Final video project

I was in the midst of a freakout about what to do my video project on. Two of my original ideas fell through and then my camera broke. Then I had an epiphany. Why not create a video about the most popular topic on campus right now? Senioritis. So here it is.

If at first you don't succeed...

I'm not really sure what my stance is on the great video debate. I think that it's such a new thing that it's too early to be putting all these restrictions and rules on it. I think right now it's all about trial and error. See what works, see what stories are best told using video, see what people like, see what is more compelling, interesting and informative using video.

I am leaning toward the idea that every reporter should have a camera with them at all times. You never know what you're going to capture, or even randomly come across while you're out on an interview or something. As it stands, there isn't a designated video person at most small papers, so reporters should get used to using the equipment, even if it's just a crappy digital camera. That being said, I think papers should really invest in having a trained professional that knows about video and supply them with the equipment to make good video. Video is going to be the future, so it's going to be important to get on board. 

It's going to take a lot of time for video to evolve, especially with small local papers. You can't just start doing something and expect it to be perfection. I think the only way for it to get to a professional level and be mainstream is to try everything. The things that work will improve, and the things that don't will be dropped. 

I definitely think newspapers should put more effort in to "advertising" the multimedia material on their website. It is a website after all, it doesn't have to look like a replica of the front page. I think it should be a big section at the top of the website that grabs viewers' attention. It should be one of the first things a viewer sees, therefore it should provide them with something different than what they're getting delivered on their doorstep.

I think it's more important to be creative, innovative and original and try a million random things than to work to try to perfect a small handful of projects.

It's not May

For some reason I put May on the title page of my video..major copy editing sin. Just letting you know I meant March...

Natalie's first day

A few issues...

There are a few problems with my slideshow...for example ignore the robot voice in the background of one section. It came out when I did some noise removal but it's less distracting than it was before. And my pictures don't really go along with my audio but I couldn't get on a boat so it's the best I could do!

Soundslide

Photo shoot in my apartment

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get pictures to go along with my audio because the fisherman that I interviewed is done for the season. I'm hoping maybe he will be back in Seabrook at some point so I can at least get pictures of him near his boat or on the water. I definitely learned my lesson about always having my camera on me! I wished I had taken pictures when I first interviewed him.

For my next project I'm going to interview a woman I've known for a number of years. She is in her 40s and has cerebral palsy. She's very independent and is quite a character. I'm going to have audio and photos, but I can't interview her until the weekend so instead to practice some of the things we learned on the video I had a mini photo shoot in my apartment. I made my roommate try some "poses" out for me and tried out different settings on my camera and different angles. It was fun, I was a lot more aware of the background and angles than I usually am. I had trouble getting her to look natural. She was either very serious or looked like she was fake-smiling. I think I got a few good shots, though. I think it was good practice for when I take pictures for my next project.

I give up

Well this is about the tenth time I've uploaded my audio. I've changed the preferences a million times, googled the crap out of it and still can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. So here are some chipmunks you can enjoy.

Audio project

Here's my audio project. It's about a controversy between the fishing industry and a program called the observer program. I interviewed a fisherman and an observer so it's really long and some parts are hard to understand because it was really windy.

I thought my career was a sure thing...

For a few months now I've been in the know that what I once thought was a "safe" career -- people will always need news! -- is not so much.

Watching Damon's presentation, reading headlines about a hundred and something reporters being fired, and editors walking out has made me realize that it is essential to be knowledgeable, if not capable of multimedia journalism. There isn't a desk waiting for me at a paper somewhere. There's a desk that I'm going to have to compete for.

It took me the majority of my college career to figure out what I actually want to do, and I was relieved and comforted when I decided I wanted to be a journalist. While I faced the fact that I wouldn't be rolling in the dough any time soon, I thought it was at least a stable career choice, and something that I loved. During the first few days at my internship at the Concord Monitor, I heard "newspapers are dying off," and even a warning once that I should know what I'm "getting myself into." I had always just assumed that newspapers were going to be necessities in life like milk. People were always going to buy them! But people might not. Why would people pay for the same news they can get for free and from their living room? Granted, I'm not saying that everyone who reads the newspaper is going to stop and turn to online, but that's definitely the trend.

