Capturing cancer research on campus


“Either you start with a great story, find inspiration in the words or, in my case, find a song that moves you. When I was approached to do this video for the College of Engineering, I didn’t think too much about it. We went to the lab to scout out the space and get a feel of what the story would be visually. I could see perfectly how the shots would work.

The day of the shoot I made sure to bring all the gear I thought I would need. Even if I knew I would barely use it, better safe than sorry. When the researchers came, I went shot by shot in the chronology of how their lab actually works while focusing on details and tight shots and odd angles.

Since the room wasn’t that big and it was a text video, in a matter of an hour and half we were done shooting, and it was time for me to get started on the editing. I was so happy with the footage that I was anxious to edit it. I went back to the office that day and started looking for background music. [We use a music-library service to avoid copyright-infringement issues.] Knowing the video was about how FIU researchers are tackling cancer, I wanted it to have a very upbeat, almost fanfare feel to it, to reflect the heroic and important nature of the work.  It was my fastest turnaround on a video, just four hours. After some color correcting and a dash of creativity, the video was ready to be published. Little did I know that it would do so well on social media. It’s one of my proudest videos simply because the song drove me to try my best and edit it in a fun way.”

Carl-Frederick Francois ’16, MS ’17
Jr. Multimedia producer


Watch the other videos in the summer online issue
From homelessness to hope       A video about making videos      The essence of Pantherness
South Beach soirée   A novelist shares his secrets    A spotlight on the deserving   A riff on “Friends”   Most viewed: An April Fools’ joke


Learn more about Carl-Frederick Francois in this FIU video featuring him back when he was a student.

 

 

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