Blooper Reel

I believe the Writing Center is one of the best places to work on campus, so long as you love to write. Helping others with their papers is one of the best things I've ever done, and it helps me improve my writing as well. The people who work there are a blast, too. Here are a few of the highlights of the hilarity that ensued when I filmed a series of training videos for the Center.

Scroll leader explains student involvement in newspaper

The Scroll is BYU-Idaho's campus newspaper. It is published once a week and distributed on campus and throughout the community. But who makes it? Who writes the stories? Who lays out the pages? Who does the editing? The answer to all of these questions is: students.

Sean Parker, who has been working with the Scroll for six semesters, explains what goes into each issue of the Scroll. He explains how much time the students dedicate to their work and the tools they use to make the Scroll as high-quality as possible, and how through teamwork and cooperation, they help their fellow students keep up-to-date on what's going on both on campus and in the community.



Further resources:
You can see what the Scroll has produced on its website: http://www.byuicomm.net/
Student leadership is one of the core attributes of BYU-Idaho: http://www.byui.edu/about/defining-aspects/student-leadership-model
Last semester, a story about skinny jeans from the Scroll hit the international media: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/12/skinny-jeans-too-suggestive-for-mormon-college/

Behind-the-scenes: I can find stories everywhere

This story taught me more than anything how you can find stories anywhere and that I can find, film, script, and edit a story within just a few hours. When I woke up Saturday morning before this story was due, I had no idea what my story was. I walked to the Spori to work on another project and happened to go into the Scroll office. I thought to myself, “These people put in a lot of time to make the Scroll possible. I wonder how many people know that?” Then it hit me: I could tell them!

I ran home and grabbed my camera and tripod. Sean was willing to do an interview, and the staff was willing to let me film for a while. I wrote the script, recorded my voice-overs, shot some b-roll, and went to edit it. It was a little bit of a challenge because my b-roll was a little limited, but I figured out how to make it work.

How to make soap

We use soap every day, but where does it come from? Patricia Fielding, owner of Rainy Creek Soap, explains the basic process of soap-making and how anyone can do it in their own home. With just two basic ingredients and a little time, anyone can make their own hand-made soap, which Fielding says has a feel you won’t get anywhere else. Fielding discovered this feel in 1996 when she bought a rough-cut, hand-made bar of soap in a ceramics shop. She liked it so much, she decided to learn to make it for herself. The process is surprisingly simple and can be done in your home.



Rainy Creek Soap: http://www.rainycreeksoap.com/
More about the company: http://readthepurple.blogspot.com/2012/03/past-in-present.html
More about soap-making: http://www.teachsoap.com/

This is a story that was sitting right under my nose. When I was deciding what to do for this story, Bro. Bennett assigned us to write a magazine article, and that assignment made me think of Patti and her soap company. I then realized that I could record the interviews and tour on video and do a video story as well. This was a relief to me since I was really short on time that weekend.

Foreign Language Students - BYU-I Writing Center

This video will give you a few tips on how to handle sessions with foreign language students.

Blog 8 - English 106

This video will give you some tips for sessions with English 106 students.

The Birth of Rainy Creek Soap

Patricia Fielding runs a soap company out of her basement in Idaho Falls. How did she get started? Watch this video to find out.

Days off in Rexburg

They're really not that exciting unless you go somewhere else, because everything on campus shuts down. This video explains what I did with my day off as well as what I didn't do, but really wanted to do.

BYU-Idaho Writers Workshop

The Writer's Workshop at BYU-Idaho gives students a chance to share their writing in a friendly, constructive environment. Fellow students and writers comment and critique each other's writing to help each other improve. Many who attend the workshop feel this is a helpful addition to English classes because they can get critique every week. Others say the workshop helps them get a sense of what the average person thinks about their writing, rather than English teachers and majors. The Workshop meets Wednesday nights from 7:30 to 9:00 in Smith 322. To find out more and see what workshop attendees think, watch the following video.



Want to find out more about talent activities at BYU-Idaho? Click here.

Want to see what the Workshop does online? Click here.

Dancing more your thing? Watch this!

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Behind the scenes

I made this video for a school project. However, it was not the first idea I had. Originally, I wanted to do a story about how people who play World of Warcraft have lives outside of Azeroth. Unfortunately, my source bailed. Then, I decided to do a story about traffic laws in Rexburg, but my police contact was out of town. Then, I decided to cover an event at a local water park. The event was postponed. Finally, I turned to the Writers Workshop for help. They were more than happy to work with me and help me get this story done.

Even then, I still had a lot of problems, the biggest being my inability to turn up the volume on some of my interviews. Now that I have this experience under my belt, I'll hopefully be able to avoid all the problems I ran into this time around.

How to run a session

This video will teach you how to run a session at the Writing Center at BYU-Idaho. Following these tips will help you make every session a success.

Rough cut for my first story. Audio levels are still funky and I'm still having trouble with Final Cut.

The Japanese Dub

Due dates are important. That's why you should always pay attention to what they are instead of guessing. This video will show you what your project may look like if you don't know the due dates and have to improvise something at the last minute. Word of advice: DON'T.

Man on the street

The Crossroads lies at the center of campus and provides food to many BYU-Idaho students. This video shows some opinions people have about the food court, from what they like to what they think could be improved.

An Interview with Myself

Me in a Minute