You may have seen this week’s Campus Celebrity around University City interviewing students about their thoughts on Drexel and making everyone laugh. Janette Danella, the face behind The Triangle’s video series “The Burning Question,” or “TBQ,” has made waves with her informative segments that allow students to really speak their minds.
The series was conceptualized when Danella’s friend and co-op co-worker, then editor-in-chief of The Triangle Helen Nowotnik, suggested she join the newspaper staff. Though she wanted a creative outlet, Danella, a Materials Science and Engineering major, did not see herself fitting into any of the different sections of the newspaper. “I realized there wasn’t a department that fit me just right, so I made my own!” Danella said.
In fall of 2012, and with the help of Katharine Fay, the first “TBQ” segment was born, created using just a flip phone and iMovie. When the series became a hit, The Triangle invested in additional video equipment and software, and as Danella said, “It has been growing ever since.” With her videographer Anna Pruett and cinematographer Jake Westphal, the team has been producing awesome segments like “Why Go Greek?” and “Freshmen First Looks.” “[Anna and Jake] brought the segment to a whole new level of professionalism and have drastically broadened our options for cinematographic creativity,” Danella said.
Each segment takes about 10 hours to produce, including brainstorming and approving topics, filming, and editing the final cut. When it comes to picking the perfect question, Danella finds inspiration all around her, whether it be joking around with friends, thinking about events on campus, or changes in Drexel policies. “I try to listen to what people are talking about, because that’s usually what they are most interested in,” Danella said. And while the segments are often interesting for the entire Drexel community, “TBQ” typically aims for a freshmen or prospective student audience in order to give them a real window into what Drexel students are thinking and feeling.
Her favorite part of working on “TBQ” is being recognized on campus, especially by freshmen in University 101 classes. “I like knowing that I’m not just another student at Drexel that will be forgotten after I leave campus,” Danella, who is in her fourth year, said, “Not that I’m anywhere near finished, but I know I can graduate leaving a mark on this school that will forever be in The Triangle’s archives.”
Despite majoring in something relatively unrelated to broadcasting or multimedia, working with “TBQ” has really had an impact on Danella’s co-ops. While working at Crayola, Danella found that her co-workers not only had seen “TBQ,” but they were quoting back lines and enjoying the funny episodes! “They liked that I participated in an activity that was unlike my coursework and added a new dynamic to my resume. As a notoriously creative company, they liked my family friendly humor,” Danella said. Her experience goes to show that professionalism and personality do not have to be completely separate. Showing you can be creative is a great asset to any workplace.
In the future, Danella hopes to bring this passion to an engineering firm in a position that allows her to travel. But for now, she’ll be producing weekly segments that can be found at TheTriangle.org every Friday. If you see on the streets, don’t be camera shy!