The Bell Ringer

Preproduction:
For this multimedia piece, I went with in with a somewhat different approach. I decided to work in conjunction with a coworker for the daily. This of course had both positive and negative aspects.

On one hand, I got to infuse my project with the work and eye of another photographer, lending a different visual style and vision to the piece. On the other hand, it was difficult to discuss with the other photographer what the focus of the story should be on, as we both went in different directions.

Initially, my coworker shot photos of Steven (the bell ringer), with the intent of focusing on the renovation and reconstruction of the bell tower. My coworker proposed this angle (or ‘nut graf’ as reporters/writers like to call it) and I went in to the interview with that intent. However, the focus of the story changed as the interview went on.

As far as preproduction went, this piece was much easier. I now feel more at ease with the audio equipment and feel competent enough to not constantly focus on the audio quality. I prepared a list of questions I wanted to ask Steven and unfortunately forgot them when I went to shoot. Fortunately, I remembered several and just stemmed more questions from what I remembered.

Production:
During the interview, I was surprised to learn that the renovation on the Bell Tower was would undoubtedly happen. When asked about the renovation of the tower, the bell ringer basically shrugged it off, implying that it would happen no matter what. At this point, I had to refocus my interview and find a new angle. My coworker made it seem as if the University would not pay for the Bell Tower renovations and that was not the case. Thankfully, Steven was full of interesting quotes and ideas about the Bell Tower allowing me to find another angle to the story.

The interview went smoothly and I captured a lot of quotes. The photography was fine and presented no issues.

Postproduction:
One problem that I am continuously finding is the time constraints of multimedia. I am continuously told from those that critique my work that the pieces are too long. It is extremely difficult to eliminate some audio clips…some of them are so good it is hard to cut them out! You have to find the happy median. I agree that the average web user has an extremely short attention span and thus I must make shorter multimedia clips.

The editing this time went by more quickly. I am nailing down my workflow and beginning to get a better feel for editing and final cut pro. Now I just need to work on having a critical eye as an editor and cutting out the right content. It is challenging to me to edit my own work.

Final Thoughts:
Retrospectively, I wish I focused more on the Bell Ringer than the Bell Tower. After watching my completed video a dozen or so times, it seems as if I couldn’t decide if I should focus on the tower itself or the bell ringer. Hopefully, I will iron out this flaw next time and have a more concentrated and complete piece.

I enjoy doing these mini-portraits. It seems as if I gravitate towards this style of multimedia—although I should try to branch out.

As for working with a coworker, I could see how it would be beneficial but I need to make sure I communicate better. Perhaps capturing the media for the piece simultaneously would yield a more cohesive video.

All in all, I feel like I am slowly improving my work.

My First Multimedia Slideshow

So last Wednesday I finished my first Multimedia slideshow. Overall, I think the final product came out fairly nice. Granted, I could have done much better…but the goal of this first production was mainly to get myself comfortable with not only the technical aspects of the whole process but the logistics and pacing.

My thoughts on Production #1

Preproduction:
To prepare for the slideshow, I created a mental list of the kind of shots I needed to get and the shots I wanted to get. Unfortunately, this was difficult, as I had never seen the place before. Still, it was helpful to use some imagination. I should have written them down, as it is easy to forget something in the field.

I also double-checked my equipment to make sure everything was charged up and ready to go. Lastly, I created a list of about 10 questions for the interview, this served as a rough guideline as well as a safety in case the conversation died down during the actual interview.

Production:
Capturing the images was typical photojournalistic procedure; I just slumped into the normal Daily habit of taking a photo of everything, making sure to pay close attention to detail. There was a lot of stuff in this workshop so this part was fairly easy.

The one thing I did wish I had more shots of was the actual subject, Jon, doing things around the workshop. This slipped my mind during the actual shoot and would have been easily remedied if I wrote it down.

As far as audio, I didn’t have a good place to set the microphone stand so I had to hold it. Oddly, enough, this really affected my interview, as I was focusing more on the technical quality rather than the content and was sort of spacing out. In the future, I am definitely going to figure out a way (tripod>>to>>mic conversion stand maybe) to fix this. I also need to work on continuing the stream of questions; coming up with follow-up questions in my head to ask while the subject is talking away. Lastly, I need to get nat-sounds or natural sounds. A hammer banging on something could have been a great sound FX to use and I totally forgot about capturing any of that.

Post Production:
As a semi-experienced user of Final Cut, the one thing I really need to focus on is speed. I am used to having a few weeks to edit down a short film. For news, the turnaround time needs to be much quicker. Keyboard shortcuts here I come!

The one part of postproduction that really didn’t surprise me was how long it took. I knew I would have to spend about thirty minutes for every one minute of production. I just need to plan ahead next time.

Links: Hot off the Press

Yesterday I was checking my email and browsing around as usual and I came across cyberjournalist which had a boatload of great tips and tricks for Multimedia.

I even found a syllabus for a Graduate Level Multimedia course from the University of Florida and an extensive one from Columbia University. They even have a blog with Video Tips, and some other crazy delicious resources. Pretty useful stuff.

Afterthough: http://www.jtoolkit.com/

First Post - Beginning of the Semester

Is this thing working? Good. The purpose of this blog is to keep track of my independent study with Terri Sarris on Multimedia. Here is the proposal for the study:

Title: Independent Study on Multimedia Journalism

Purpose: To further explore and learn about the multi-faceted dynamic properties of multimedia and online journalism.

Objective: In this study, I plan on learning how to use new technology and techniques to present and prepare a series of multimedia presentations on a variety of topics. I plan on creating several audio-visual slideshows (or ‘mini-documentaries’ to be published on michigandaily.com. I will keep a blog to record my notes, progress, pictures, videos, presentations, and feedback. The blog will also be used as a tool for you to keep track of my progress.

Timeline: One 2-3 minute ‘mini-documentary’ should be completed at the end of each 3-week period for a total of 4 presentations. 2 must include video, while the remainder of the presentations can consist of only audio and still images. All progress should be tracked on the blog.

Texts and Resources: I plan on using both print and online learning sources (as online has the most up-to-date information on the topic).

• Advancing the Story: Broadcast Journalism in a Multimedia World by Debora Halpern Wenger and Deborah Potter. 1st Edition. (Print, ISBN 0872899012)
This is a well-known Multimedia book that guides through all the steps, processes and ethics of multimedia journalism. More information can be found at (http://www.cqpress.com/product/Advancing-the-Story-Broadcast.html)

• Selections from Journalims 2.0 by Mark Briggs (http://www.kcnn.org/resources/journalism_20/)

• News University (http://www.newsu.org)
News Univeristy offers a series of free mini-courses on a variety of journalism subjects. I plan on enrolling in “Five Steps to Multimedia Storytelling”, “Telling Stories with Sound”, and “The Interview.” Each session is approximately 2 hours.

• Poynter Online (http://www.poynter.org)
Poynter provides an excellent resource for all facets of journalism and will be instrumental in my learning

• Various other online resources.

Equipment: I will be using a mix of personal equipment as well as the Michigan Daily’s equipment. I am planning on purchasing a high-quality audio recorder for interviews, and already own photography equipment. The only situation I may need ISS equipment would be for high-quality video interviews (sparingly).

Ideas for presentations:
• Student profile. A comparison of students from U of M, EMU, and Washtenaw.
• LGBTA Student
• Students who live in predominantly non-student areas and non-students who live in predominantly student areas.
• Real Greeks (as in, student from Greece).

These can, of course, be expanded upon and improved upon as I brainstorm.