But should that not be the case, this brief tutorial found on YouTube can help.

Here is an example of using this Premiere Pro lighting tool to improve a video clip. Below are still shots before and after. 

In my video production and editing class I gave the students a basic first assignment to post a 30-second video. Introduce yourself and/or talk about what you like about going to school at SC State.  Pretty simple assignment, but one that also brings into play on-camera presentation and delivery and shooting, composing video and getting good audio.

News "Quick Takes" November 2016

"Quick Takes" is a video production and reporting project I have my SC State student do. They are to gather clips on three different topics, preferably timely things in news, sports and/or entertainment. Then, using Adobe Premiere Pro's "picture in picture" (PIP) feature, the students inject reporting or commentary over the three videos.