Advice from students 2018
CD
When doing the CSpan project there are some things you should just never and I mean NEVER do. First of you should never wait to do your proposals, even if you think you have enough time YOU DONT. Second do all of the little assignments that are given they will help you so much when trying to put your video together. especially identify your cspan clips don't wait to long for that either. Last Please please PLEASE , make sure you get your interviews on time, and if you need help ask. PS IF SOMETHING GOES MISSING BLAME MIRACLE even though she's not going to be here.
MW
Some advice I would give to someone who has to do the CSpan project is don't procrastinate and don't rush it. It's a process to do this project and it takes time. The editing part is probably the hardest because you are going to want to change your mind during that part. TAKE YOUR TIME and HAVE FUN!
CG
If wee was to do this project again i would think to tel a person a couple of things. i would say that you should try to get everything don and done on time and definitely do the video. Ask others for help and advice. You can always use some feedback. When giving feedback to others don't be too critical because you don't know how hard a person worked on their video and too be too cocky with yours if it was good. Don't make others feel bad about their project is my point here lol...
DW
1. Start filming as soon as possible.
2. Set up interviews, they are a major key to a good film.
3. Consistent Progress, (do not procrastinate).
4. Transitions and Music are important.
5. Be creative!
JY
To future students who will do C- Span don't waste no time and start doing everything before the weeks break because that will put you ahead of the game tremendously. Also make sure your topic is special and has the ability to not just get a good grade but affect the lives of people.
JW
- There is no time to procrastinate, for real. Gettin' those interviews is difficult
- Talk to people about your topic
- Ask ppl to watch your video
- If you need anything, ask for it
- Even a free video-editing program can create a pretty good video with time and effort
- Believe in yourself, you can do it
- Or don't believe in yourself, high hopes and all that
- Use all of the time you have
- You see an opportunity for an interview or more information? Take it
- Don't be scared to not use your voice, just be scared of having to work harder because of it
DC
1. Start working on your video as soon as you complete your script so you can have a lot of time to edit.
2. Have a voice over for a nice feel.
3. Actually make sure you talk about your topic and don´t just have a lot of clips and expect it to do the talking for you.
4. Also make sure to get your interviews first.
5 Last but not least, TALK ABOUT YOUR TOPIC DON´T STRAY
SP
1. Have good sound quality
2. Different perspectives of the topic
3. Think about the reward from c-span as a motivator
4. Include the history of the topic
MH
- Don't fall behind, plan ahead
- Get more b roll and interviews than you can use, you can always edit down
- Plan this b roll around stuff that relates directly to your film, don't get random b roll that you don't actually need
- Reach out to experts to your topic from different fields, these could be people in politics, other teachers or students, people that have been directly affected and more
- Start earlier on everything than what you think you'll need
- Don't run yourself down with too much structure, it's good to be able to just film or just edit, however this doesn't mean you should slack off
- Have a clear end goal in mind
- Sketch out and plan what you want to be delivered through your film
- Make sure that you are telling a story, not just delivering a problem and showing it
- Editing takes a long time if you want a good end product, plan approximately 1 - 3 hours per each good minute of your final film
- You will have to work hard if you want a good final product
TC
some advice I would have would be to have a clear plan on what your doing plan out what its going to be about, what types of clips are going to be in it who you want to interview and when, because planning all this out will make the process of creating the short film easier than what it is.
VG
Interviews are key. I thought this was the case in 2016, and my suspicions were confirmed this year. If you can't get strong interviews that advance your narrative, you'll be stuck with either text with no words, or your nasty voice doing a voiceover. Neither of those are good.
Figure out what you want to talk about early on, and distill that into a clear argument as soon as possible. However: if you correctly rely on interviews, this should be really hard! I found that I learned a lot through my interviews and got quotes that I couldn't have expected. So set up your interviews early! Once you have a list of questions that you expect will both net good quotes and help you learn about your topic, schedule an interview.
You shouldn't have long stretches of a single person talking. I found that asking the same questions to multiple people gave me both similar answers (which made me feel more confident in my topic) and plenty of similar-sounding quotes that I could splice together to make the video always be changing and engaging.
