Monday afternoon: the peer profile, and intro to video editing

Monday afternoon: the peer profile, and intro to video editing

Monday was the first full day of WJI with all professors on deck, and while it was extremely tiring it was also incredibly rewarding. Early Monday afternoon I spent time interviewing another WJI student on the main parts of her life, probing to find a defining moment in her life that I could narrate in a short story. While the profile had a quick turnaround, beginning interviews at 2:15 with our deadline at 4 pm, I found the work rewarding, especially when I finished my article at 3:48. But I did not submit it until 4:19 because I requested feedback from Professor Les Sillars, and he destroyed it. He showed me multiple ways to eliminate needless words, make my verbs stronger, and put more emphasis into my sentences. This all helped me put together a much stronger profile, something that I have previously had trouble doing. I am incredibly thankful for his input and made notes of it all to remember it for the future.

In the Intro to Video Editing lab immediately following the profile assignment, I was reintroduced to Adobe’s Premiere Pro for the second time in my life. I had some foundation with video editing thanks to Davinci Resolve and iMovie, but I was still lost as I opened Premiere and stared at the multiple screens and files. Thankfully, I was paired up with a fellow student who had used the application before, and he spent most of the two hours we had messing around with Premiere and showing me the ins and outs of the app. My previous experience with other Adobe applications such as InDesign was also a huge help. I learned much more than I ever could have with YouTube videos or just messing around with it in such a little time, which was a priority due to the fast-paced nature of WJI.

I learned more than I thought would be possible to learn in such a short amount of time on Monday afternoon. This, while giving me slight anxiety about the next two weeks, has shown me that if I put my mind to work and enjoy what I am learning, I will succeed both here at WJI and in my career.

-Gloria Coleman