When we look back, we’ll remember 2020 as the year of COVID-19. Since January, the coverage of the pandemic  has been wide, deep, and incessant. Is there anything else to say about it until the vaccine arrives? “Jack’s Story” answers in the affirmative. Produced by celebrated mobile journalist Philip Bromwell, this RTÉ report enables Jack, a Dublin, Ireland, COVID-19 survivor, to share his frightening encounter with the virus. The young man’s goal is to encourage other kids to take actions meant to protect themselves and those they care about.

In addition to delivering the news, every Bromwell video demonstrates how to tell a video story. We discuss a few of the techniques used to make “Jack’s Story” below.

Techniques Used in “Jack’s Story”

We can learn a great deal about mobile journalism by studying this and other mobile reports created by Philip Bromwell.  Here are some of the techniques that you might wish to try in your own mobile moviemaking.

1. Bookending: The video opens and closes with Jack walking in a park. This not only gives narrative shape to the story, but it also highlights one of the main topics in the report: Jack’s determination to regain mobility.
2. Text: Bromwell inserts several text cards—for example “Jack had no underlying health conditions”—to provide essential information in a very concise way.
3. B-roll:  Because Jack is so articulate and confident, Bromwell chooses to keep him onscreen through most of the report. That said, he does include a few high-impact cutaways—for example, photos of Jack in the ICU.
4. Statement of the theme: This five-minute report presents a great deal of information. We learn about Jack before COVID-19, about his hospital care, about the darkest moment in the crisis, about his reunion with his family, and about his effort to regain his health. To make sure that the big idea isn’t lost—that young people need to take action—Bromwell saves the cautionary part of Jack’s story for the impactful ending.

You can find several other examples of Bromwell’s work on our website—for example “The Refugee Baker.” To learn more about his methods and vision, take a look at a 12-minute keynote address given at Inspirefest 2018.

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The editors of MobileMovieMaking have chosen “Jack’s Story” as the Mobile Movie of the Week.