Michael Thomas Lebeck

 

For my video storytelling project I had the opportunity to work with Sam Markus. Sam knew a few guys that are in a band here in Laramie know as Not My Weekend, so we thought they would make a good focal point for our video. We decided that we wanted to do a promotional video due to the fact we were unable to attend a performance by Not My Weekend.

I really enjoyed this assignment because I find working with video very interesting personally. It was also a lot of fun because Sam and I pretty much just hung out with the band while we were getting footage and they are just a group of cool guys with some serious musical talent. I also really enjoyed learning how to efficiently operate Adobe Premier Pro. I feel as though knowledge concerning video editing could really be beneficial to me in the future. The only part of this project I didn’t really enjoy was trying to figure all the editing software out after we had our footage. We tried the trial version but it was more difficult and we really had no idea what we were doing. That was certainly frustrating.

I was thoroughly surprised with how long it actually took us to upload all of the footage and audio we needed into the software. I thought this would be the quickest part but it pretty much took us an entire afternoon to get it all figured out. I was also surprised with how easy the editing process became once we had started to get the hang of it and had decided what we wanted in our video. Not only that, but it actually became rather fun. If I had the opportunity to do anything differently I would have liked to have a better plan, or outline, of the video before we gathered our footage. While we had come to a general agreement concerning what we wanted the video to be, while we were editing we realized there were certainly some more questions we would have liked to ask or different shots we would have liked to capture.

Seeing as how I am very interested in sports there is a good chance that I could go into sports reporting. If I do this, the ability to edit my own videos will certainly be very useful and may even make me stand out during the application process. As I mentioned earlier, I also find video very interesting. I could definitely see myself editing videos as a hobby or even as side-work in the future. Obviously I will need much more practice, but that is certainly not something I will shy away from.

For my live tweeting assignment I decided I would do the University of Wyoming women’s basketball game against the University of Idaho. It was actually a lot of fun to do because of how close the game was. I showed up early because I was also there for my internship with the athletics department. this allowed me to spectate pregame activities and post a few times before the game actually started. throughout the game I posted updates concerning the score as well as any other statistics I found applicable at the time. At the conclusion of the game I was able to attend the press conference.. This is where I attained my two direct quotes concerning the basketball game.

All in all, I found this to be an enjoyable assignment. I like that I could just go to a game and tweet about it as it was happening. At times it was a little hard to keep up though. I had a few typos in my tweets due to the fact I was trying to type really fast while still paying attention to what was going on.

I was certainly surprised at how difficult it was to keep up at times. That being said I would certainly liked to have had some practice before I started live tweeting. I think I would be much better at it a second time around just because I would know what to expect now.

In the future I could certainly see myself using social media a lot. I feel like it’s an excellent way to connect with audiences as well as develop and spread my own personal brand and my work. It would certainly allow me to expose a much greater number of people to my work than I could without it.

In class, we have been focusing on social media and its impacts. For this particular assignment, we have been tasked with comparing the social media presence of two companies. I have chosen to look at how both Nike and Reebok use social media.

I myself am a big fan of Nike. However, not so much of Reebok, so I feel as though it will be interesting to see how both of these brands present themselves on social media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facebook:

Both brands had a good presence on Facebook. Not surprisingly Nike had a lot more fans than the Reebok page had. However, it appeared as though the content posted by each page was pretty similar. A lot of it was simply advertisements for each particular brand. I will say for whatever reason I was a little more intrigued by the Nike page than the Reebok one, whether it be because of colors or content.

Twitter:

From what I experienced these two companies seem to deal with twitter a little differently. While the Nike twitter page strongly resembles their Facebook page with the addition of a few gifs and some tweets to users, it was hard to find things like advertisements on the Reebok page. This is because they spend a lot of time tweeting with customers and twitter users, seemingly more so than Nike does.

Instagram:

The Nike page was once again pretty similar to their other pages on social media. Obviously, they used pictures and videos to draw interest in their brand. Reebok was a little different because most of their pictures are just people working out in Reebok apparel. Nike actually had well produced videos and pictures.

Pinterest:

Reebok did have a pretty good presence on Pinterest. They showed off a lot of their apparel as they do on other platforms as well. Nike however, was not present on Pinterest. They did have a page titled NikeWomen though. This is likely because they have decided to narrow down their audience to women on this particular platform.

Snapchat:

Nike had a very limited presence on Snapchat. In fact, I was only able to come across a Nike Basketball Snapchat profile. Reebok on the other hand was completely absent from Snapchat.

LinkedIn:

Once again both Nike and Reebok were very similar in their approach on LinkedIn. Other than the differences in specifics they looked nearly identical to each other as far as the layout of the page was concerned.

