Students and faculty gathered at the student showcase on Wednesday to view videography done by Cronkite students.
Six video packages played during the 45-minute-long event, after which the audience asked questions of each video’s creator.
“There’s a lot of work that’s being done by students that no one ever sees,” said Tom Fergus, the host of the event and a videography professor at the Walter Cronkite School. “The class gets to see it, but that’s it. It dies a quick death. It’s cool we can display them here for others to see.”
Fergus said he hoped the event would be an inspiration to budding journalism students who attended it.
“Sometimes, I get inspired by other news stories, so I’m sure a lot of students come to this to get inspired for their work, and I hope they are,” Fergus said.
Broadcast junior Lindsey Smith found the event to be just that.
“I was really interested to see what other kids were creating,” Smith said. “I wanted to see if I could get any tips or perspective on how to shoot my videos.”
Smith wasn’t the only student who attended with the hopes of being inspired.
Senior Kay Maemura said he was looking for the same thing.
“The people that get chosen for these events usually are really great at their work, and I wanted to see what I could do in my videos,” Maemura said. “Watching those kinds of things helps me be more creative myself.”
Their expectations did not let them down. Both students were able to find nuggets of great ideas. For Smith, it was in a video by sophomore Jake Stein about Rita Melamed, a senior at ASU who was born with spina bifida and lost all use and feeling below the waist after a faulty surgery at age 6.
“It was inspirational, and had some cool shots,” Smith said. “It really took us as an audience to a whole new level — to see how she operates on a daily basis.”
Fergus recognized the importance of this opportunity for the creators of the videos. “They put a lot of work into these pieces — you can’t even imagine how much work,” Fergus said. “It’s good they can be seen.”
Contact the reporter at kendra.worsnup@asu.edu