When I first started working at the Concord Monitor, I visited their website and thought, wow this is prehistoric. It didn't have any place for breaking news, and hardly any place for world news. It wasn't very interactive and kind of turned me off. Over the course of my internship, I watched the guy in control of their website make a stink about how the website needed to be more up to date and the sooner the better. By the time I left they had a much better website. It looked more up to date, had a section for multimedia, and it fit a much better variety of news on the front. I can really see how people can judge your paper by its website.

I thought Damon's presentation was very interesting. I thought it was nice to see what his own paper was doing to try to keep up with the times. I think a lot of people are worried that the core of journalism is changing as the face of it changes. I think that unless we let it, the ethics, and substance will be the same it will just be presented in a different way. People in other careers are always having to update and change with technology, it would be wrong if journalists didn't. I think it's cool to have more ways to tell a story, and with different mediums the door is opened for different kinds of stories.

While, at first I thought my job options were dwindling, I now realize they're flourishing, they're just not as conventional as I might have expected. My first reaction to the statement, "newspapers are a dying breed" was to say, "Well what the hell am I wasting my time in these classes for?" but now I'm excited that I will get to learn all this new cool stuff and change along with the newspaper industry. Our generation is going to be the generation that makes over the journalism field and I think that's pretty cool.

Audio experience

I am a huge fan of audio now! After I was done with my interview and listened to my recording, I realized there were a lot of good quotes I had that I probably wouldn't have written down, had I just been jotting down quotes. I did find it hard to not talk while they were talking, and I think I should have given my interviewee a little more direction with how to talk. He tended to say 'um' a lot and once I started looking for them I realized there were a ton. The thing I'm finding hardest about the assignment is going through my entire interview and finding the "golden eggs". It's getting overwhelming because I have so many tracks going. I'm not sure if there's a way to make that less complicated or if it's just something I have to get used to.
I felt myself interviewing differently knowing I was being recorded. I think it actually helped me try to phrase my questions better and sound more professional...I tend to get this man voice when I'm asking questions haha. After hearing myself I also learned that I have to talk slowly and more clearly.
I found Audacity to be much easier to use than I thought it would be. I had fun with the initial trim down of my interview. If there were spaces between questions, my initial reaction was to delete them, but then I realized that it makes it easier to spot the beginning of my person's response. It makes the breaks in the interview visible.
I interviewed a guy named Kevin Haengel. He works as a fishery observer. He goes out on commercial fishing boats and takes data. There is a tension between him and the fishermen. I think it's interesting to hear his side in contrast with the fisherman's point of view. I'm going to try to interview a captain of one of the boats that Kevin goes out on. I also hope to get some good pictures on the boat, and some good ocean sounds for ambient noise.
I'm going to attempt to post either my whole interview, or the audio that I've edited so far after this, so bear with me...

let's try this again

Let's see if this worked this time...

Blog Numero Uno

I hope to leave this course with confidence for when I enter the real world...which is way too soon. I will feel much more prepared when I go in for interviews having this class under my belt. It is going to round out my experience.
I hope it gives me more options when I'm looking for jobs. I hope it gives me a stronger resume and shows that I'm prepared for when the internet takes over the world - which could be any day now.
I've always loved art and photography and I'm really excited that we're going to have a few lessons in taking good still shots. I think this will teach me a whole new way of telling a story and I am excited that I now will have a new medium to present things. I've never learned how to layer audio or anything like that and I think all these skills are going to be essential for all journalists in a few years. I also think that my writing will improve after taking this class. It will make me work that much harder to paint the picture I'm trying to get across if I can't use sound and visuals.

Here are a few examples of online journalism that I admire:

This is a slideshow that was done by Lori Duff, a photographer I used to work with at the ConMon. She is an amazing photographer and I liked the sound of the water that went with this slideshow:

This project came out while I was working at the paper. It really had an impact on me and I cried when I watched it. It's very sad but I think it shows the power of this type of journalism. Hearing the person's voice and seeing her interaction with her child is much more powerful and touching than reading about her without hearing her voice come through.