WJI 2019 Day 8 PM

After an afternoon of trying out our radio voices and a 5:30 salmon dinner, the 28 of us filed into Dordt’s digital media lab.

We were greeted by Dr. Mark Volkers and his team of PCs outfitted with top-notch video editing software. Tonight was the night we would master Adobe Premier in the course of two and a half hours. Or at least, we would attempt to master it enough to bumble through the creation of our upcoming video projects.

Before teaching on Adobe’s technical features--things that left many of us scratching our oh-so-tired heads--Dr. Volkers reviewed a few video tips which the industry’s best always put into practice.

As the interviewer, always meet your subject on eye level.

Clap at the beginning of your recording so you can sync up material from multiple cameras and audio devices.

Don’t be too hasty in hitting the red button as your interview comes to a close. Volkers: “You might find that the magic happens at the end.”

Some of us cringed and raised sheepish hands. “What if we’ve already filmed, but forgot the 180 degree rule?” Volkers answered with a smile, comforting our tired hearts: “This is a judgement-free zone. We’re going to work with you on whatever you get.”

As he began teaching us how to import material into Adobe, the program crashed. Nothing had saved. He opened it once more, but it crashed again, and only one clip was salvaged. Volkers put the first “Pitts’ P” into practice: perseverance. He opened the program a third time, and resumed teaching. Just when it seemed we were making progress, we heard the dreaded fairy-like error sound echo over the lab’s dying speakers. The program crashed for the third and final time. We couldn’t contain our laughter. It was a perfect representation of the exhaustion we were each facing, running on minimal sleep and mentally running away from our classroom in Dordt’s science building. We all wanted to crash, to sleep, and to see sunlight. But unlike Adobe, even if it meant enduring 12 hour days bathed in fluorescent light, we would persevere. We were becoming journalists. We were becoming truth-tellers.

After an hour of practice with Adobe, Dr. Volkers released us for the evening. Those of us who hadn’t chosen from the pile of books to review dashed to the science building, before returning to the dorms either in triumph or failure.

Some began making up for hours of lost sleep. Others took a trip to Walmart (the third for this writer). Still more congregated in the dorm hallway to have “book club,” while sipping mugs of tea. Moments after sitting down, many set aside their books in favor of discussion about Catholic prayers and “My Future Spouse’s Qualities” lists.

In the words of Tiffany Owens, everyone will be going to sleep tonight “consciously competent” in their filming and editing skills, or at least in their knowledge of who to ask for help. We are ready to face tomorrow’s challenge.