VISUAL MEDIA: Instagram Reel
Blacksburg, Virginia Farmer's Market
november 2023
This project was about Blacksburg’s seasonal farmer’s market located near downtown. Instead of solely featuring the vendors and their products, I chose to focus my storyline on the benefits that the market has to offer. I wanted to highlight the critical facts about the differences between food from the grocery store and farmer's market food to persuade viewers to engage with their community's next farmer's market. I produced this project by using a Movo Photo Smartphone Video Kit, which includes a variety of components, including external microphones, cradles, grips, and external lenses, and finalized the project using Adobe Premiere Pro.
One of the most interesting discoveries that I made while working on this project was figuring out which pieces of equipment to use for filming the social media reel. Before this assignment, I had no experience working with handheld smartphone journalism tools, so I wasn’t aware of the differences between each of them. I gained a better understanding of a Shotgun versus a Lavalier microphone. For example, Shotguns are essential for close-quarter filming and are effective when moving around. On the other hand, the Lavalier is wireless and is more efficient in omnidirectional shots or walking interviews. In addition, there are mini tripods, grips, and gimbals which are all devices that allow individuals to create portable, stabilized setups for video and photo opportunities.
One of the biggest challenges that I encountered while working on this project was deciding how to create a coherent, engaging news story in a minute and 15 seconds. As a multimedia journalism major, interviewing individuals is instinctive. I find it simple to create meaningful conversations and obtain strong quotes for stories, but cutting and trimming through a vast amount of information left me at a crossroads. I overcame this by outlining the key points in my visual story and reminding myself what I wanted the audience to take away after viewing the Instagram Reel. For this project, the focus was for viewers to learn about the health benefits of the food from farmer's markets and grasp an idea of the environment within the market.
I will use what I learned from this project as I continue in my multimedia journalism major to build on my visual storytelling and sequencing of multimedia skills. I believe that as an aspiring multimedia news reporter and producer, it is crucial to successfully convey effective storytelling for social media platforms, so I must familiarize myself with these functions. Technology, especially social media has transformed the way audiences are exposed to news stories. With applications like Instagram Reel, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, narrowing down facts into a concise, informative story is the future of the news industry. I want to reach a much broader network of viewers, which is why I want to master this form of storytelling and eventually create a social media page to showcase these reels.
The Blacksburg Farmers Market is open throughout the fall season from 2 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. The downtown event comprises a variety of vendors including Blacksburg Bagels, Weathertop Farm LLC, Green Market Farms, and 33 others. If you are looking for a community-building experience and are interested in purchasing the freshest nourishment in the area, come out to the farmers market this upcoming week!
