Embedded Files
While I never initially imagined myself reporting using video and audio, it has recently become a favorite of mine. Just as I find interviews to be more engaging and insightful when face-to-face, I've come to learn that audiences feel the same. Some stories lend themselves to a visual format, and ought to be developed as such.
ARTICLE & VIDEO FEATURE
Students across Virginia protest transgender model policies
Given that I never expected to do broadcast journalism going into high school, it makes sense that my first experience with it was hand-in-hand with an article. During my sophomore year, over 100 schools across Virginia hosted simultaneous walkouts to protest the Virginia Department of Education’s proposed model policies regarding transgender and LGBTQ+ students.
The research for this article was especially grueling, as I was searching through government websites to find the actual bills being proposed and direct quotes. Excerpt from the article:
The policy changes will grant parents the power to decide what name and pronouns their child is acknowledged by in school (II.A.2), and require teachers to refer to students by those names, regardless of the student’s wishes (III.D.3). Students will be required to use restrooms, locker rooms (III.G.3), and participate in sports (III.H.1) based on their biological sex, not their preferred gender. Further, the model policies will require teachers to out transgender students to their parents (II.A.3).
Because this was such a big event across the state, the TJTV News (broadcast team) also covered the protests in the feature to the left. While I had no part in creating this particular feature, I did watch it prior to writing the news story. It informed which people I reached out to for interviews—to avoid excess repetition—and what angle I took for the article itself. Just watching this feature through the number of times it took me to draft the story taught me to look at angles from a different lens. It wasn't until this story that I truly realized how every event can be covered a dozen different ways, to the point of entirely different mediums, and still be just as effective as one another.
MEDILL CHERUBS
During my summer at the Medill Northwestern Journalism Institute (colloquially called Medill Cherubs), I had numerous instances of experimenting with broadcast journalism. During this program, I learned how to set up shots, shoot film and edit feature-length videos together. Here are a few highlights:
VIDEO: Hero Story
I created this video with my good friend Abby Lowenstein. She first interviewed me for the hero story—essentially the marketing video—for the program as a whole. After the interview, I was curious and excited to learn more. I stuck with her for the rest of the day, setting up cameras and microphones. I also did most of the interviewing, as Abby manned the camera. This was my first experience interviewing people on camera, and I learned numerous small things that must be taken into consideration that I otherwise wouldn't have for print. This was an insightful and enlightening experience to create and planted the seed for my growing interest in broadcast journalism today.
AUDIO: The cherubs who came back for more
After spending the four weeks of the program in podcast club learning how to splice audio, when to cut and edit, the importance of nat sound and room tone, the end of the program marked a time to demonstrate these new skills. I volunteered to do a story featuring the four CAAs (Community and Academic Associate) who were once cherubs and decided to return to the program as college students.
We were under tight deadlines, which left me with only a day and a half to plan, record and edit this whole episode. With all the other cherubs in the same building, finding quiet places to record audio became increasingly difficult, and made the importance of room tone that much more significant. I became more comfortable editing using Audacity, a program I hadn't been exposed to until then.
My experience at Medill Cherubs opened my eyes to a whole world of journalism I had yet to explore. High-quality broadcast journalism is not determined by access to good lenses or microphones, but rather the story itself. I recorded audio for this story on my iPhone with a sock pulled over the speaker, tucked under a blanket to insulate sound. I returned to school with a newfound understanding of the power of journalism—truly anyone can create anything. It's just a matter of finding the story and using what you have.
Since returning back to my high school this past fall, I have been working on launching a podcast network called tjTALKS, with the intention to bring together students, admin/teachers and alumni related to Jefferson to discuss topics relevant to today's world. We began the process of determining what platforms we were allowed to use according to Fairfax County and Virginia policy. Thus far, I have completed two on-camera interviews, and have three more scheduled.
tjTV News
Through a combination of preparing the first few tjTALKS episodes and working on TJTV News feature, I have gotten the chance to interview three people on camera. Interviewing on camera is completely different than interviewing face-to-face with the intention of printing quotes. The following three clips chronicle my struggles and eventual adaptation to the new circumstances.
DiloHakimiInterview.MP4I interviewed sophomore Dilo Hakimi about founding and running a guitar club during 8th periods, my high school's alternate to after-school activities.
Interviewing on camera requires me to focus on different things than interviewing for print. I found myself struggling, in the beginning, to avoid humming in agreement to things Hakimi said or interrupting when questions arose. However, as time went on, it became easier and easier, and over the course of the interview, we got comfortable enough.
As always, I asked a lot of follow-up questions. This interview was meant to last three minutes. It lasted 14.
This is the final video package that we created by using the interview above. While only a few seconds of the interview I conducted was used, the only way we would have been able to get those quotes was to have done that full interview.
tjTALKS
I have wanted to create a podcast for TJ Media for many years as listening to podcasts is my favorite pass time on the bus. There is something inherently human about listening to a long-form conversation with another person that you cannot get in any other format. My favorite podcasts are always interview-style ones, where the host is consistent and different guests appear to answer questions. After my experience in Cherubs over the summer, I finally felt equipt with the knowledge to create a podcast network from scratch—it also affirmed my worries about equipment.
