"Five Questions" Interview Project

 

In my Radio Production class here at SC State, the students are working on a project I call "Five Questions." 

The students have the chance to interview a classmate, a professor, a campus leader, a student-athlete, really anyone they choose. 

The idea is to conduct an interview in an interesting and informative way to help the listener get to know the subject and also get a sense of the host's style and personality. 

Listen to the three-minute interview here.

This is one example of such a "Five Questions" feature. Keira McGowan sat down with her classmate Ali Hardwell, who is a guard on SC State's women's basketball team. Ali, who is from Washington state, is in her first semester here after transferring from a two year college in Texas where she led her team to a conference championship last season. 

To learn more about these fine and talented students, check out Ali's blog and Keira's as well. 

"Fotos from the Field"- Students Shoot Interviews

 My SC State TV Production students are getting some practical hands-on experience recording interviews for their "Person on the Street" video project. Each student comes up with a topic question and then goes on campus with a camera crew to record at least five different interviews and their on-camera "stand-ups" too (check out these tips for better stand-ups). I'm looking forward to seeing their final projects!  

Here they are in action on the plaza: 

Aaliyah Felder conducts interviews with Ryan Stubblefield running the camera and monitoring the audio levels. 

Aaliyah does her on-camera open and close. The interview clips or soundbites will go in between her on-camera parts. 

"Me in 30 Seconds" Videos

 

This semester at SC State I'm teaching Basic Television Production and it's a very hands-on class. Students have been quickly exposed to the tools of the trade: cameras, microphones, lights and tripods. 

As a first project I asked them to be in front of the camera sharing "Me in 30 Seconds." Just talk briefly about yourself: where you are from, your major and year, hometown, hobbies, ambitions, what you like about SC State- things like that. 

The students rotated from in front of the camera to behind it. They operated the cameras and gave time cues so the student on camera would be as close to 30 seconds as possible. 

Here are some of the videos that the students will post on YouTube, then their own blogs.