Guest post by Shannon Smith, Nutrition Faculty
For the 2018 CTLE Summer Grant, I completed a project including an interview with a registered dietitian (RD) who has several unique jobs.
WHY?
For the nutrition majors in my class, many have asked, “What can I do as a registered dietitian?” The typical answer or information many people find seems to be the same, which includes working in hospitals as clinical dietitians, or working with sports teams as sports dietitians, and so on.
A colleague of mine from the Central Arizona Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (CAZAND) board mentioned her work for Wegmens, a grocery store out of New York. I thought her information and interview would be the most interesting. She also consults with other companies, such as a couple of local grocery stores, Anderson’s Nutrition, and some biometric health screening companies.
BENEFITS FOR CLASS
- The videos will be used for the course FON 241 Principles of Human Nutrition.
LESSONS LEARNED
- Though this was a summer grant, I should have requested the interview in the springtime at some point, then left editing for summertime. My interviewee had a very busy summer, so it was challenging to find times in which to meet. The first interview date was rescheduled, due to her change in schedule.
VIDEO TIPS AND TRICKS
Cheryl Colan with the CTLE taught me excellent tips that I was unfamiliar with, and that helped with the filming of the interview:
- Use a mic. The sound is much better.
- The rule of thirds. Now I start to notice this with blogs, social media, and other films. I have noted some bloggers make videos where they are right in the middle of the screen.
- Outfits and colors: No designs or stripes; solid colors are best.
- Short is good. I filmed in short clips based on the questions.
- Similar to a video interview in which I was involved, I sent the questions to the interviewee prior to the filming. She had time to consider each one and what to say.
- I do not know much about lighting, except that the original spot in the house where we were filming was way too dark. We tested a few spots, and the one we chose was lighter and brighter, but I do not know if it was appropriate. Since my colleague lived in east Mesa, coming to campus was not an option.
- Cheryl helped me immensely by editing the videos in Camtasia, for over two hours.
FUN STUFF
- During the filming, we had to ensure her cat Win (named after Win Butler, lead singer of Arcade Fire) was out of the way. I love cats, so found some toys to distract him with one hand, and one hand hit “record.”
- I had never been to my colleague’s home before but noted she had almost the same CD collection I had from my late high school to early college years.
WORDS OF WISDOM
- For future CTLE Summer Grant projects, I will not choose something so far outside my comfort or skills set zone. I knew filming and editing were not easy; they aren’t! I had filmed my own videos in the past and spent over five to six hours on a short 1-2 minute video!
- Complete the work in the springtime or as soon as possible.
- The summer grant is for 10 hours only. This project was about 20 hours total.
The Final Videos (with Closed Captions!)
Describe a registered dietitian