KWF Scholarship v2.mp4

'A shell of normal'

I wanted to create a video that could convey the feeling of emptiness at school now that everybody is remote and doing all of their school work in their home. I wanted to show that lonely feeling without using any words in the video, to use the visuals of the school and movement of the camera to give the impact of our current situation. Personally, this video reflects my initial experience of coming back to school for the first time since last March and seeing everything exactly where it had been left months ago, with nobody else around. It made me feel like I was in a shell of the school I had been in a year ago. It seemed like an empty way to spend my senior year of high school.

direct impact on me

Though the thought of COVID-19, and being ripped from "normal" is quite disheartening, I think I came out of the pandemic with more positive than negative, looking back on everything. The pandemic has allowed me to grow as a person and has offered me many opportunities that I wouldn't have had before. Through all of this time, I feel that this new independence has made me more prepared to move on to college and has brought me closer to what I like doing most, which is video production.

Opportunities i have had

c-ns graduation

Due to the pandemic, the CNS staff had to do virtual graduation for the Class of 2020. 4D Productions was asked to help out with this, and my leadership position on the crew put me first in line to lead the CNS Virtual Graduation. I got the opportunity to get my work to a larger audience and keep myself busy during the pandemic. I am super grateful to have been a part of it!

cny jazz av supervisor

Since the pandemic, one of the foundations I worked with, CNY Jazz Central, needed to switch over to live-streaming. Since I had the experience, I was asked to help live-stream one of their shows, which eventually led to a job opportunity. This job led to many connections with local musicians and people around the production community.

4d productions

Before COVID-19, I had a leadership role in 4D Productions, and I owe a lot of my success to them. During the pandemic, most other crews like backstage and lighting did not have much to do since they rely on a physical audience. I was lucky enough to lead the video crew, which was in very high demand during the pandemic. I was able to expand my ability on many different video projects and requests.

CNS ATHLETICS PRODUCER

All of the sports games at C-NS in the gymnasium or the stadium had been live-streamed in the past. Recently, they are depending on live-streaming a lot more since they cannot have a full crowd. I was called to help with the basketball and football games, and have since improved production quality of the streams with new graphics, animation, and other behind the scenes producing.

VIDEO PRODUCER for SNM

I had worked with Society for New Music before the pandemic with a few of their shows in Cazenovia and the NYS Fair. Recently, they have had to stream all of their events now that they aren't allowed to have an in-person audience. I put together a mobile streaming rig to bring to these events and turn many venues that have no tech into fully capable live-streaming and recording studios for a virtual audience.

OTHER LOCAL GRADUATIONS

Along with the C-NS graduation, I was also called by a local company, Francis AV, to assist with live-streaming a few other local graduations since there was a new demand. I was a camera operator for the Corcoran graduation as well as the Port Byron graduation. I love opportunities like these to make connections with new companies and people and work with new equipment!

thoughts on covid-19

Overall, I think the pandemic is as good or as bad as anyone can make it. I chose to take the time that I had during the pandemic to take some opportunities to grow my character and skill. I believe I'll come out of the pandemic better than I came in, and for that, I'm grateful. Though there are somethings that, as a senior, I am disappointed to be missing out on, I'd much rather look at all the things that never would've happened if it hadn't been for COVID-19. I'm even more excited for everything to come in the future!

MY FUTURE PLANS

Speaking of future, I plan to go to Syracuse University's Newhouse for a major in Television, Radio, and Film with a dual major in Information Management and Technologies at the iSchool. My decision process for picking a college was harder than it would usually have been, given that I wasn't able to tour any of the campuses I was interested in or really do much other than googling and asking people. Even though there hasn't been much opportunity to get involved, I have still been going to Zoom meetings and trying to get as familiar with the faculty and facility as possible before I go. I'm very excited to grow my skills at SU and I'm glad that next year I'll be fully in person, and I can have a relatively normal freshman year of college!

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