Personally, I feel as though Nike is doing a very good job at presenting themselves on social media. They use it establish what their brand is all about, promote their products, and to convince people to buy in.  If I were to offer them any advice it would probably be to become more involved with the fan base, which is hard because it is a large one. Being more personable could help them as well as maybe showing some of their products off a little bit more.

Reebok is doing surprisingly well on social media. Obviously there not as well-known as Nike but I think they’re doing what they must in order to compete with brands like Nike. They have an expansive presence across multiple platforms, they show off their product, and try to sell people on a physically active lifestyle. As far as advice goes, I feel like they might do too much advertising on certain platforms and they could probably use some more videos or different types of media on their pages.

I feel like the social media panel we had in class really aided in my ability to complete this assignment. Had it not been for them I really wouldn’t know exactly what to look for in an organizations social media. I found it extremely interesting to see what really happens behind the scenes and how different organizations approach social media in their own way.

 

It turns out the audio editing process was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Nonetheless, I actually found it rather enjoyable. I can see why this would be a very valuable skill to know when working in the journalism field.

There were some points while I was editing that I thought I had a good idea that would fix a problem I was facing and it would actually make it a lot worse when I tried doing it. other than that though I didn’t experience too many problems, which was a welcome surprise to say the least.

I actually began enjoying the editing process once I started to get the hang of it. It was kind of fun being able to clean up the audio and make it sound a lot better than it did when it was just the raw version of the audio.

Like I mentioned earlier I was kind of surprised at how difficult it was at first. However, I was also surprised at how simple it was to learn. It didn’t take me very long at all to figure out how to use most of the tools ad to then go ahead and apply them to my project.

If I were to restart this assignment knowing what I do now there honestly isn’t a whole lot that I would like to change. I felt as though the interviewing process went very smoothly. The editing was a little rocky at the start, but I was able to figure everything out for the most part and it made the entirety of the assignment seem to go a lot smoother.

I’m also really happy that we had Doctor Brown come in and explain most of the tools ad how to operate Audacity. I feel like he provided a lot of much needed information that really helped me to do my best work on this assignment.

 

 

Being a journalism major this certainly wasn’t the first time I’ve conducted an interview. That being said, I typically use my phone to record the interviews I conduct. Therefore, I was pretty comfortable while conducting this interview with Josh.

I will say however, it was very different being the one interviewed. It was a bit difficult to continuously talk about one subject. It really put into perspective how those I interview likely feel while being interviewed.

One thing that I enjoyed about this assignment is that I had the opportunity to learn more about someone I hadn’t previously met. I was able to sit down with Josh and talk about how he decided to study communications and political science. I also learned his reasoning behind his decisions and the kind of things he’s interested in. I also got a brief glimpse into what he was doing before he began attending the University of Wyoming.

I really enjoy doing interviews for this very reason. I find it incredibly interesting to be able to learn more about people. Where they’ve been, what they’ve done, and their reasons for doing so. It’s one of the reasons I decided that journalism would be a good fit for me.

This particular experience was made even more enjoyable by how easy it was to work with Josh. He was easy to talk to which made the interview process that much easier. He’s also an interesting guy so I was compelled to hear what he had to say.

If I were to do anything differently I would probably choose a better space in which to conduct the interview. We did our interviews in one of the study rooms located in the classroom building. While it certainly wasnt a bad space to do an interview it was small and produced a bit of an echo.

We were able to put our phones on a backpack so our voices didn’t really echo. However, my phone picked up some of the other noises in the room just from our movements during the interview.

Overall, I feel as though the interviews went smoothly. We were able to make our interviews long enough while maintaining an interesting flow of information.

This photo would certainly be categorized as a feature photo. I came across this photo opportunity while walking through the park, thus making it a found situation. In this particular instance I walked u and started taking pictures and then when I felt as though I had a few good ones I proceeded to walk up and introduce myself and tell her what exactly I was up to. She simply wanted to take a look at a few of them, but was totally alright with it. I would say this photo definitely uses the rule of thirds as a creative device.

 

This Photo would be categorized as a sports feature. This is because it captures the celebration and jubilation after the football team won Saturday afternoon. obviously this was a well advertised game seeing as ho it was homecoming week here at the University of Wyoming. I was at the game and happened to get some pretty good seats but decided to move once the clock hit zero so I could celebrate with the team, and that’s where I snapped this picture. Obviously it was a very exciting environment because UW had just handed the Air Force Academy their first loss of the season so it was pretty loud in the student section.This photo wasn’t an easy one by any means due to the fact that the sun was setting just outside the frame which caused some difficult lighting obstacles. As far as creative devices go I would probably say that color, because of the uniforms, and rule of thirds are used.