Beginning in August 2024, I started working on tjTALKS. I pulled old microphones from the depths of the TJ Media closet and spent weeks calibrating the equipment and learning how to use it. One thing I knew was that I wanted it to be a video-format podcast, where viewers could see the people they were hearing about. Over the course of the year, I learned the rules of broadcast journalism, how to film, how to edit. As of today (3/14), I have four episodes scheduled, 11 filmed, three edited, one published and unlimited ideas.
close up main video (1).MP4This interview with senior Zoe Viterbo was the first one I filmed for tjTALKS. This was my first time setting up the cameras and microphones, and also my first time using the soundboard to monitor audio quality throughout the interview. Learning how to work the tripods and the cameras to maintain a good angle was the most difficult part for me, with setting up the audio and microphones as a close second.
I went into this interview with the same amount of prep as my interviews for print, which I used to think was enough—a list of questions based on prior research with the intention to ask follow-up questions should the need arise. Watching this back and seeing myself struggle over wording certain questions clearly taught me to be more prepared for podcast interviews.
UPDATE (3/25): The interview with Zoe was published as the second episode of tjTALKS, available here.
My interview with counselor Sean Burke was the second interview I filmed for tjTALKS. I went into this interview with a clearer idea of the angle and direction of the conversation.
This interview was my second time setting up tripods, cameras and microphones by myself, and I noticed the stark difference between the time it took here compared to interviewing Viterbo.
This was the first published episode of tjTALKS.
tjTALKS is available on Youtube, Spotify and as a transcript published as a feature article on tjTODAY. Inclusivity is important to me, and I want to ensure that everyone has access to the podcast in a way that is easiest for them. I have had multiple people come up to me in the past few days who were only willing to listen in because it was on Spotify or available as a transcript.
I currently have three seasons of tjTALKS planned.
The first contains episodes being published every Friday, feature individuals who tell you everything you need to know about a certain topic. The first episode, featuring Sean Burke, is everything you need to know about building a four-year plan in high school. The second, Zoe Viterbo, is everything you need to know about cold emailing and how she got invited to New York Fashion week because of it. The third, Aahil Valliani, is everything you need to know about starting a business and how he raised $1.8 million dollars for his company. Beyond those three people, I have six more students who have scheduled interviews on their own unique niches.
The second season will contain "How to survive" episodes. My high school is notoriously known as one of the most academically rigorous in the area, and academics is something that the TJ Media audience thus takes very seriously. These episodes will feature well-established teachers in different fields at Jefferson and all of their advice relating to that subject. I have already filmed one episode, featuring chemistry teacher Emily Owens, on everything that you need to know to survive chemistry at Jefferson—from honors to Advanced Placement to organic chemistry to research lab.
Finally, the third season is currently (likely to be changed) titled "career crisis" and will feature people within the Jefferson community who have changed their careers at some point in their life. Because of how academically rigerious and competitive Jefferson is, there is an intense focus on college admissions and post-academia careers. As of right now, I have one physics teacher, Elissa Levy, who worked in finance before becoming a teacher, filmed and edited. I also a few other episodes scheduled with alumni from Jefferson who are successful in their respective careers but had roundabout ways of getting there. Just hearing stories from successful people who I looked up to about how their career took shape and morphed into what it is today helped me the most as a younger student. I hope that these episodes will do that for the rest of the Jefferson student body.
All the tjTALKS files are uploaded on my school account, so I cannot upload them without overloading my personal drive shortage, but these are some screenshots of how the tjTALKS content is organized.
The introduction, intro music, outro, logo and overall planning doc is available when first opening the folder.
Everything is organized by season, then by episode. This is what the "season one" folder looks like.
This is what the folder titled "ep. 2: zoe viterbo" looks like. The main video, audio, b-roll and transcript/planning documents are all available here.
This is another example from the "classes advice" folder, which feature a chemistry teacher on everything a student needs to know to survive chemistry at Jefferson.
After filming Mr. Burke and Zoe Viterbo's episodes, I decided to have the video podcast have two angles, so from here on out I film both the interviewee and myself. Here are some screenshots of what the angle of myself looks like.
Episodes are currently being published every Friday, so tune in to tjtALKS on Spotify, tjTODAY on Youtube or www.tjtoday.org/category/tjtalks/ to see more!
CURRENT PROJECT
UPDATE (3/25): I have been working on a broadcast project for the past four years. While it will not be published until later this year, here are my plans and the work I've done thus far:
I was inspired by the Vogue interviews done every year with Billie Eilish—every year, she is interviewed on the same date, with the same questions. Viewers can track her experience as an artist throughout her years, and it's always fun to look back on the old ones. I slightly modified this idea and decided to use audio instead to show the experience of a Jefferson student who had been there for four years. I interviewed four students twice a year, at the beginning and the end of the school year, and I plan to put together a video package and spread in the senior issue (the last issue we publish each year that features the graduating class, with photos from each year, destinations, aphorisms and notes from seniors within TJ Media).
This is a photo of the folder where I uploaded the audio for freshman and sophomore year. I have another folder with junior year and the beginning of senior year.
One of the most exciting parts of this project is that at the end of each year, I asked them for questions they have for their future and past selves. During the final interview this year, which will be filmed on video, I plan to play those audio clips for them and ask them to answer the questions. Their reactions will be fun because no one remembers what questions they asked or what their past selves wanted to know.
MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS
My first foray into broadcast journalism was as an anchor during my junior year of high school. (I always find it ironic that despite being weeks apart, I wear the same outfit twice in a row, two separate times.)
During senior year, we moved locations. I continued anchoring.
Because anchoring was my first active role in broadcast journalism, it holds a special place in my heart. The anchor is the face of the program, the medium through which the viewer feels connected. It is so much more than just reading lines off a teleprompter. The anchor can shape the very way a certain story is delivered, consumed and understood, just through a variation in tone, mood and voice.
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