September 30, 2011
Grades 3-6
Lane Elementary Authors
November 11, 2011
Grades 1-3
William Joyce
December 1, 2011
Grades 2-4
Brandon Mull
February 29, 2012
Grades 5-8
Discover Shakespeare
April 25, 2012
Grades 9-12
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2010-2011 Season
2009-2010 Season
By Catherine King—Catherine was an FCPS senior in 2009
When I started my internship at the Fairfax Network in September, I was asked to produce a roll-in segment for the Meet the Author show that was to feature Adriana Trigiani. Because Adriana Trigiani has recently tapped into the young adult market with her new book Viola in Reel Life, the producer felt that a young person like me could produce a clip to show what young adults really like to read and what they look for in young adult books. So during the first week of school, I hopped from lunch table to lunch table to interview students for my project.
While I was gathering these short interview clips, I used the Adriana Trigiani’s book as a template for the script and background story of my piece. The main character in the book, Viola, is a videodiarist who uses film and media instead of paper and pencil to express herself. I attempted to mirror her personality as much as I could by documenting the day I was interviewing students as a videodiarist would. I asked the students if they kept some kind of journal like Viola—the answers ranged from paper and pencil journals to online blogs—and I also asked them what type of books they were reading.
After filming these short interviews, I came to work at my internship the next week to edit all the good clips together. I learned how to use Avid, a really cool editing software that is used here at the Fairfax Network, and I even managed to pick out some good background music for my piece. With the help of my mentors, within a week and a half I had completed my video clip that was later chosen to be placed in the live show.
Finally, the day of the live Meet the Author show arrived. I checked out of school early just to come watch the show from the studio and when my clip came on towards the end I felt very proud. In just a couple short weeks, a video piece I had created was already on TV! After the show, I met Adriana Trigiani, who signed my book, my set piece, and later my mom’s book when I went to her book talk at a local Borders later that day.
This was an amazing learning experience because I not only learned some of the basics of video production, but I was able to apply them in the real world. I believe that my roll-in piece helped other people, especially adults, see how young adults like me use media to express themselves. The variety in responses about books also shows that while some students like to read comics, the classics are still going strong. Despite technology, books will always be loved as long as young adults can find a way to relate to the main character as I found a way to relate to Viola.
Watch Catherine's roll-in.