Final Self-Reflection

Before I dive into the actual reflection on all the work I did this semester, I want to say how truly grateful I am for getting to be your student this semester. I took me too long to realize how lucky we all were to have you for your one semester at KU, and I just wanted to preface my reflection with a HUGE thank you.

Video Essay: “Ball Park”

Now that the semester has come to an end, I can say that this was my favorite project. I loved the creativity that you let us have with it. You basically gave us no instruction other than that the finished product needed to have a beginning, middle and end. I typically struggle with coming up with ideas quickly, but this idea came to me relatively quickly.

I came into KU with a double major in Film (and Finance), which is why this project probably was probably my favorite. However, I quickly learned that I wasn’t getting everything out I wanted out of the film major and switched it over to journalism my sophomore year. That being said, I really enjoyed getting to work on this project.

VO and VOSOTVO 1: Captiva Show and Song Release

This was one of those project where it took me much longer to find out what I wanted to do, and I basically sat there twiddling my thumbs until this somehow came to be my idea. I think I struggled with this at first since this was our first set of VOs and VOSOTVOs, but it turned out okay for the short amount of time I actually worked on it.

I am a little bummed with the final project because I was supposed to interview the whole band and go to their band practice, but all-in-all it was okay.

VO and VOSOTVO 2: Video Game Takeover

I thought this was one of my better ideas for a story, but I just couldn’t quite make it turn out how I wanted. Looking back, I probably could have gotten some better film of the actual game and done a better job explaining what exactly the game is. I had a decent variety of medium and tight shots, but basically did not have a wide, establishing shot. I also noticed that I didn’t “say it, see it” when I mentioned the title of the game. I was really pleased with my interview. Murray, the guy I interviewed, was clearly very passionate about the game and gave me some very good soundbites. It was actually hard to select one to use because there were about four or five that I liked.

VO 3: Out of Hand Art | VOSOTVO 3: KU Lacrosse Brand Identity

For my VO on Out of Hand Art, it was just almost too easy doing a story on Tom Babb. After becoming a quadriplegic his freshman year of college, he has accomplished more than nearly anyone I know in college. He is truly an incredible story and this small part of his life is just a great story to see.

For my VOSOTVO, I knew I wanted to do a story on the KU lacrosse team because they have been gaining traction over the years I’ve been here, but I just didn’t know quite what yet. I interview the president of the team, David O’Hara, and he gave me a great interview. My original idea of doing the story on the team growing evolved into why the team has seen so much growth, and it was pretty much due to the brand identity created by O’Hara. I think this piece turned out pretty nice, but I would have liked to have some footage of their practices or games shot.

Package 1: KU Lacrosse Expansion

After doing my last VOSOTVO on the lacrosse team, I knew there was a bigger story there and I wanted to focus my package on it. I worked on the package with Tyler, and we work very well together as a team. We pretty much just see eye to eye on what we want things to look like. We went out to the team’s practice together, shot some footage, interviewed a few players and got this thing thrown together with almost no hiccups. I am really pleased with how this turned out. The only thing I would have changed if I could redo it was my script. I feel like it wasn’t incredibly conversational and I could have had some more fun with it.

Package 2: State of IFC

This was another project that I had a hard time coming up with an idea for. I was really swamped at this point in the semester with all of my other classes and I kind of put it off too long. Frankly, it turned out better than I thought it was going to but I still wan’t very pleased with it. I would’ve liked to have an interview with someone from an opposing viewpoint but the only interview I had scheduled from that side canceled on me and I just didn’t have a plan B in place. I also think I could have shot some better B-Roll for this project. I got some nice shots of the fraternities on campus but I would have liked to have some actual footage of the hearing that took place for these four students. This was probably the project that I would like to have back the most.

Final Newsbreak

I previously said that the Video Essay was my favorite project, but I lied. This was definitely my favorite project of the semester. It was basically everything we had been working towards all semester, and it came down to one final newsbreak. I really wish we could have gotten to this point a little bit earlier so we could have done more than two of them, but I understand this is a process. Other than my final package, which I said I wasn’t too stoked about, I think this newsbreak went really well. I landed on 3:30 on both of my newsbreaks and felt really good with how they turned out. It was my first time being on camera in that studio and I felt really comfortable up there. I think I could have done a little bit better with ad libbing when I had to close up the show, but I know that will come with practice.

Thank you again for an awesome semester, and I hope our paths cross again at some point! Have a great summer!

-Patrick Sullivan