"Frequently Asked Questions" -- Interview Video Assignment

Frequently Asked Questions

Your first video assignment is to create a 5-minute video that is both informative and interesting/entertaining. You will use interviewing as a form of research in order to gain material for your video.

Choosing a Topic

All first year students on a college campus have a lot of questions. Think about how we, as a class, can create a resource for students built around the concept of "FAQ." The first step is to brainstorm good questions. What questions do you hear asked over and over by your peers? What questions do you seek answers to? Narrow your topic down to a set of 3 or 4 related questions. (You may not end up using all of the questions in your final video, but it is better to have more material to work with at the start of this project.)

Interviewing Around Campus

Next, you will need to go out onto the campus and do some on-the-ground research. You will need to interview at least 2 faculty or staff members, at least 3 first-year students, and at least 2 older students and/or role models (a CC, a team captain, student leader of a club or organization, an OA or peer mentor, etc.). Ask all of the people you interview a short series of questions centering around your topic and take notes, audio and/or video footage for use in the final video project. Again, all of what you record may not make it into your final project. However, you must include something from each interview (even one quote) although it can be presented as video, audio, or written text in your project.

Creating a Video

The final step involves interpreting the findings and crafting them into an informative and interesting video project. Be creative! It can be crafted as a news report or talk show or any other format that makes it engaging. It can include music or pictures to break up the question and answer pattern. Don't forget to add an original title.

The project should have a clear beginning, middle, and end that moves through the following elements:

1) framing the question and providing some context for the project,

2) exploring answers to your question from multiple perspectives,

3) providing some closure from your perspective, some “so what?” or “what have we learned?” to leave the viewer with at the end of the video.

This project requires you to create a short video, not a set of PowerPoint slides. It is not a presentation project; your video needs to stand alone and run on its own. It is possible to create such a digital project using PowerPoint, but it is much easier and more professional if done in iMovie, Windows Movie Maker, or other video creation software. In past experience, iMovie has provided the best results and is available in any Mac Lab on campus. The final video should be about 5 minutes long and needs to be uploaded to your blog; it can be first uploaded to Youtube or Vimeo and linked to on your blog. Be sure to test out that it works. Also, include a works cited listing all of the people you interviewed and their titles, if appropriate.

Due: Oct 2