Internet Learning Volume 5, Number 1, Fall 2016/Winter 2017 | Page 58

Teach like a Video Journalist Thinks
face and to one side.
To plan the more complex layout
of slides with video filmed on a webcam,
or on a camera at a location away from
the desk computer, choose View> Light
Table. Watch the original sequence of
slides and hear the story run through
your mind. Move them around. Try
a different approach. Then, put the
non-essentials into another PowerPoint
for a later video.
Storyboarding. An academic
PowerPoint lecture tends to have one
structure, the academic story: the aims,
background, developments, and finally
the key message—the results. The logic
is sound, but does the story have any
impact? It is often assumed that there is
one story, one reality, and one timeline.
But the actual timeline of your research
project as it happened is different from
the timeline of your research reflections
and insights. The idea that you can mix
these timeline structures together in a
new way may come as a surprise. Once
the scientific research is completed with
the required impeccable methodology,
try thinking like a video journalist: play
around with the structure. Start with
your key discoveries. Give the key message
first. Why not use those insights
and flashes of inspiration to make the
results interesting using the techniques
of the writer and broadcaster?
Work out the essentials. Think
of three high points in the story, just to
raise the level of engagement when the
story is flagging. The high point might
be a pause for demonstration by the lecturer,
or a graphic. The final key message
becomes a confirmation reminder
and a moment of resolution of the
opening statement. The moment will
be a confirmation, reminder, and recall
of the process of the journey to the final
big idea. There are only seven story
structures according to Booker (2004).
These are, Overcoming the Monster,
Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and
Return, Tragedy, Rebirth and Comedy.
Perhaps the latter has a resonance in an
academic environment “triumph over
adverse circumstance, where the conflict
becomes more and more confusing,
but is at last made plain in a single
clarifying event.” It is also worth looking
at the origins of the journey (Campbell,
1988) reputed to be the inspiration
for Star Wars.
The usual rule for all broadcast
news is that reporters do not use the
same words as those used on the screen
headlines. A PowerPoint is an opportunity
not to read out the same sentences
on the screen, but add to those words
with extra items of information. Take
two bites of the information cherry to
hold the attention of the audience like
the professionals do. Good practice will
be most evident when the video is complete:
no-one wants to stare at a screen
of text they cannot read. Video screen
legibility requires a minimum of 24pt
Sans Serif text. Use the absolute essential
number of words on the screen,
even if you are not making a video.
Finally, export your slides as
.png files into editing software such as
iMovie, Premiere, or Final Cut Pro X.
Use some PowerPoint slides as placeholders
and replace them with video
recordings from your webcam or re-
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