Casper Turkey Trot

For the final assignment for my multimedia production class, we were assigned to apply our knowledge from the previous assignments and create a short video. The length of the video could be anywhere between two and four minutes. The topic that we covered had to be considered as newsworthy; however, we could choose if we wanted the video to be journalistic or promotional. Along with being newsworthy, the video had to include two interviews as well as five seconds of ambient noise.

I chose to create a promotional video for the Casper Turkey Trot. This 5k walk/run takes place in Casper, Wyoming every Thanksgiving and is hosted by the Windy City Striders, a local running club. All proceeds of the event benefit Poverty Resistance and the Casper Humane Society.

I really enjoyed covering this event because running is a huge part of my life. My family participates in this event every Thanksgiving and I think it’s a great way to come together as a community, stay active and support two local nonprofit organizations. I also really enjoyed playing around with different camera angles. One thing that I didn’t enjoy, however, was that it was extremely windy during the event. I couldn’t use most of my audio for this reason. Fortunately, I was able to find a somewhat secluded place to conduct my interviews.

To edit the video, I downloaded a seven-day free trial of Adobe Premiere on my Mac. At first, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to figure out how to use the software. I thought that I would have to spend hours watching YouTube tutorials before making any progress. However, I was surprised how easy it was to use the software. I had to watch a few tutorials; however, I got the hang of it much faster than I thought I would.

Looking back, I wish I would’ve thought of questions to ask my interviewees ahead of time. I also shot all my footage before we discussed interviewing in class, so I had my interviewees look straight into the camera instead of off to the side.

I see myself using video in my future career, so I’m glad that I got the opportunity to experiment with shooting and editing video. The experience that I gained through this assignment will be of benefit to me as I want to start my own business after I graduate.