The ever-changing world of journalism has more to explore than this writer can truly believe. The New York Times created a series of documentaries called Op-Docs that allowed for stories with opinions to be told. The platform is successful journalistically because the stories are told entirely by the interview subjects.
Amongst the Op-Docs I watched the most fascinating was Kaboom. The story profiled two explosives enthusiasts who blow things up for a living. The visuals were stunning and the story was intriguing. One of my first thoughts was that Herbert Lowe would not enjoy the music. Most of the time it worked for me but there were moments that it overpowered the words that were said. The audio of the explosions was incredible and not overdone. The only other thing that puzzled me was the framing of the interview. We have been taught in many different settings to frame the interview with the subject looking off camera, but these two were almost looking away from the camera. Overall this story was absolutely amazing. One story that troubled me a bit was Melody. My first thought was that the opening shot was gorgeous and boy, I wish every story could have something this wonderful. After that things got a bit rocky. The story was interesting but there was no explanation of why there was all of this old film of the subject playing her instrument. The next problem was my impression that the story was about the first speaker; later in the story it became clear that there were multiple people in the story. There needed to be more written information about the story in order for it to work. Each time I come across a new method of storytelling my first thought is about how I could use this method. Many times there are limitations because the budget available to me is much smaller than that of the New York Times. After a quick scan of the university news briefs a few ideas came to mind. The first was to cover a candidate in the upcoming MUSG election. Get inside their life a bit and get behind the scenes to explore why they are running rather than to cover the election. Another idea was to cover a family relationship for the upcoming “little sibs” weekend at Marquette. It would work to cover any relationship really so long as the relationship is active and one can film interactions. One issue I foresee is that if I make an Op-Doc it will be far less interesting than Kaboom because it is simply not possible for us to film visuals of that quality. That doc used go-pros, likely more than three cameras on site, at least one journalist with a whole camera team and it required a weeks of planning. It would be fun to create a story that allows for opinions to be expressed more freely, but it worries me to compare it to these stunning docs.
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Last week was an adventure in editing for me. All my experience with video editing was with Apple’s Final Cut Pro X. As part of a project for #loweclass we learned how to work with Adobe Premiere Pro. There are plenty of differences between these two programs. Knowing this and identifying these differences was key for me to get started.
One of the first key points for me was adjusting to where the editing takes place. In Final Cut most of my work is done on the timeline but in Premiere the timeline just features most of the work already completed. The trim and blade functions of Final Cut were my best friends. After just one day of working with Premiere I realized that would not be the case after transitioning. Using the in and out shortcuts in the source window is the most efficient way to cut up pieces of video. At this point it is still hard to say which one I prefer but it took me months to get comfortable with Final Cut. That work certainly helped me learn Premiere quicker than the average bear. It is possible that Premiere is easier to learn – I will never truly know. The biggest plus for me with Premiere was the customization of the interface. Final Cut has a rigid preset workspace that is great to work with but hard to change. Premiere is incredible in terms of versatility. The placement and size of the windows and toolbars allowed me to set up my workspace exactly how I want it. It also allowed me to change the workspace as I go, which was truly wonderful. Premiere also seemed to be smoother and less gimmicky than Final Cut. That may be an issue with my laptop rather than the software though. Either way I can certainly see why someone would want to use Premiere rather than Final Cut. I will continue to work with both until one truly steals my heart. The only other detail is that Avid Media Composer will soon be a part of my life as well. My video editing work will be spread over three high quality platforms that all have their selling points. Who will win out? Check back another time for the answer. In nearly four complete semesters at Marquette University my professors have lined up countless guest speakers. Most are interesting and several have career relevant advice. Only a few have combined both. Monday afternoon #loweclass was graced with the presence of four established journalists who could speak directly to our goals.
Professor Herbert Lowe recruited Justin George, Liz Navratil, Miranda Spivack and Dave Umhoefer to share with our class. All four explained a bit about their history as journalists, what they are up to now and told us about some plans they have going forward. Justin George works for The Baltimore Sun as a crime reporter. A story he worked on led to an opportunity to work on a podcast hosted and produced by Sarah Koenig who worked as a producer for This American Life. The podcast, Serial, debuted in October of 2014 and quickly became the most popular podcast on iTunes. Serial went viral and it got people talking, so much so that its reddit subpage has 44,317 people subscribed to discussion about the podcast. George hopes to use his experience working on the podcast to move his career forward. He thinks that he can use a podcasts as a part of his next project – one you may hear plenty about in the near future. Liz Navratil is also a crime reporter. She does her work for The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Navratil broke a massive story that cost a mayor and a chief of police their jobs. To break such a massive story within four years of graduating college would be miraculous. Her insight was appreciated and her story was gripping. Miranda Spivack spent many years working as a reporter and editor for The Washington Post but now she does freelance writing focusing on legal issues and transparency in government. She spoke about how difficult it can be for journalists and citizens alike to obtain information from the government that should be accessible. Spivack had plenty to say about ideas she has in terms of exploring this issue. Dave Umhoefer has made a career out of covering one of the most interesting men in politics, Scott Walker. Umhoefer wrote a curious piece about Walker’s time as a Marquette student and the mystery that surrounds it for politifact.com that caught my attention. Umhoefer interested me because he is covering a public figure experiencing an unprecedented rise to fame. If you have any questions about Walker, “govwatcher” is your man. I can only hope I get the chance to meet more guest speakers of this quality in my time at Marquette. Until then all one can do is soak up the knowledge that has already been shared. Late Night Marquette hosted an open mic for peace event last Thursday night. A video package of the evening’s events will be coming soon. My partner in crime for coverage of this occasion was Jahi Brown.
The event opened with several musicians performing with their voices and guitars. The atmosphere was somber and welcoming. One particular performance captured the audience’s attention during the first portion of the show – a student courageously took on Elton John’s legendary song Rocket Man. A brief intermission took place and the group of 25 students gathered together had a chance to mingle. The second half of the show saw a few more musical performances, one by Marquette’s only all female a cappella group The Meladies. The night changed dramatically after The Meladies performance when five spoken word performers took over the mic. One of the speakers performed an original piece titled Love as an Introvert that had the crowd laughing and thinking at the same time. Two race related performances in particular evoked reactions from the audience. A young lady read an original poem using a letter to her future daughter as the mode of storytelling. A young man performed rap lyrics he had written. Both of these performances were greeted with standing ovations and provoked plenty of thought. Jahi and I will create two video packages for this event. One will be general coverage of the event itself and the other will be about one of the performers, Miguel Sanchez. He spoke candidly about his experiences in the Milwaukee area as the son of immigrant parents. Keep your eyes peeled for these two packages that will be online sometime on Wednesday. |
AboutOn this page you can find blog posts about my adventures in journalism, ponderings about projects, experiences with storytelling tools and updates on what I'm working on. Archives
February 2017
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