Category: INSIDE OSMC

A new episode of “My OU Story” scripted, directed and produced by students at Olivet School of Media and Communication (OSMC) is ready to premiere. It features the experience of a student participating in media project and receiving professional training at the Riverside main campus.

The latest episode of “My OU Story” is the first episode of this year. Media students produced the video as part of the video production class project, which marked a milestone in development.

The production lasted for one month from scriptwriting, storyboarding, shooting, audio recording, to editing and post-production. The team of eight students, plus instructor Edwin Tsuei, worked together each week in-class and weekends to nail their planned shots. Though challenging, the team persisted to complete their project.

“The challenges and delays were mostly weather related. We learned that lighting was a critical component and sometimes there was too much, or too little sunlight for our particular shots. Being patient and working with what the situation gave us was also a big lesson in the course,” said media student Sarah Murugan.

In the beginning, the shooting schedule was delayed due to the winter weather in the area, including two seasonal snow storms and the exceptionally large amounts of rainfall. However, the team was successful overcoming all the challenges and unexpected circumstances.

Olivet University (OU) Riverside President Dr. Nathanael Tran offered invaluable support and feedback to the team’s work.

“I thought the media students did a fantastic job in making this video. They were resilient and strategically overcame challenges through creative solutions. I believe they are on the right track towards becoming media professionals. It’s a testament to all the inspiring stories we have at Olivet University through the My OU Story video series,” said Tran.

The new episode of “My OU Story” features student Moses Chelliah depicting his journey in training to become a media professional. He hopes to evangelize the unreached in his home country of India through expanding Christian contents on websites and social media platforms.

India, characterized by its cultural and religious diversity, has nearly 88% unreached among its 1.2 billion population – making it the largest unreached people group in the world. Christian minorities in India are often subjected to persecutions and therefore uses the media for evangelistic outreach as a vital tool to spread the Gospel.

Currently, Moses is part of the media team at the Riverside campus which provided an environment where he can be equipped with professional media skills, leadership skills and becoming more mature in faith through spiritual training. The education he received at OU and its media school enables him to be a more effective minister.

The media team is excited to present the latest “My OU Story” in the upcoming student recruitment campaign.

Olivet School of Media and Communication (OSMC) is preparing its new course offerings for the Spring quarter. Multimedia Storytelling and Journalism Capstone are two featured courses among others.

Multimedia Storytelling is a continuation of the the Fundamentals of Multimedia Journalism course offered in Winter. The latter course has provided background on new forms of digital journalism, including multimedia elements such as photo, audio, video, and graphics. The focus of the new Multimedia Storytelling course would be integrating all these media elements to create stories for digital publishing. The curriculum is designed to be student-orientated and uses project-based learning.

“In the new media world where many different screens are completing for audience eyeballs 24/7, publishers must take a ‘reach the news consumers wherever they are’ approach to provide information and content,” OSMC program director Eunice Or said. She explained, “The medium is the message. Presentation of information on different platforms will obviously be different and so will the content. That is why aspiring journalists must be trained to have a multimedia mindset and be equipped with multimedia production capabilities.”

The other featured course in Spring is Journalism Capstone. It is part of the graduation requirements for journalism graduate students. Students will pick a topic of interest to investigate and produce a publishable journalistic piece. The presentation can be one of the followings:

• Long-Form Narrative – A series based on extensive reporting, research and interviews, that is suitable for publishing

• Multimedia – A publishable series that includes multimedia elements such as original video, audio, photos, and graphics

The project should demonstrate the student’s mastery of media skills and commitment to journalism ethics and principles.

Students can register for the Spring quarter from now until Friday, March 22.

Students at Olivet School of Media and Communication (OSMC) received hands-on videography training, lighting, and audio recording while filming a new episode of “My OU Story” as part of their video production class project. The filming started last week under the guidance of video production class instructor Edwin Tsuei. Since camera and lighting team members have worked on the storyboard and location scout during the pre-production stage, the actual shoot can be more efficiently done.

The camera crew takes charge of finding the right angle and directing the overall shoots. The lighting team decides the lighting style and sets up the lights based on the requirement of the location. The sound unit handles the microphone and recorder. Upon the “click” of the clapperboard, everyone goes into action and synchronizes with one another. Instructor Tsuei is on location with the team to provide assistance and advice as necessary.

For some of the students, this is the very first time they participated in a video production. Students share that it turns out to be a very challenging yet rewarding experience. By participating in the entire production process, students come to appreciate the art of visual storytelling. While students are gradually growing in various skills, they have to put in hard work in pursuing excellence in that chosen craft.

“It’s a fresh experience for me to participate in the ‘My OU Story’ video production,” graduate student Hannah Gong said. “I’m excited to learn everything about shooting videos on locations. It’s a creative process to bring a message to life with through audio-visual. Besides the complicated steps of assembling camera equipment, I have learned how light and composition plays a huge role in storytelling. I’m looking forward to the last phase of editing which will give all the footages and audio a new life.”

“My OU Story” is a short video series featuring current student experiences at Olivet University (OU). Its purpose is to witness God’s work on transforming and equipping ministry-bound men and women through education at OU. A new episode is scheduled to be released by the end of the Winter quarter.

Journalism students at Olivet School of Media and Communication (OSMC) explore using mobile phones for news reporting in the multimedia journalism course this quarter.

The multimedia journalism course is designed to give students a broad perspective and practical experience in the emergence of new forms of journalism. Students will learn to produce digital multimedia journalistic pieces that combine text with still photos, audio, video, and infographics.

Reporting with mobile phones, in the context of multimedia journalism, is highly applicable. First of all, mobile phones become very handy in a breaking news situation where immediacy values most. Secondly, the pictures, videos, and audio recorded right at the scene with mobile phones are readily shared in their forms across various digital platforms.

During the multimedia journalism class, students watch demos and tutorials on how to take better photos with their smartphones. Many of them are amazed by the full capability of the camera on their mobile phones. They also learn some techniques of storytelling in an audio-only format.

Media student Abby Peng produced a 2-minute audio clip reporting on the recent Lunar New Year celebration by international students. The festivities becomes live and vivid in the clip through her mastery of voice and recording of sounds at the scene.

“It is my first time reporting with audio only. I thought it was very new and a fun experience for me. The class has given me inspirations to produce new forms of reporting that is not just informative, but effective and desirable,” Peng said.

Besides still photos and audio, the class introduces the basics of video news production such as shooting a video sequence and conducting interviews on camera. By applying some professional techniques in photography, students are able to produce video stories with their smartphones.

“While using professional gears for news production gives us the best result, it is also true that mobile journalism has its merits, especially in the multimedia capabilities. It is important for journalism students to sharpen their skills in this area,” course instructor Eunice Or said.

The video production class offered by Olivet School of Media and Communication (OSMC) this quarter has significantly advanced the media capabilities of Olivet University (OU) Riverside students.

Students enrolled in the video production class train on professional videography equipment starting from the pipeline’s beginning until the end. The whole set of tools include a mirrorless digital camera that can capture videos in 4K resolution, a range of camera lenses, LED continuous video light sets, different types of light modifiers, boom mic, lavalier mic, and external audio recorder.

In the class, OSMC will focus on skill training, team building, and ensuring students receive proper training so they can produce high-quality videos comparable to industry standards. Students not only find the class very exciting, but they are also strongly dedicated to the vision of using media to bring positive impact to the world.

The first project assignment for the course includes a mini biographical video entitled “My OU Story” which focuses on student campus life. The first two seasons of My OU Story were released in 2018. For this quarter, students have started content production and are getting familiar with the equipment.