 

While this isn’t necessarily a sports action shot it is an action shot. However, it would likely be considered a feature photo. This was just another scenario in which I stumbled across something i considered photo worthy. I asked if it would be cool if I took some pictures for this class and he didn’t seem to mind very much. While I thought I might get some contrast in this shot the sun was still too high to really cast any good shadows. That being said, I feel like establishing size, because the dog was still a puppy, and texture because of the tall grass in the field.

This photo would also be a feature shot. I came across Meagan the same day as I took the first photo. I actually saw her while driving past the ark on my way home but decided to stop and see if I could practice my photojournalism skills. As a student she was very understanding of what I was doing and was very kind. This was actually one of the firs photos I took so I was a little nervous. I would say rule of thirds as well as color because of the leaves are resent in this photo.

 

I would consider this photo to be a sports feature because of the fact that it is capturing the jubilation of the fans in the stands. This photo as a little awkward because while everyone was facing the field, I was in the front row facing them. As you might’ve guessed this was toward the end of the School song so everyone was pumping their fists while spelling cowboys. This photo definitely uses color as a creative device due to the fact that there’s so much gold and some brown clothing. It really gives it a cool appearance.

What is 7220 Entertainment?

Whether you find yourself at a movie showing here at the University of Wyoming, walking through an art gallery, or if you’re at one of the large-scale shows put on by the university you likely don’t know who to thank for providing the entertainment. The answer is 7220 Entertainment. According to their website they are, “The student fee-funded entertainment programming organization for students at the University of Wyoming”.

One of the primary goals for 7220 Entertainment is, “To provide a diverse schedule of events for the student body.” says Gabriel Lattimer, the films coordinator at 7220 Entertainment. “We’re trying to reach as many different communities and diversified students as possible.” says Danielle Smith, the large-scale events coordinator.

The one commonality between these statements is obviously the importance of trying to appeal to as many students and members of the surrounding community as possible. As daunting as this task may seem, the members of 7220 Entertainment are determined to make sure that it is done with the highest quality possible.

Diversity on large-scale events

Smith coordinates the large-scale events here at the University of Wyoming. She plays an integral role in bringing acts such as comedians and performing artists to campus, with the help of the large-scale events committee, where the need for diversity is ever prevalent.

“We want to make sure that we’re reaching as many students as possible when it comes to entertainment.” says Smith.

When booking big events, it seems as though it’s all about finding the perfect act. “Obviously Beyoncé is going to be out of our price range but somebody that is super local and small-scale is not going to be big enough to sell enough tickets,” says Smith. “We vote on everything, and then pretty much whoever gets the highest vote is who we’re going to advance with.”

Smaller events need mass appeal as well

Although the large-scale events certainly get a lot of publicity, there are many smaller, and more frequent, events such as the films that are shown every Friday night in the union. “For films I try to provide a diverse lineup.” says Lattimer.

Lattimer is also trying to appeal to more people by making the films more than just a movie night. “One of my focuses for this semester and this year is to make these films more event, rather than just a film that’s showing on Friday.” says Lattimer.

One way of doing this is the incorporation of raffles. They are also incorporating live streaming as well into the ski and snowboard week this year during which live events will be streamed for all to see in the union.

7220 Entertainment also provides alcohol free entertainment. According to their website, “The Late-Night Events Committee is responsible for providing the University of Wyoming student body with free, quality entertainment that is fun, unique and exciting, that take place during targeted prime social hours.” This appeals to those who may prefer an alternative to going downtown to the bars every weekend.

Entertainment can be educational as well

Maybe one of the lesser known committees involved in 7220 Entertainment is the Fine arts and Lecture committee. According to their website the Fine Arts and Lecture Committee states, “We host exhibits in Gallery 234 throughout the academic year. We also work to bring in thought-provoking lectures and artists.”

This certainly helps to appeal to students who are more focused on the educational or artistic aspect of entertainment.

“Fine arts and lectures will bring speakers to campus, and performing acts that are rarely seen in Laramie.” says Vanessa Alvarez, the Fine Arts and Lecture Coordinator.

As far as deciding which acts or speakers to bring to campus, 7220 Entertainment wants to make sure they select what the students want to see.

“It’s a lot of, have we ever seen these acts perform on campus? If we have, should we bring an act back or should we look for something different?” says Alvarez. “For lectures it’s mostly looking to see if anyone else is also interested in bringing a certain type of lecture to campus.”

What do you want to see?

Student feedback is critical in determining what kind of entertainment is brought here to the University of Wyoming. After all, this organization is funded by student fees. That is why 7220 Entertainment really relies heavily on students here at the university getting involved, and having their opinions heard.

It is apparent that this organization is going to great lengths to ensure that there is some form of entertainment for the majority of students attending the University of Wyoming as well as members of the surrounding community. There is an abundance of diverse activities being brought to campus throughout the school year that are certainly worth attending.