Good luck :)
MT
One piece of advice I have for students next is to start editing 2 weeks before the project is due. This would give a student time look over the video. Don't include the editing time with getting footage. You would notice that footage time and editing should not go together because of the timing it takes for the project to get done.
CS
My advice for people who were going to do the C-SPAN project would be to not procrastinate and to actually get out there. I would also say if you can do pre-screenings while you're working on the film so you don't see all the mistakes when you're in the final screenings. Both of these things would've have really helped me also start thinking about the prompt in the beginning when you get told you're doing the project, so it doesn't pop out at you later. Another piece of advice is to really think about the story you're want to tell, you always need more than facts to create a piece that will move people. Check in news stories the facts are always dispersed with a personal story so that people sympathize and actually care.
Advice from students 2017
Picking a topic
I knew that I wanted to make my video about climate change because I'm passionate about that issue and I'd done projects about climate change in the past. It sounds obvious, but it's important to choose a topic that you care about. There were plenty of times in the process of making this documentary that I got bored, but I was able to push forward. If I had had an issue that I didn't care so deeply about, I might not have had the personal motivation to push my video to be as good as it could be. -VG
Planning
One is make sure that you plan ahead of you know that this project is coming up. As soon as Clapper assigns this project start thinking and doing research on it.
Two is that make sure you have 2-4 weeks in advance to make sure you have your filming plan and a camera and back up plan. It's important just in case something happens. -TC
I think that once you start this project you should begin with creating a timeline for what you want to do. I say this because it's not the first thing that I didn't do, but I did it in the middle of the project which stopped me from doing the neccessary work in the project. This will help you because it's lile setting your own deliverables, which I think is a great idea which helped me with creating my exhibition template. This is my advice to you, heed my warning. -KH
I have a lot of advice for future students. I will first say use your time wisely. Don't procrastinate get all work done so make a schedule. When you get started make sure you can connect to your topic and its personal to you. Also, when choosing your topic make sure the topic can relate to a lot of people. -AH
CD
When doing the CSpan project there are some things you should just never and I mean NEVER do. First of you should never wait to do your proposals, even if you think you have enough time YOU DONT. Second do all of the little assignments that are given they will help you so much when trying to put your video together. especially identify your cspan clips don't wait to long for that either. Last Please please PLEASE , make sure you get your interviews on time, and if you need help ask. PS IF SOMETHING GOES MISSING BLAME MIRACLE even though she's not going to be here.
MW
Some advice I would give to someone who has to do the CSpan project is don't procrastinate and don't rush it. It's a process to do this project and it takes time. The editing part is probably the hardest because you are going to want to change your mind during that part. TAKE YOUR TIME and HAVE FUN!
CG
If wee was to do this project again i would think to tel a person a couple of things. i would say that you should try to get everything don and done on time and definitely do the video. Ask others for help and advice. You can always use some feedback. When giving feedback to others don't be too critical because you don't know how hard a person worked on their video and too be too cocky with yours if it was good. Don't make others feel bad about their project is my point here lol...
DW
1. Start filming as soon as possible.
2. Set up interviews, they are a major key to a good film.
3. Consistent Progress, (do not procrastinate).
4. Transitions and Music are important.
5. Be creative!
JY
To future students who will do C- Span don't waste no time and start doing everything before the weeks break because that will put you ahead of the game tremendously. Also make sure your topic is special and has the ability to not just get a good grade but affect the lives of people.
JW
- There is no time to procrastinate, for real. Gettin' those interviews is difficult
- Talk to people about your topic
- Ask ppl to watch your video
- If you need anything, ask for it
- Even a free video-editing program can create a pretty good video with time and effort
- Believe in yourself, you can do it
- Or don't believe in yourself, high hopes and all that
- Use all of the time you have
- You see an opportunity for an interview or more information? Take it
- Don't be scared to not use your voice, just be scared of having to work harder because of it
DC
1. Start working on your video as soon as you complete your script so you can have a lot of time to edit.
2. Have a voice over for a nice feel.
3. Actually make sure you talk about your topic and don´t just have a lot of clips and expect it to do the talking for you.
