MY STORIES:

• Utah Domestic Violence Council aims to help Asian American women
• The birth of the Utah Asian Chamber of Commerce
• Ogden’s Japantown disappears
• Taiko, the heartbeat of Japan

MY BLOG:

The chosen beat for our class was the Asian American community. To be quite frank, I never had much interest in the countries that comprise Asia or even local communities. I lived in Germany and traveled Europe. I speak German. I never thought much about becoming involved with the local Asian community.

I was wrong. I found my mind flourished with ideas, thoughts and stories. But, I had to figure out how to visually adapt those thoughts. The local Asian American community is rich in culture, resonating beauty through sound, color, language and more —something I never knew until I worked on my Kenshin Taiko piece.

I knew I wanted to capture the beauty of the drum. I needed close-ups, close enough to reveal the marks on the stretched skin, the marks left by bachis from the drummers. Those marks represent a “communing” between the drum and the drummer, said Matthew Stevens, a Kenshin Taiko member, during an interview.

I filmed Kenshin Taiko during a practice and then I attended a performance at Utah Valley University. I was extremely close during the filming at the practice. I could feel the beating of the drum through my whole body. I wanted the audience to experience that feeling as well. I kept the camera close to the drums to give the feeling of being right there. The drummers played with such passion and feeling, allowing their bodies to be one with the motion.

The one aspect I avoided was the writing. I am a visual artist. I see everything being created as film or a photograph. I see life, news and the future as though I am looking through a lens. It was an extremely challenging task to write about Kenshin Taiko. My epiphany came when I realized this article ended up being the hardest yet most gratifying to complete. The reason, I think, I was simultaneously creating the art on paper and the art in film. Working on these two projects simultaneously allowed me to view them together and also use one to work off the other. I would constantly roll the footage in my head — the drumming, interviews, costumes, lighting — and this helped me successfully write my piece.

Aside from being a field camera operator in the news, documentaries have always interested me. The addition of my writing classes to my media and film classes has helped me reach a whole new level of confidence. I have been able to successfully bring my profession of news media and print full circle. I feel more empowered to make decisions, appropriately narrow my ideas, conduct interviews professionally and carry myself with the assurance and determination needed to become a successful documentarian and journalist.

ABOUT ME:

I originally started my college career as a film student. I obtained a Film Production Technician from Salt Lake Community College. After stumbling into the broadcast world, my career choice suddenly changed.

I decided to transfer to the University of Utah and begin my quest for a bachelor of arts in journalism and a minor in documentary studies.

I’ve been working for a local television station for roughly three years. My end goal for a job is to be a field photographer. My passion is capturing footage, editing and delivering the final piece to the news director to air. It’s an amazing feeling to see your work displayed.

I have a dog named Thor and a cat named Sox.

I currently have a full-time job and am attending school full time. Being this busy has its difficult moments, but it pales in comparison to the extraordinary feeling of accomplishment.

Filed under: Blogs & Bios, Student-Journalists |