IGNITE (Virtual) Real Talks Series
(3 minute read)
When I first started working with IGNITE , we decided to make the transition from solely posting video content on Youtube, to creating content that worked with IGTV, in order to reach a much larger audience.
Approaching the end of my first school year with IGNITE, we were hit with the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of IGNITE's events were cancelled, and generally students were (understandably) discouraged about the future.
I found myself in a full-circle situation of sorts, tasked with tackling a very important question: "How might we continue to create engaging content for IGTV, that lifts the spirits of students, without sacrificing production quality?"
Process & Insight
The answer to this question came through the "Virtual" Real Talks series. In light of the pandemic, both Terry Crews (actor from Brooklyn Nine-Nine, White Chicks, host of America's Got Talent) and Rainn Wilson (actor from The Office, founder of online platform SoulPancake) were kind enough to answer some questions that would have been asked at their respective live Real Talks events, via videos that they both sent over.
Unlike previous Real Talks events and interviews that we'd done (you can see an example through the one we did with Serge Ibaka here), we didn't have the luxury of staging cameras, lighting, audio, etc. Whatever our guests were kind enough to send was what we had to work with. As an editor, the onus was on me to take the pre-recorded videos and determine how we could keep some familiarity in the overall look and feel, while keeping the viewer(s) interested in this longer video format.
Virtual Real Talks with Terry Crews
Terry Crews sent in a vertical video, which worked perfectly for full-screen IGTV viewing. The first video in this series, I experimented with adding a variety of relevant b-roll and footage to add context to the answers and insight he provided.
You can see the result of the edit in the YouTube video below!
Virtual Real Talks with Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson's interview could not have come at a better time. He offered great insight on what matters most in life, and how students could apply that in the face of uncertainty.
It was more of a challenge to edit this interview due to less-available supplementary content and trying to find music that didn't clash with the tone of his video, but overall the audience seemed satisfied with the content and I was happy to have overcome those obstacles during the editing process.
You can view the video and/or overall student engagement & reach on Instagram here , or view just the video via YouTube below.
Learning Outcomes
Our world seemingly changed overnight, and we were put in a position where we needed to adapt quickly in several aspects of life. As creators, we find ourselves faced with this challenge as well. At the time that I am writing this, the pandemic is still on. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to get a first hand experience/challenge on what we can do with content, with limited resources.
Although times might be a bit scary right now, this is an exciting time to potentially experiment more with content and see how we can build and create something from what may seem on the surface as "nothing". I look forward to more opportunities to take on this challenge in the future.