For this post I was assigned a USA Today article titled Louisiana’s Historic Floods. This article was extremely easy to navigate seeing as how all I had to do was scroll. There weren’t any drop down menus and the only links concerning the story were found at the very bottom, and they were just related stories. That being said, the order in which I saw the content was simply the order that it was placed in.

I first read about how much rain had actually fallen in Louisiana as of late. I then read about where the flooding took place and viewed media pertaining to damages as well as the death toll. As I mentioned before, this site was very easy to navigate, and I really didn’t experience any problems with that aspect. I also appreciate the simplicity of the design. It wasn’t confusing or by any means too complex.

This page really did follow a lot of the tips that we discussed in class. It integrated different types of media, was simple, but visually appealing nonetheless. One issue that I was able to uncover from the page was that there was no easy way to contact those who created it. It does list who the page was made by, but there are no contact links available if you want to contact one of them.

I had one of my good friends also look over this page and, little to my surprise, he stated a lot of things I did, and had similar opinions. He noted that it was nice to have everything laid out on a single page, and that he enjoyed the fact that he didn’t have to click a lot of links. He explored the website in very much the same manner as I did. He simply scrolled until he had reached the bottom. He did mention that he thought the media that was used on this page was particularly helpful in gaining an understanding of what was truly going on with the flooding in Louisiana.

After a few minutes of trying to figure out how to contact the creators of the page he determined that the only way to do it was to contact USA Today instead of trying to get in touch with the actual creators. Due to the fact that neither myself nor my friend were able to find a way to contact the creators I feel as though it might be something worth incorporating into the page.

For the most part my friends experience and my own were very similar. This is pretty much what I expected because of the simple design of the page and how little effort is required to navigate and explore the page.

I believe that the creators of this page did an admirable job in three specific aspects. the first of which is the simplicity with which this page was created. At no point was I worried about being confused or having too many options. I also found the multimedia that was incorporated into the text to be very supportive of the information being conveyed. It really made the page substantially more interesting. Finally, I feel as though good journalistic judgement was used while presenting the statistics and data.

If I were to tell the creators three things that they should change about this page I would have to start with the ability to contact the creators. I feel as though that is a fairly important issue that I would certainly like to see resolved. Second, I would like to enjoy a more immersive experience as I explore the page itself. While I did enjoy a lot of the aspects it failed to really draw me in and it kind of felt like I was just reading a really cool article. Third, it likely wouldn’t hurt to add a few more links pertaining to what is going on with the flooding.

Growing up I was certain that I had a fairly healthy intake of news. However, as I’ve aged I’ve come to find that a healthy news diet is more than having FOX news on in the background at five o’clock as we ate dinner. That being said, I also could have told you the results and stat lines for every football, baseball, or soccer game that had been played that day. As far as I was concerned sports was the news.

While I’ve come to learn that there are more things happening in the world than games being played, I can’t deny that the majority of news I consume concerns just that. In fact, I’d say that my primary sources for news are ESPN and Bleacher Report. For as long as I can remember I’ve been waking up and watching SportsCenter while I eat my breakfast.

 

 

 

I personally believe these sources are some of the more reliable news sources available. Most of the news provided by these sources is simply the presentation of what is going on in the sporting world today. It is seldom slanted or biased in any way. Don’t get me wrong there are predictions made that may certainly reflect one persons personal viewpoints but as consumers we should be responsible for forming our own opinions based on the facts we are provided. When it comes to reliable sources, such as the ones I have listed, the facts are rarely skewed.

I have also recently downloaded the CNN app, but the only real use I have for it is to stay updated on breaking news. I certainly don’t consume as much world and local news as I probably should, and it is something I intend to start working on.

I also really enjoy The Daily Show as well. While many people view this as more entertainment than news I find it very informative, maybe even more so than the more popular news networks. While there’s no denying the comedic aspect it presents the news in, it also discusses real world events and issues. Also, I often fond myself doing extra research on jokes I may not have understood. I was encouraged to learn more about what was going on in the world, even if it was to simply understand the punchline of some political joke.

Politics also come up in conversation quite often, especially with the presidential election only a few months away. I’ve certainly consumed news from those I’ve spoken with. Whether the conversations concern sports, politics, or simply recent events there’s something to be learned by simply listening to what others have to say. While often times I find myself fact checking others, especially when I disagree with a friend on any particular  topic,  I’m still learning things from what they had to say.

As I mentioned before, ideally I’d like to become more knowledgeable with what’s going on in the world by consuming more of, and a greater variety of news. While I have no doubt still take in more news concerning sports than anything else, I’d like to be able to discuss things such as current events and politics with my peers without making a fool of myself. That being said, I will definitely be looking into more news sources in an attempt to find the most reliable and accurate options.