DA Discusses: Appalachian Film with Elaine Sheldon
While working as video editor at the Daily Athenaeum, I launched a new interview series titled “Da Discusses” where reporters speak with experts on campus and across the state who have influence over decisions that impact students. By using Instagram Live as a platform, we were able to increase social media engagement as well as conduct live interviews that initially weren’t feasible because of COVID-19 restrictions. I feel that the series improved my skills as a journalists because it required a lot of organization and planning. For example, I was responsible for communicating and coordinating with subjects prior to live interviews.
In this particular interview, I spoke with filmmaker Elaine Sheldon about the significance of Appalachian film and her upcoming project, “King Coal.”
Adam Yokum’s ‘The Love Story’ to be released on day of love
While news is certainly abundant during the pandemic, my department at the Daily Athenaeum faced unique challenges. The interruption of in-person events and activities made it difficult to develop multimedia content, so in response, I developed a series focused on artists and creators in the Morgantown community. Reporting feature news offered a great way to tell life revealing stories as well as a way to remain relevant. In essence, the focus of this series is to shed light on how the pandemic has impacted creators and their professions. Read my full story here.
In this particular project, I spoke with Adam Yokum who had been developing a new album throughout the fall semester of 2020. Working with a musician offered me the unique opportunity to experiment with audio in my video editing process. Overall, my goal was to use Yokum’s music to reinforce the video’s narrative.
WVU puppetry major to open wordless show in May
In this video, I interviewed WVU senior Alexandra Ashworth about the challenges she faced while developing her capstone project, a shadow puppet show titled ‘Hands of Humanity.’ Read the full story here.
Morgantown residents gather to march for Breonna Taylor following court ruling
For this multimedia project, I collaborated with Christina Rufo, a correspondent at the Daily Athenaeum. We covered a protest held on Sep. 27. 2020 in light of court rulings in the case involving the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. Read the full story here. In addition to recording her interviews with participants of the march, I captured footage of the event as a whole. Through this I was able to visually reinforce Rufo’s writing.
Mountaineers win big, fathers reflect on being there
At the beginning of the West Virginia University football season in 2020, our staff was presented with a variety challenges. Due to university mandates and COVID-19 restrictions, we were unable to get coverage inside the stadium, so the photography and video departments decided to create a unique multimedia piece: What does gameday in Morgantown look like during the pandemic?
TRENTON STRAIGHT 