Thought Piece #1

Jasmine Brookins

21 January, 2026

Jeffrey Sauger

JRN 423

I really enjoy the first page, how it jokes about how bad videos get turned off. It is very realistic and it is a habit we have all gotten into. On page 11 of the book it mentions zooming with your feet. I think that is a really good tactic as when I have previously played around with video I zoomed with my lens and it made it very unstable. I do think zooming with your feet can sometimes be hard when you are restricted with available space. 

On the first page of chapter 2 it says “Every video needs a clear intent”. This is so true and I like how it is mentioned on the first page of the chapter about how no intent makes a bad video. The more I watch videos, the more I realize that videos that state or have a clear purpose are far more entertaining. Pages one through 58 helped me realize that having an idea for a video story can be different than having purposeful intent behind it.

 I really enjoy that this section in a way goes chronological. It goes from making sure you have intent to making sure it should be a video. Not everything is video worthy and shares a story interesting enough. I also really enjoy how these chapters are short and sweet. They're only a couple of pages long but each chapter is packed with useful information. In chapter four Stockman mentions the idea of separating brainstorming into two different categories. This makes it more time efficient and helps you get more thoughts down. He suggests breaking it into making a list/brainstorming and then making choices/picking ideas to use. These are both really good ways to prepare for shooting and being sure you actually enjoy the idea you will be following. 

On top of packing his book with information, Stockman also includes exercises. This is nice because it gives the reader a break from reading and it gives time to practice. It is a fun way to experiment and learn, but also put what we're reading into practice. In Chapter 7 the exercise is about essentially starting with two different things and seeing how you can make it one nice product in the end. 

Towards the end of this section it talks about how when making a video, planning to do less different shots means less work. I can understand that, but I feel I would rather do more work to make it better. I can see where Stockman is coming from when he says that shorter videos are harder. How I see it, the more clips you film the harder it is to narrow them down and select the “better ones”. While making a longer video you have more opportunity to include as much as you want to tell the story accurately and the way you want. I do think that reading this section has made me more comfortable with the idea of shooting video.

At the end of the section on page 56 Stockman mentions working to have the ability to explain the video in three sentences. I love this idea, if I can put the whole idea into three sentences I feel like it will make more sense in my head and make it easier to execute.