4. Also make sure to get your interviews first.
5 Last but not least, TALK ABOUT YOUR TOPIC DON´T STRAY
SP
1. Have good sound quality
2. Different perspectives of the topic
3. Think about the reward from c-span as a motivator
4. Include the history of the topic
MH
- Don't fall behind, plan ahead
- Get more b roll and interviews than you can use, you can always edit down
- Plan this b roll around stuff that relates directly to your film, don't get random b roll that you don't actually need
- Reach out to experts to your topic from different fields, these could be people in politics, other teachers or students, people that have been directly affected and more
- Start earlier on everything than what you think you'll need
- Don't run yourself down with too much structure, it's good to be able to just film or just edit, however this doesn't mean you should slack off
- Have a clear end goal in mind
- Sketch out and plan what you want to be delivered through your film
- Make sure that you are telling a story, not just delivering a problem and showing it
- Editing takes a long time if you want a good end product, plan approximately 1 - 3 hours per each good minute of your final film
- You will have to work hard if you want a good final product
TC
some advice I would have would be to have a clear plan on what your doing plan out what its going to be about, what types of clips are going to be in it who you want to interview and when, because planning all this out will make the process of creating the short film easier than what it is.
VG
Interviews are key. I thought this was the case in 2016, and my suspicions were confirmed this year. If you can't get strong interviews that advance your narrative, you'll be stuck with either text with no words, or your nasty voice doing a voiceover. Neither of those are good.
Figure out what you want to talk about early on, and distill that into a clear argument as soon as possible. However: if you correctly rely on interviews, this should be really hard! I found that I learned a lot through my interviews and got quotes that I couldn't have expected. So set up your interviews early! Once you have a list of questions that you expect will both net good quotes and help you learn about your topic, schedule an interview.
You shouldn't have long stretches of a single person talking. I found that asking the same questions to multiple people gave me both similar answers (which made me feel more confident in my topic) and plenty of similar-sounding quotes that I could splice together to make the video always be changing and engaging.
Good luck :)
MT
One piece of advice I have for students next is to start editing 2 weeks before the project is due. This would give a student time look over the video. Don't include the editing time with getting footage. You would notice that footage time and editing should not go together because of the timing it takes for the project to get done.
CS
My advice for people who were going to do the C-SPAN project would be to not procrastinate and to actually get out there. I would also say if you can do pre-screenings while you're working on the film so you don't see all the mistakes when you're in the final screenings. Both of these things would've have really helped me also start thinking about the prompt in the beginning when you get told you're doing the project, so it doesn't pop out at you later. Another piece of advice is to really think about the story you're want to tell, you always need more than facts to create a piece that will move people. Check in news stories the facts are always dispersed with a personal story so that people sympathize and actually care.
Advice from students 2017
Picking a topic
I knew that I wanted to make my video about climate change because I'm passionate about that issue and I'd done projects about climate change in the past. It sounds obvious, but it's important to choose a topic that you care about. There were plenty of times in the process of making this documentary that I got bored, but I was able to push forward. If I had had an issue that I didn't care so deeply about, I might not have had the personal motivation to push my video to be as good as it could be. -VG
Planning
One is make sure that you plan ahead of you know that this project is coming up. As soon as Clapper assigns this project start thinking and doing research on it.
Two is that make sure you have 2-4 weeks in advance to make sure you have your filming plan and a camera and back up plan. It's important just in case something happens. -TC
I think that once you start this project you should begin with creating a timeline for what you want to do. I say this because it's not the first thing that I didn't do, but I did it in the middle of the project which stopped me from doing the neccessary work in the project. This will help you because it's lile setting your own deliverables, which I think is a great idea which helped me with creating my exhibition template. This is my advice to you, heed my warning. -KH
I have a lot of advice for future students. I will first say use your time wisely. Don't procrastinate get all work done so make a schedule. When you get started make sure you can connect to your topic and its personal to you. Also, when choosing your topic make sure the topic can relate to a lot of people. -AH