Social Media Use Analysis: Stokes Mazda, North Charleston

For this project, I chose a local company that I am very familiar with. It is Stokes Mazda on Ashley Phosphate Road in North Charleston. This is where I bought a new car, a Mazda 6, in October 2014. I had just taken my teaching job at SC State University and felt I needed new wheels for the daily commute to and from Orangeburg, which is almost 70 miles from where I live. 

Stokes Mazda is only three or four miles from my house. It is the only place I have taken my car for service. I like the proximity, the showroom, the people in the service department are professional and friendly, and the quality of the work is excellent. 

This car, which cost just north of $30,000, should be paid off in March 2021. I've piled more than 150,000 miles on it to date but it has been pretty much trouble-free (knock on the leather seating) and I plan to hold on to it for years to come. It will be great for family finances to not have the monthly $475 payment, for sure. 

Finding Feature Lead Examples Assignment

In my Feature/Magazine Writing class (Jour 360) I have given the students an assignment to find examples of feature leads from newspapers, magazines, online news sources, etc.

There are nine types and it will be challenging for the students to find at least one example of each type:

Ø  Anecdote- start with an insightful short story

Ø  Description- set the mood by describing how someone or something looks

Ø  Quotation- good if it catchy, insightful

Ø  Question- pose an engaging question

Ø  Suspenseful leads- intrigue makes a reader keep reading

Ø  Ironic leads- play on the unexpected

Ø  Direct-address- use of “you” as if talking directly to the reader 

Ø  Words used in unusual ways- be clever and creative with the English language

Ø  Shockers: lead with an unexpected twist

ANECDOTE LEAD 

Time magazine- Jan. 14, 2022

Cover story on Hollywood producer Shonda Rhimes

The Lead: 

Shonda Rhimes and I are deep into conversation about what makes a healthy work environment when she has to stop me from saying something ridiculous.

Comment: Starts to tell an insightful story that gives insight into Rhimes' personality. 

DESCRIPTION LEAD

Time magazine- Dec. 27, 2021

The Lead: 

Around 9 p.m. on July 27, as Simone Biles soared high above the vault at the Tokyo Olympics, she lost herself. You could see the confusion in her eyes..."

Comment: Shares the incident when Biles felt "the twisties" that freaked her out some! 

See this link for another anecdotal lead, this one is in a business story about the effect the "soaring" U.S. dollar is having around the world.  

MORE ANECDOTAL  LEADS

(Above) Former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley officially announces she will run for president of the United States. This is from the Charleseton Post and Courier on Feb. 2, 2023. 

The lead: "It was the 1970s, and Nikki Randhawa was having trouble fitting in at Bamberg Elementary. 

         Her father wore a turban. Here mother wore a sara. (continues)

 

Comment: This lead tells some of the challenges Ms. Haley had to deal with early in her life. 

In that same issue of the paper is this other front-page story with an anecdote lead. 

The lead:

To Rogan Gibson, the Murdaughs were like a second family. He grew up with brothers Paul and Buster, hunting, fishing, and driving ATVs on their family's spacious Colleton County estate. 

Comment: This lead and the one that follows show how close Rogan was to this family. 

     

      DIRECT ADDRESS LEADS

      Students will share their findings in a blog post that will look like this. 

      The lead: 

       If you're itching to get out of the house but are still a little wary of being particularly close to other people, these movie options may be a good choice. 

      Comment: Note the use of "you're" in the lead. Direct address leads try to engage readers by speaking directly to them with words like "you," "us," and "we."

Harold W. Crawford Building Photographs

Here are several photos I took of our building, the "Old Crawford Engineering Building" as it is commonly called today.  Students are welcome to use these in their projects but do give Patrick Harwood photo credit. It is always desired (and required really) to give source credit for photos and video clips. 

Getting to Know Harold W. Crawford!

He was the longtime dapper dean of SC State's School of Industrial Education. Dr. Harold Wakeling Crawford (1903-1980) was so well respected that when he died the building where he taught and led for decades was named in his honor.

I have given my students an assignment to write about Crawford, to try to "bring him alive" so we know more about the man behind the building.

I was able to find a good bit of information about Crawford on ancestry.com and the SC State library. See this link for photos of him found in old yearbooks.

Images of Harold Wakeling Crawford (1903-1980)

These images were taken by your professor and a student last school year at the SC State University library (Archives Room). You are welcome to use any of these in your feature article and video project. 

School yearbook from, most likely, the 1960s. 

SC State Student Center Promotional Video

Formally called the Kirkland W. Green Student Center, and informally known as The Pitt, this building at the center of the SC State campus is truly a center of activity.

In my Advanced Television Production and Editing class, I tasked the students with creating a 60-second promotional video featuring one of the university's places, such as the library, bookstore or  student center.

Tigere Campbell, Sophia Galvan and Tarohn Lingard worked together on a student center production. I asked the teams to shoot lots of "b-roll" of their campus place. B-roll is the individual video clips taken to build a story, whether a TV news report, a commercial, film or TV show.  You always want to have more than enough good shots rather than not enough. And sequence shooting is advisable, that being the idea of shooting a scene from these perspectives: wide, medium and close up shots.

You see a couple examples of sequence or "in-camera editing" in these videos.  Check out the bowling and pool break scenes to see what I mean.  

I asked the students to first put together a precisely 60 video then do a second version with music and text.  Here is that more polished production.  

I wrote this blog post as a demonstration piece so the students are clear how I wanted this project written and posted on their blogs.  Let's see how they do!  

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.