Willie O’Ree, An Individual Who Changed A System

After watching the video above hopefully you have a vague idea of what this blog post is going to be about. If not, no worries you’re in luck I’m going to be taking you through this post every step of the way. 

This video project we created was the final part of our unit called “We Shall Overcome” which is based around the question “How can the actions of an individual change a system?”. We focused our studies on the civil rights movement and also looked at the affect of this time in history today. Below is my post on the civil rights movement unit we did, if you would like to take a look.

Civil Right Movement

Specifically in our video, Ethan (my partner for this project) and I focused on athletes during the civil rights movement and their impact on society. We chose this topic to focus on because both of us were are very interested in sports during this era. To go further in depth within this topic we decided to research a Canadian hockey player named Willie O’Ree. O’Ree was the first black hockey player in the NHL and was a major influence of diversification within hockey. BY choosing as Canadian hockey player we were able to create a video that included civil rights and Canadian history. 

Throughout the creation process of the video we had a bunch of great ideas of how to incorporate everything we learned and apply it into our video about O’Ree. However once it came to the time to bring the ideas together and start making the video it was a lot harder then I thought. I was tasked with writing the script for the video which was not my favourite thing as I have trouble sometimes writing in a script format. At times I find it difficult to write a script that has to be engaging and not be super wordy while still informative. This script took me a while to write and once I was finish I still felt like it was a formal essay instead of a video. While I was putting the video together I was trying to find different pictures and videos to go with our script. Yet it was quite difficult to find copyright free material to work with. Even the copyright images there were very few of the making it hard to fill a 5 minute video. 

Our first draft wasn’t bad but it didn’t really answer the driving question of “how do the actions of an individual change a system?” We told the video in more of a biography rather than a story. After finishing this draft and getting feedback from our teachers we were ready to edit our video to create a better version of the story she were trying to tell. The main feedback we got was about using different photos and videos and create our own material. To do this I created some videos to put within our project using Explain Everything and Keynote. Keynote was actually really useful in creating cool transitions between images or slides with multiple pictures. The intro slide of our video was created using keynote, the transitions within the program allowed me to fade the images nicely and create a fluid looking clip.

Once we made these edits I reviewed the video again to see if there was anything I could add or change for the next draft. After watching over there video and thinking what could make this a more professional video, I decided we needed another person’s voice and opinion. Previously in PLP video projects a major element we’ve included in our videos are interviews. This interview was the missing piece that we needed in our video. Using an interview within our video shows how we can apply our past knowledge to create better content as well as using our curricular competencies. 

My initial thought was trying to get an interview with Willy O’Ree, however after doing some research I found that it would be quite difficult to get in touch with him. Instead I decided to get in contact with the Hockey Hall of Fame, as Willie O’Ree was recently inducted this past year. I sent an email out to Kelly Masse the Director, Corporate and Media Relations person at the hall of fame saying what the project was about and if it would be possible to ask her a couple of questions. 

This is the email I sent out:

After sending out the email a couple days later I got a response! This was a really cool to get in contact with someone working with the hockey hall of fame for a school project. It made this video seem more like a for something outside of school rather than an assignment. It took a couple weeks to find a day which worked for both of us which I understand as I’m taking time out of someone who is working and with my busy sports schedule. Once we set a date and time and came up with a couple questions to ask regarding the hockey hall of fame and Willie O’Ree. 

Here are the questions:

Do you think you could give a quick introduction to what the Hockey Hall of Fame is?

Your job description on the Hockey Hall of Fame website says Director, Corporate and Media Relations, what does this entail? 

From your experience working with the Hockey Hall of Fame, what factors come into play when a player being chosen? 

O’Ree who was inducted into the hall of fame just last year. How come it’s taken so long to give this type of recognition to a black athlete? 

What impact did Willie O’Ree being the first black hockey player in the NHL have on hockey throughout the decades? How long did it take for his presence in hockey to have an effect of minority rights in athletes?

Has Willie O’Ree’s induction into the hall of fame helped the acceptance of diversity in today’s society? If so how? Has media had an effect on people’s views on this topic?

Following preparing the questions I was ready for the interview. To record the interview I used an app called Ferrite which is very useful when recording and editing audio.  

This was an amazing interview to get as I was able to get some facts from someone who is involved in the hockey hall of fame instead of just using facts from the internet. This was also a great experience in preparation for similar experience I might face in the future from a job interview to something a future career could entail.

The interview definitely added to the final draft of the video and the process of creating this project was defiantly a good experience! Not only did I learn about the civil rights unit and its influence on today, I also got to improve my interview and video editing skill. As well as step outside my comfort with writing the script. The critiques and revisions between drafts definitely shows the work we put in to create a better version of our video and our ability to take critique and apply in into our work. I will definitely be using the skills I learn throughout this unit in future assignments and projects.