Brian Roder wins ?video scholarship?

    Collegiate scholarships are often earned through well-crafted essays and impressive résumés. Washington High School senior Brian Roder recently won a scholarship in a rather unconventional way.

    Roder entered a contest to see who could produce the best video about college planning and financial aid. The winner of the contest would receive a $1,000 scholarship. Roder interviewed his guidance counselor Belinda Robinson about college planning and filmed the interview.

    After Roder added a number of video effects, he uploaded the video to the Internet. Six other students in the state filmed and uploaded videos of their own. Then, the general public had the chance to vote on which video was the best, which would determine the winner of the scholarship. Roder was informed earlier this week that all his hard work had paid off ? he won.

    In the video, Roder asked Robinson about when students should begin preparing for scholarships. Roder answered that question himself in an interview Thursday.

    ?I didn?t start applying for scholarships until this year, but I?d say it would be easier on you if you started preparing as a junior or even as a sophomore,? said Roder.

    Robinson added, ?There is a lot to do as a senior preparing for college.?

    Roder interviewed Robinson for a few minutes in front of a green curtain. When it came time to edit the video, Roder was able to delete the green color from the footage and replace it with other images. This is a common tool of weather reporters on television, who stand in front of a green screen but who appear to be standing in front of a weather map.

    Roder searched for non-copyrighted photographs of college life to use as his background. Throughout the video, the background image moves around and later transitions into another image.

    Brian?s mother, Gail Roder, found out about the scholarship contest at a financial aid meeting at the high school.

    Mike Roder, Brian?s father, urged him to apply for the scholarship. 

    ?We found out about the scholarship and we told Brian, ?This is something you?re going to do,?? said Mike.

    Brian said he knows a thing or two about editing films from his high school production classes.

    ?I thought the video would be something I would know how to do,? he said. ?I enjoy making videos. The hard part is editing and putting on the graphics, and the transitions.?

    Brian learned of the video contest just a few days before the deadline. He worked frantically to shoot and edit the video.

    ?I spent three nights working on it, from right after school until about 11 p.m.,? said Brian.

    Mike teaches video production courses at the high school. Brian had access to his father?s video editing software called Final Cut Pro, which he used on his scholarship video. When he was done, he sent the finished product to Iowa College Access Network (ICAN), the organization that provided the scholarship. When all the videos were submitted, they were posted on ICAN?s Web site for the public to vote on. After one week of voting, the results would be tabulated and a winner would be announced. 

For more, see our Jan. 21 print edition.