Winter Driving Video Project 1

Courtland Hanley & Elyssa Ellis

Video Package Project

Dan Williams

Due 11/13/13

Winter Driving

                With winter here, temperatures are continuing to drop, and we have already seen some snow fall. It may not have stuck around but it soon will.

The state of Vermont has a Project Road Safe plan that has been set in place for a number of years. This is about keeping the roadways safe during the year, with advice geared towards specific seasons.

To properly prepare you for the winter, Project Road Safe Manager Norm James says you should have winter tires on your vehicle, your anti-freeze should register to -30/-40 degrees below zero, and make sure your wipers are working properly and blades are in good condition. These are just some of the ways to get ready for the winter season.

Another very important thing you should keep in your car is a cold weather kit which has an ice scraper, a flashlight with extra batteries, a snow brush, jumper cables, chains, extra washer fluid, and a small snow shovel.

Another item you should keep around is cat litter. Cat litter works really well if you get stuck. You can put it under your tires and it will melt some of the ice as well as gripping the ground a little bit better.

During the winter months it is very important to keep your cell phone fully charged just in case you get stuck and you are unable to reach emergency assistance.

Speaking of getting stuck, if you find yourself unable to move your car after a big snow storm, shovel out the areas around your vehicle. If you don’t have a shovel with you, another way to try to get out would be to keep turning your steering wheel from side to side to create some free room around your tires.

If you are stuck, make sure you do not slam on the accelerator as this will make your tires spin, and might make you get stuck even more. Once you move snow out of the way, lightly apply pressure on the accelerator.

One very key aspect to winter driving to remember is to double your following distance to any vehicle in front of you. You can figure out how far you are behind someone by finding a sign and waiting until they pass it, and then counting one one thousandths until you pass that same sign. During the winter your following distance should be doubled from 2-4 seconds to 4-8 seconds.

The most important thing to remember is to NEVER SLAM YOUR BRAKES! Making sudden rises in acceleration or brake pressure are sure to lead to scary situations. Be sure to keep steady pressure on the pedals during the winter seasons, and have all the necessary tools in your vehicle that you may need.

Final Project

On Wednesday, December 11th, the Lyndon State College American Meteorological Society hosted their annual talent show. Lyndon State Atmospheric Science majors Amanda Curran and Stephen Decatur emceed the event, while President's Office Assistant Brett Santo hosted the event.

Emcee and AMS public relations director Amanda Curran began planning the event on November 1st. With the help of other AMS club members, Curran said "over 100 hours was put into planning and preparing this year's show."

The talent show began with the introduction of the judges, which included AMS President Chris McCray, AMS Vice President Josh Cingranelli, LSC President Joe Bertolino, SGA President Haley Craig, Provost Kellie Bean, and Atmospheric Science's newest professor, Janel Hanrahan.

The acts would ensue, with fifteen performances ranging from singing, dancing, and comedic skits. The judges had a tough time declaring a winner though, as five acts were chosen for the top three spots.

With over $300 worth of prizes available, the prizes were split up slightly differently than expected due to the ties. Alyssa Rovella's solo-singing performance landed her a tie for the third place spot with Victor Mwangi, who performed a song acapella. Brandon White was the only solo-winner of a spot, securing second place with an incredible piano solo rendition of Christmas Eve by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Music Business and Industry major Steven Neas performed a song of his own vocally and on the guitar, displaying his vast musical talent. Jake Machell also played guitar and sang, performing a duet with his girlfriend of two years, Jacqueline Laviolette. The couple covered Umbrella by Rihanna.

When asked about this year's attendance in comparison to other years, Curran said "Usually we do it two weeks before finals. This year it was one week, so the turn-out wasn't as good, just because of the timing, but it's a nice time for everyone to come out one last time before finals to see the talent here at Lyndon State."

Another difference in this year's show was the donation to the American Red Cross. Typically, the AMS talent show raises money for the club, but this year, they AMS club sent 100% of their proceeds directly to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief fund for Typhoon Haiyan.

Between ticket sales, food and drinks, the AMS club was able to raise $550 to donate to the American Red Cross.

