2008 Woodie Awards
Students create campus safety documentary
Laura Bryant
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Campus
In light of the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute last spring, campus safety has become a concern throughout schools, colleges and universities across the United States.
In an effort to present the past, present and future of Miami University's campus safety, students of Advanced Electronic Journalism Video Forum (COM/JRN 314) are creating a documentary titled, "Bursting the Bubble: How Safe Are We?"
The class, led by instructor Joe Sampson, is in the process of completing an approximately 30-minute long-form documentary that will be shown at 6 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Williams Hall Television Studio at Miami. The screening is free and open to the public.
The documentary opens with the Virginia Tech shootings and the deaths of five Miami students-Joey Eger, Beth Speidel, Steven J. Smith, Julie Turnbull and Kate Welling-that classmates have had to face over the past two years. The film then moves to the present state of Miami's campus safety, covering the Campus Crime Alerts, Miami's metal health awareness, e2campus text messaging and the Nighttime Door-to-Door Service. It then shifts into the university's future of making safety a student's personal responsibility and reflecting on Miami's Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution guidelines.
"A lot of stories in television news are given 90 seconds to two minutes to be told and you can't tell this kind of story in two minutes," Sampson said.
According to Sampson, the COM/JRN 314 class is doing exactly what the journalism program is aspiring to-long-form narrative, thoughtful journalism.
The documentary is outlined in three segments-the past, present and future.
The past
The students of the COM/JRN 314 class interviewed family and friends of the Miami students who died in the off-campus house fire in 2005 in addition to attending the memorial service of Joey Eger, who recently died on the train tracks near Miami's campus.
"I think that when you're dealing with people who have experienced tragedy you have to make them feel comfortable enough with you with things that are difficult to share," COM/JRN 314 class member and senior Laura Bentz said.
In an effort to present the past, present and future of Miami University's campus safety, students of Advanced Electronic Journalism Video Forum (COM/JRN 314) are creating a documentary titled, "Bursting the Bubble: How Safe Are We?"
The class, led by instructor Joe Sampson, is in the process of completing an approximately 30-minute long-form documentary that will be shown at 6 p.m. Dec. 6 in the Williams Hall Television Studio at Miami. The screening is free and open to the public.
The documentary opens with the Virginia Tech shootings and the deaths of five Miami students-Joey Eger, Beth Speidel, Steven J. Smith, Julie Turnbull and Kate Welling-that classmates have had to face over the past two years. The film then moves to the present state of Miami's campus safety, covering the Campus Crime Alerts, Miami's metal health awareness, e2campus text messaging and the Nighttime Door-to-Door Service. It then shifts into the university's future of making safety a student's personal responsibility and reflecting on Miami's Office of Ethics and Student Conflict Resolution guidelines.
"A lot of stories in television news are given 90 seconds to two minutes to be told and you can't tell this kind of story in two minutes," Sampson said.
According to Sampson, the COM/JRN 314 class is doing exactly what the journalism program is aspiring to-long-form narrative, thoughtful journalism.
The documentary is outlined in three segments-the past, present and future.
The past
The students of the COM/JRN 314 class interviewed family and friends of the Miami students who died in the off-campus house fire in 2005 in addition to attending the memorial service of Joey Eger, who recently died on the train tracks near Miami's campus.
"I think that when you're dealing with people who have experienced tragedy you have to make them feel comfortable enough with you with things that are difficult to share," COM/JRN 314 class member and senior Laura Bentz said.
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