Visual Storytelling Project Description
A) Project Title: Miles in the Midwest: Coaching Illinois Track
B) Story Summary (1 Paragraph): The goal of this project is to highlight the many roles of a high school coach in an exurban area. Some of the key points I hope to address is the roles coaches have to maintain as in many cases there are very few people involved in the different aspects of running an entire program. There will be points on the coach’s relationship with athletes that are also in the coach’s class as an educational teacher, how the coach needs to coordinate with other sports coaches, how the coach deals with students that have other extracurricular obligations, and the team’s role in the community. In each of these situations, the goal is to highlight the impact a coach and sports can have on students in a particular regional setting. I feel that this topic will be something that I can create well as it is one thing I am most aware of.
C) Purpose and Audience (1 Paragraph): I hope this visual project will be able to show the unique skills and qualities necessary to being a productive coach in an area such as an exurban Illinois town. I feel that this project will be able to have an audience not only of coaches around the state, but also people within the community that will be able to understand how these skills are likely hard to find. I believe this will be an opportunity for students at the high school to see why the track program is about more than just the performance at a competition.
D) Chosen Visual Format (1 Paragraph): I believe the best format possible is a short video that is going to overlay different shots following the day of a coach as well as a number of interviews interlaced within the action shots or voice over interviews explaining certain details. I think this format will be able to properly present the goal while being dynamic and engaging. The use of video, audio, and timely captions should be able to create something that holds the attention of viewers. The sequencing of the video will have a large role in how effective the informative video will be.
E) Narrative Structure (1 Paragraph): The video will likely need to begin with an introduction of the coach and what their many different roles are. At that point, it will likely show how the coach engages with different people in the school. This would include the other teachers, the athletes on the team, the assistant coaches, the parents of the students, and the other coaches in the area or at the school. The next few scenes would be showing how the coach is interacting in different areas such as in the classroom. The different light on the coach should personalize the coach and allow the viewers to understand the many hats that the coach must have in order to be successful. There will likely be shots of the students working at practice, at meets, and in other areas in the community. The video will revolve around the coach as the point of the video is to show how many different things a coach in this particular setting has to do in order to have a track program.
Visual Storytelling Project - Visual Plan
“A Day in the Life of Sycamore Track Coach Matt Kosecki" video, as analyzed in the "Visual Storytelling Project: An Analysis of 'A Day in the Life of Sycamore Track Coach Matt Kosecki'", unfolds as follows:
The beginning of the video introduces the context of Coach Matt Kosecki as the head track coach at Sycamore High School in Sycamore, Illinois. The video establishes that while the track team is routinely competitive, they aspire to win their first state trophy in track under Coach Kosecki, who is in his third year. The video's premise, set with text-to-audio via the "CapCut" app, indicates a glimpse into the coach's daily responsibilities. Early scenes depict Coach Kosecki interacting with athletes, giving instructions for indoor speed work for sprinters and outdoor activities for throwers, as suggested by his statements in the transcript. The presence of his support staff, including paid assistants (a Spanish teacher coaching sprinters and a social studies department head as the jumps coach) and volunteer coaches (a retired math teacher for distance, a Northern Illinois student assisting with distance, and a part-time lawyer for pole vault), is also established. These initial scenes were likely shot using an iPhone, aiming for a first-person perspective. The shots would likely vary, with closer shots on interactions and potentially wider shots establishing the training environments. The overall feel of these early scenes aims for a small-town vibe with a personal and found footage aesthetic.
The middle section of the video illustrates the diverse aspects of Coach Kosecki's role. This includes footage of track practice, showing both indoor and outdoor activities. Scenes show the coach providing instruction, such as directing seniors to lead stretching. Interactions with students highlight the need to accommodate other school commitments, like a student missing a Saturday meet due to participation in band, orchestra, and choir at the IHSA State Competition. Another interaction shows the distribution of meet schedules, noting students' involvement in activities like club interact, Spanish club, and even dance, demonstrating the coach's awareness of athletes' multifaceted lives. The video also captures moments of team integration, such as welcoming a new member. Furthermore, Coach Kosecki is shown addressing academic responsibilities, reminding students about resume drafts and monitoring heat sheets. A significant event in the middle of the video is the breaking of the camera due to a strong gust of wind (30 mph), leading to a temporary reliance on stopwatches while a replacement is obtained. This unexpected moment underscores the spontaneous nature of capturing a "day in the life". Throughout these middle scenes, the filming likely continued with an iPhone, maintaining the first-person perspective. The video relies on natural lighting conditions, contributing to the realistic and observational feel as filming occurs in various locations like outdoor tracks and indoor facilities. The shots continue to vary between closer interactions and potentially broader views of the practice settings.
The end of the video, as highlighted in the analysis, concludes with a powerful visual metaphor: a shot of a nearly empty school bus carrying sleeping coaches and athletes against a rural Northern Illinois backdrop. This scene after a long track meet symbolizes the exhaustion and dedication inherent in high school athletics, and subtly conveys the extensive travel involved. This final image aims to leave the viewer with a lasting sense of the commitment Coach Kosecki has to the Sycamore High School track program and the environment in which he works towards his goals. The entire video is edited using the "CapCut" app. The clips are arranged chronologically to represent a progression through the day. The pacing and transitions are managed to maintain viewer engagement and illustrate the flow of the coach's schedule. The use of text-to-audio at the beginning serves to introduce the video's purpose.
Visual Storytelling Project
What do you do?
Take a minute to write an introduction that is short, sweet, and to the point. If you sell something, use this space to describe it in detail and tell us why we should make a purchase. Tap into your creativity. You’ve got this.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.
