New School Year Video Project

The new school year is underway at South Carolina State University!

In my Basic Television Production class, we got off to a fast start. The students have had some training on the nice Panasonic cameras we have along with microphones, tripods and lights. A couple classes later the students broke into small teams to shoot a project called "Me in 30 Seconds." They all introduce themselves and talk about their outlooks for the new school year, what they like about going to SC State, whatever they want to talk about really. 

As a demonstration, and to test the equipment, I shot this video in our classroom in Turner Hall. 

 

There is a second phase to this first video project. Once all of the students have access to the university's Adobe Creative Cloud programs, which include the Premiere Pro video editing software, this video will be trimmed, a title will be added with the student's names, and some music added to accentuate the production. 

Here is a better version of this clip. The audio is trimmed so it's tight, a "super" showing my name has been added, the clip has been brightened a little bit, I have also added some music to the background, and I have cropped the video so the window in the background is eliminated.  The music came from a free music site called Incompetech.

The Brains Behind the Bronze Busts

 

He is the brains and brawn behind the busts! (hear my report here!)

On February 8 at the ceremony to unveil the bronze busts of the young men killed on this date 54 years ago- what became known as the Orangeburg Massacre- an S-C State art professor from Nigeria took a well-deserved bow. 

Dr. Tolulope (two-loo-loo-pay) Filani sculpted in clay the heads of the three young men who perished on that tragic night in 1968. 

By now most people who work and study on the S-C State campus 

have seen Filani's creations. They are displayed at the new and improved Smith Hammond Middleton Legacy Plaza. But it's safe to say not many know whose skillful hands crafted the three likenesses. 

Know you will know!  Filani came to S-C State in 2006. He is now chair of the university's fine arts department. Filani says the idea of sculpting the Orangeburg Massacre victims came to him when he first visited the school. 

SOT: :21 Filani  (counter- :26-:49)
In: When I came in
Out: had to work 

Soundbite Selection Exercise: Orangeburg Native Reflects on February 1968 SC State Shootings

Note: This post was updated in February 2024

February 8, 1968 was a day of infamy for people in and around Orangeburg, S.C. On that evening the tragic event occurred that became immortalized as the Orangeburg Massacre. 

In 1968, Sandra Paul Miller (pictured left) was a junior at Wilkinson High School (now Orangeburg-Wilkinson H.S.). She knows all too well what happened that bloody night. She says, in fact, she likely would have been on the SC State campus among the 200 or so people gathered, except for her mother.

Listen to Ms. Miller's own voice here.
SOT: :06
Incue: It just so happens...
Outcue: I just missed it

My SC State students and I had the pleasure of meeting Miller when we went to the old All-Star Bowling Lanes to speak with Ellen Zisholtz who is leading an ambitious project to restore the bowling alley and also make the site on Russell Street a Civil Rights Museum. 

Miller is very excited about the plans to reopen the old bowling alley that was the impetus for the fatal shootings more than half a century ago when students from SC State and Claflin tried to integrate it. They just wanted to bowl but the White owner refused to let them in.  

Hear Miller here
SOT: :48
In: Well I tell you what...
Out: better for them

Three young men died as a result of law enforcement opening fire on the crowd of gatherers. What exactly sparked the barrage of gunfire is still disputed. Miller was a classmate of Delano Middleton, one of the three fatally shot victims. She shared this remembrance of the 17-year-old. She knew him from school.
                                        SOT: :14
                                        In: And it was a very sad day...
                                        Out: happened to him 

                                                    Delano Herman Middleton (1950-1968) 

Sandra Paul Miller's last words to us were that people today need to know what happened all those years ago. She says it's important...it's imperative...it's inspirational. 

February 1, 2024- students in my BC 203 Radio Production class visit the plaza where the busts of the three slain young men are immortalized on the SC State campus. 

(Note: Regarding the purpose of this class project, by selecting three soundbites from the Sandra Paul Miller interview, it will be easier next to write and produce a radio-style report with the student's voice and her SOTs combined to make a compelling report.)

To hear the full 7:30 interview, click here.

SC State News Release on Feb. 8, 2022 New Orangeburg Massacre Monument

 

Feature Story Lead Sentences- Same Story, Different Types

 

This is an exercise for my Feature Writing class to help the students understand the different ways that news and feature stories can begin, ie their first or lead sentences. 

There are a lot of tools the writer can use to begin a story so how about trying to write the different types of feature leads for the same story? 

The story used here is from Jan. 30, 2022 about how in some U.S. cities old churches that have lost all or much of their congregations are being repurposed. Here is a link to the Associated Press story.

The Leads: 

Hard News Lead: Some old churches in America that for various reasons have lost their congregations are being repurposed. 

Quotation Lead: "The Spirit has been guiding us in places where we never imagined going on our own." So says a Minneapolis minister about his Lutheran church's new life as a community center. 

Question Lead and Direct Address Lead:  What if your nearby church was no longer religious? Sounds strange but this is a trend across America,

Ironic Lead: A new trend is underway in America: churches that aren't really churches anymore. 

Anecdote: In Minneapolis, there are places you can go for art workshops, nutrition clinics, child preschools, even lessons in the Finnish and Swahili languages. The one-stop shop is a church. 

Suspenseful Lead: It is not what churches were built to do, but in these crazy and difficult times it's a trend that fits the 2020s. 

Shocker Lead: There are more and more churches in America where it's fine to leave your wallets at home. No collection plates are passed to the congregation. 

Words Used in Unusual Ways Lead: At some U.S. churches where the flocks of congregants are gone, new flocks have been found.  

What Does Your Covid Mask Say About You?

Yes, inquiring minds want to know! What does your Covid prevention facemask say about you?

The facemasks we have to wear (again argh!) this semester to our SC State classes, do you put much thought into it? Are you styling some, or are you content with the plain Jane ones? Here's what some Bulldogs have to say on this matter. 

Benjamin Gadson is a junior communications major from Fairfax, S.C. (near Allendale). He's a musical guy and is a member of the prestigious Phi Mu Alpha fraternity, "the world's oldest and largest secret national fraternal society in music," according to its website.  The SC State chapter is called Nu Iota SC State. 

On this day Ben is wearing a Phi Mu Alpha shirt and he says the harp on his facemask is a symbol of his fraternity. Ben is in SC State's band, The Marching 101.  His instrument is the euphonium. I have never heard of that, so asked Ben what it is. "It's a member of the low brass family," he says. "It's sort of like a fat trumpet." 

Click here for Ben's comments about his special musical mask. 

Soundbite Selection From Ellen Zisholtz Bowling Alley Restoration Interview

 

Ellen Zisholtz inside the old bowling alley
(Photos courtesy Charleston Post and Courier)

An important future may be in store for an old bowling alley in Orangeburg that was pivotal in the tragic day in 1968 that became known as the Orangeburg Massacre.  

The long-closed All Star Triangle lanes on Russell Street will have a bright future if former SC State museum director Ellen Zisholtz (pictured) has her way. She is leading an effort to restore the bowling alley and make it into a Civil Rights museum. And, yes, people will again be able to bowl there!