What makes a good feature story?

  When you watch a feature story on the news, it can be captivating. An inspiring story about a blind man who kayaked an entire river, a long-lost child returning home, some stories just give you a warm and fuzzy feeling. But why do the stories do this? What makes you want to cry, laugh, or cheer? What makes a good feature story?
  The first thing that you need when creating a successful feature story is a good topic. Obviously, the topic must be something interesting, otherwise no one will care. For example, a blind man kayaking the entire length of the colorado river is a great story that would inspire people. No one would want to hear a story about a little kid who dropped his ice cream.
  Making sure you get good footage is one of the most important things when making a feature story. Footage of the activity or topic that you are talking about is imperative. When the footage relates to what you're talking about, the viewers are more interested.
  As with any film, you want to have good lighting and sound. There needs to be enough light that you can see, but not so much that the glare blinds the camera. On the same note, a little bit of natural noise is welcome, but too much overpowers your voice-overs and leaves your viewers confused.
  An effective voice-over is another important part of creating a feature story. A voice-over can introduce a topic, transfer a viewer's attention to a new part of the topic, and end the feature story on a high note. Voice-overs keep your viewers interested, and they can be used to articulate an unclear part of the story. Also, they are often used to explain what the person in the story may be talking about, as putting the creator of the feature story is considered unprofessional.
  These are good things to do when creating a good feature story. Remember, if the video is too long, the viewers may lose interest. Try to keep it as brief and concise as possible.

Story Animation

  The latest 2D animation from my animation class required a story. There needed to be a plot, action, and a walk cycle. After creating storyboards for our animations, my class began to work. The creation process began in Adobe Photoshop. Characters, backgrounds, everything was crafted and colored to fit each person's needs. Each layer was perfected, then the work was moved to Adobe After Effects.
  Adobe After Effects was the program used to put the animation together. Each layer was placed in its position, then moved throughout the animation. Some things could be moved with the use of key frames, while some objects needed to be moved with puppet pin tools. I included a stick figure in my animation, and I used puppet pin tools to move it. My robot's legs were moved with the use of key frames. I set the legs in a position, then created a key frame to make the legs be in that position at the selected time. After a full cycle, I copied and pasted the key frames to make the walk look consistent.


  The final animation wasn't the best. The concept was supposed to be that the robot was a ghost, or a hologram, or something. But nobody seemed to get that. They just figured I did a bad job. And while it wasn't as obvious as it could've been, I'm still learning this, I don't know how I could make it any clearer, and they probably should've been able to figure it out. Some of my classmates started pointing out stuff that was wrong with it, but I did those things on purpose to try and make it look like the robot was a ghost. Yes, there were things that I could have done better, but overall, most of the criticism was based around a false assumption. And at least something happened in my animations. There were some animations where the entire scene was a badly drawn blob walking for 30 seconds. If I had more time, I would have concentrated on the details a little bit more rather than just focusing on finishing.

Feature Story Experience

  The concept of my feature story was fellow classmate Austin Wilson's involvement in the school musical. He is the only sophomore in the pit orchestra for the musical. Filming the video was simple. I set up the camera, asked the questions, and recorded the answers. I also recorded him playing a few pieces from the music he has to practice. I put all of the clips together and imported some voice overs, and that was the video. Typing it was even more simple. I just listened to the video and typed all of the words that were said, along with some commentary.