s t o r i e s t o l d t h r o u g h p i c t u r e s, v i d e o s, & v o i c e s

Harry Shen First Days

Harry Shen is a Chinese American from Nanjing, China. He grew up during a difficult time while Chairman Mao was ruling China. He went through hardships such as being malnourished because it was often a struggle to have enough money for food, but was very sporty and athletic as a child and young adult. After graduating with a geography degree from Nanjing University, he worked for five years and then decided to pursue higher education. He came to the United States to go to graduate school at The University of Arizona. After graduating, he moved to Victoria, Texas for a while, then back to Tuscan Arizona, and then finally settled in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now 56 years old, Harry has found a home in the United States and appreciates the struggles he overcame.

Creating Power Within

This assignment was to tell a narrative style documentary piece through video. I decided to tell the story of an annual event that Sigma Psi Zeta puts on called Step Out Against Domestic Violence. This yearly event is in support of their national philanthropy which is to combat domestic violence. The goal of the event is always to educate more about domestic violence and bring more light onto a difficult topic to talk about. While filming for this story, I was very stressed because I couldn’t get any do overs. It was a one day event, competition style, so whatever footage I got, I was stuck with. I was nervous that the audio wouldn’t be good or that some part would be cut off. I learned the importance of having backups for nearly all my equipment as well as staying silent like a fly on the wall to make sure the performers didn’t get nervous. I also learned how to deal with one day type of events and working with the material I have, whether I am satisfied with it or not. I still wish that my footage came out clearer and more cohesive than it ended up being, especially the interviews. Editing is a tiresome work, but it can work wonders in telling a story. I also realized that we have to be careful with editing because it can be easy to put words into people’s mouth and take things out of context and as journalists, we must tell stories as truthful as possible.

Vietnamese Friendship Association Rebrand

This video project was on Seattle World School, a K-12 school designed to help immigrant and refugee students integrate into American life easier and smoother. I found this to be one of my most challenging works because it required a lot of time and effort and the coordinator I was working with had different ideas than I did. I told her that I would help them make a video for their rebranding, but there were certain guidelines that I had to follow for my class and I think she wanted something else and kind of projected her ideas onto my project without much discussion. In the end, I think the project turned out pretty well and I’m proud of the shots that I got. It was also difficult because as refugees and immigrants, a lot of them do not want to be filmed and there was a language barrier at times. I learned that as a journalist, you really have to stand your ground on how to tell a story, but you have to be flexible and give the characters the power to control what context goes into a story because it is still their story being told.