First assignment for Issues

I wasn't quite sure how to post on the Issues blog, so I figured I'd use the blog I created for Multimedia Reporting last semester to complete the first assignment. Excuse the tacky header. I was going for tacky when I originally made this.

When I was surfing through the various links on the department's site, I came across a link to the First Amendment Center. I'll be honest, I was drawn here because stories involving rights typically serve as great centerpieces for lengthy discussions. Sure enough, one of the first few stories - one on protesters arrested during the Republican convention - caught my eye, and the end shocked me. Here's the link.

First off, I was surprised 19 journalists were detained. While they may not have followed explicit instructions by officers to clear the bridge, they also weren't intentionally blocking everything off, as stated by the county sheriff. "The tactic of blocking people on the bridge could very well have prevented a lot of activity later tonight," he said. "Clearly there were a number of people with no intention of being law-abiding tonight."

Law abiding? The reporters were there to tell what was going on. No pitchforks. No fire. Just notebooks and cameras.

The journalists were covering the event and, in all likelihood, not contributing to the protest or stirring the pot. I was just wondering how many of you found this story somewhat irritating, since the people are technically allowed to do so through our law. It doesn't really matter what side of things you fall on - I personally don't fully agree a protest is really the best way to get things accomplished - physical force wasn't right. There were better ways to handle the situation, ways without teargas, riot squads and pepper spray. The actions of the police weren't entirely warranted.

The reason I chose this article, though, is mainly because of what happened to an individual not part of the protest. He attempted to get home after work. It's in the lower third of the article, and I feel it shows how little patience and respect the police had while dealing with these people. The guy could have been pissed off he was tied up in bridge traffic because of police barricades, but does attitude warrant a spray to the face and a light clubbing? I am wrong? What do you guys think?

Kicking it up a notch

Here it is, my final project. At first, I thought I wanted to make another Soundslides project. Then, since I really liked the way the other one turned out, I thought I would try my hand at a broadcast-style video piece. Then I had no idea what I wanted to do.

Because of this, I decided to combine everything we've done this year (audio, photography, slideshow-style storytelling and video) into one project to create the ultimate example of indecisiveness. When you can't decide which style to do, why not do them all?

I first imported my pictures and raw video into Movie Maker since Premiere was taking way too long to download. After I knew roughly the length I was looking at (1:20:20), I could edit the most relevant portions of the audio to fit accordingly. I had a lot of audio to work with (over 16 minutes) so I had to be very selective with all of his stories. I wanted to make something on the shorter side since my previous project was a little long.

The only thing I had to account for was some extra space for the title and intro slides, so I used my "silent" background noise - which I recorded before the interview - as filler for the beginning and end. I could have put audio of the practice I went to, or something else, but I there were spots where the wind kind of ruined the sound. I also did the white noise rather than music because I personally think putting music (especially something with lyrics) takes away from a story and gets old very fast.

The ambient sound at the beginning is a little long, and probably could be occupied by something else, but overall I think this works as a nice supplemental video to a print story that incorporates just about everything utilized in this class.

Here it is:
"Soccer player kicks the international flair at UNH up a notch"

Commentary on video strategies

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the video debate. It would be nice to have larger, high-quality productions to complement stories. These can provide information and elements that no print story ever can, and the higher the quality, the more apt people are to watch and pay attention to the video.

On the other hand, short videos will allow us to put up quick information and not devote a team of people to one lengthy project. Both have their downfalls (especially short, crappy-quality videos), but in the end, I think a mix of both would probably be the only way to go. Putting up quick, bad videos will work for a breaking piece, but as new writethroughs of the story are being made, a larger, better video should be made. Obviously this won't work with everything, as a major event captured on home video could not be replicated. This is really the only area I see that high-end gear cannot be used solely in video storytelling.

I guess I don't really agree with either guy about their worries or hatred for one particular method. The only thing that will bring readers to a paper's site rather than elsewhere on the net for a video will be its timeliness and its effectiveness. If it doesn't add to the story or grip the reader, then maybe you should try the other method of video reporting for your project.

Behind The Comb

Precision does not restrict innovation

First of all, as an experiment, I have not edited this to see how well of a point I can make during a stream of conciousness thing. No backspaces, no jumping back to catch anything. Just bearing my errors for the world to see. Should articles be like this - no. There needs to be some sort of order, otherwise newspaper will become more obsolete, and as easily ignorable as the countless blogs out there about someone ranting about something while throwing organization and common courtesy out the window.

This brings me to my point.


The only part of our guest speaker's presentation I found controversial and misinformed was when he told us that AP Style doesn't really matter at all and that if we pay attention to making sure our product is perfect then we aren't allowing innovation to happen.

Personally, in my capacity as news editor at TNH, I am constantly trying to find ways to improve the paper. That does include new web features to make our site worthwhile (since it really isn't at the moment), and this is while I am editing to make sure our content is coherrent.

Things do need to be edited, and I feel that saying focusing on editing takes away from focusing on innovation is ridiculous. Fixing a mispelled name or dangling modifier, or say not publishing an article which is plagerized from a press release and in no way can be printed anyway, IS NOT RESTRICTING INNOVATION! Is it innovative to steal someone else's information, rewrite it badly, and pass it off as your own? No. No it isn't. Thinking let's toss something else in here - whether it be a graphic, picture, whatever - to help make a point clearer and make the article enjoyable is both editing and innovative as new things can be done with art.

How is style restricting innovation? I think if you are stuck in your ways, and have the worst tunnel vision in history, then innovation is halted. There are ways for both to exist in one realm. The style can be changed (Web site? Are you serious? This is one AP Style rule which needs to die) for the better, but in no way should it be blamed for blocking innovation. That's when the man behind the curtain needs to take charge and stop doing the same ol' charade.

Audio Project Update

I decided to interview a master barber for my project, and it was very easy to set up the interview. The audio sounds great because I used an external mic, which eliminated some of the white noise/static/fuzz/crapiness I would have gotten from the built-in one on the recorder (which isn't that bad, actually). My mic isn't is as high-quality as the one in the link, but the two are similar and my audio turned out not too shabby.

I find myself torn between doing a Soundslides project and doing an audio profile piece. I guess I question how cohesive my subject's talking will be if smashed together, and whether I'll get much new and useful info from another barber or hair salon. I have all of my audio split up into the cool ambient noise (Aerosmith on the radio and the wonderful clipper noise) and the golden nuggets, so all I need now is a gameplan to lay everything out.

Soundslides or NPR wannabe - that is the question...

I'm a music nut, and while I was searching for audio samples to help me decide whether to purchase a Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special Long Head/Cab or a Marshall JCM 800 2203 (once I get the money), I found a blog I really enjoy. This post is a little pointless, but I didn't want to lose the link to the information here.


Edit: I think I'll go with the Marshall, since it isn't overly bright and I can get a sizeable discount through work.

Lions, tigers and blogs - oh my...

I'm new to the blogging thing, so this space will be a trial-by-fire of sorts. I'd like to use this course to learn new techniques that will aid me in my storytelling and reporting future. I have some experience using multimedia in various projects, but I feel that video and audio really add a different element to a stroy, something lacking from print journalism. I also would love to learn a lot of new information since I am not sure exactly what I expect the class to be like. Something challenging that will have me doing and learning different things would be great.

I really don't read any blogs online, and one of the few "blog" style articles I do remember reading include this recent one from sports journalist John Buccigross. Bucci simultaneously blogs two hockey games, played 17 1/2 years apart. It's an interesting approach, and he has done in-game blogs in the past. It's almost like an text-based internet play-by-play.