Video Project Two

Courtland Hanley & Elyssa Ellis
Intro to Multimedia Storytelling
Dan Williams
Due 12/4/13

CAB Presents: Free Skate at Fenton Chester Arena

We decided to do our project on the annual Free Skate hosted by both Lyndon State’s Club Hockey team and CAB. The Free Skate is one of the most popular events at Lyndon State College.

Once again, the hockey team gave up some valuable ice time, and CAB provided hot chocolate, coffee and hand warmers, drawing over two hundred students during the hour and a half event.

The Free Skate collaboration between the hockey team and CAB has been going on for six years, consistently bringing in over two hundred students.

Lyndon State Club Hockey Team Coach Jonathan Davis says "It's just a popular event and everyone seems to have a great time. Skating is not something that a majority of students have access to wherever they live or grew up, not to mention the fact that the event is totally free for all [to attend.]"

With so many students in a small location, the assistance of Lyndon State's Public Safety was requested this year. Previously, just a town sheriff was requested. Coach Davis likes the feeling of someone who is trained to help if something comes up.

Lyndon State Public Safety Officer Charles Forrest attended the event, and was glad to replace a town sheriff in attendance. "When we have off-campus events, there is usually a better turnout with Public Safety in attendance versus a sheriff just because of the connection... Our hearts are in it," said Forrest.

It's important to have Public Safety at this event because of some of the issues that have arisen in the past. Forrest says "We're there to make sure people are under control, whether it be drugs, alcohol, fights, or domestic disputes between couples... We've seen it all."

Some of these things have been an issue at off-campus events, the Free Skate in particular. Students will often show up intoxicated or under the influence. This puts their safety at risk, as well as the students around them. Last year, there was an injury at the Free Skate event.

Given the event's tremendous success, it's hard to believe the collaboration between the Lyndon State Club Hockey Team and CAB will end any time soon. However, it's important for students to work with Public Safety, and use their heads before the event, creating a safer environment for everyone.

Final Project Outline

For our final project, Elyssa and I will be covering the AMS talent show on Wednesday, December 11th. Our best work seems to come from us taking turns shooting, Elyssa editing, and Courtland writing, so we will probably stick to that outline.

Video Project 2

For our second video project, Elyssa and I will head to the Free Skate at the Fenton Chester Arena tonight presented by CAB. There will be plenty to shoot as far as students skating, and plenty of people willing to talk about the event. We can ask members of CAB how popular this event is compared to most why people enjoy coming out for it.

Team Member Tasks
Courtland and Elyssa will both attend the event and shoot
Elyssa will do the majority of the editing
Courtland will be writing the narrative

Intermediate Deadline - Courtland and Elyssa

For our video package project, we will be creating a piece about winter driving safety. The first source we reached out to is Project Roadsafe manager Norman James. James has been cooperative with News7 in the past, and is very knowledgable about driving safety related issues. Norm is always willing to meet up in Danville.

A source we have yet to reach out to, but will soon is a car dealership and/or repair shop where winter tires a sold. The goal is to ask some questions about why winter tires are necessary, and possibly get  a video demonstration of a tire change for video.

Team Member Tasks
Courtland will shoot the video
Elyssa will write the journalistic narrative
We will both edit the video together

Video in Newspapers

I chose the Burlington Free Press as my source for video from a newspaper. After living in Burlington for the summer, the BFP has become one of my more popular options.

My first instinct was to go to the sports tab. The first video that grabbed my attention is titled "CVU takes place among best in history."

My first reaction to the story was the lack of quality in the tracking. It sounds like whoever is reading it is tracking the story because they have to, rather than because they want to. There is a nice nat-sound bit :20 or so seconds in though which is nice.

The video is the same length in a package we would do in News7, but I think we run packages of higher quality than this. The SOT was very long, and not split up at all. He didn't introduce their SOT, and instead we heard the reporter asking the question. While it's nice to draw the emotion that this reporter did, he could have split that interview into multiple SOTs for a much stronger story. Because of this, I would say this story looks more amateur-ish, than professional.