Friday, June 8, 2012
Final Blog
Wow, have I been behind on my blogging. I think I've missed two or three posts. These last couple weeks have just been hectic although I know I am not the only person who has been feeling it. But hey, transitions just have to take place in life to grow as a person.
So lets discuss transitions, specifically what transitions I have faced with Multimedia Journalism. First off, this was my first journalism course ever. Pretty exciting right? I knew very little about journalism coming into this class-by little I mean nothing. I think any preconceived notion I had was thrown out by taking this class. I am still on the fence if that is a positive or negative. But if all of my preconceived notions were thrown out that means I learned something right? Looking directly at that fence on one side the word struggle has made its home.
By struggle I mean adapting, and adapting is sometimes harder than evolving. I think I adapted, maybe not like a chameleon, effortlessly changing color. Maybe more like a rhino putting on a dress and dancing ballet, but if a bear can roller blade whose says rhinos cant pirouette in a sparkly too too. <That has nothing to do with anything, see I did learn something. Stick to the story!> Anyways, my hardest adaptation was deadlines. Not necessarily deadlines per say more like time constraints. I frankly felt rushed. Which I think is a probably a huge part of journalistic practice, but that is why I'm not a journalist. I perceive myself more as a novelist. For me journalistic writing seems like living paycheck to paycheck while a novel is sort of like an investment. I would rather spend ten years delving into a story and choke-holding every little detail out of it, so my readers feel overwhelmingly informed. But investments take a lot of time and money. Journalists just don't have that time. Journalists have to get to the next story to get paid, keep working, and eat. I understand I just struggled. I've always struggled with being concise.
On the opposite side of the fence a little learning bug nested. I learned to bash a Mac until it responded to my needs. I learned that I can tell a story with images other than words. And I learned that I'm not terrible at editing sounds and video. All in all learning is a lot of fun and if I get a chance outside of school to do more things like editing I would probably enjoy it immensely. I more than likely wont take another journalism class. Unfortunately, it just doesn't ignite a passion for me, maybe Ill just write a book.
To finish off this class the biggest thing I learned is to transition and be patient. I don't have time to rush. While others don't have time to slow down. For me slowing down is a necessity not a luxury. I'll be taking fall quarter off so I can transition again and reevaluate what I want for my education. A year and a half has flown by incredibly quick and sometimes we just have to take a step-back before jumping in again face first.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Possibly?
In a few weeks its finals again. Yay! Okay, that's a lie, no yay. I have never understood the necessity of a final test, final project, or any other final anything. I think my work throughout ten weeks shows my understanding of different mediums or subject matter much better than one single ending thing. But hey, its life.
So, I think for my final, my first idea would be to create a video about the smell in Marysville or surrounding area I suppose. More specifically how the god awful smell is affecting the citizens of the town. I know their is quite a bit of technical information and people have a number they can call every time they smell it, but I want to see a ground view video of actual citizens dealing with a noxious odor in their daily lives. Can they function normally, can they picnic or BBQ, do they wear bio-chemical filtering gas masks when they leave the sanctity of their homes? A real person to person video would, I feel, bring the issue in tighter to the community and people would be heard better.
Another idea I had would be to interview some people who are transplants to Marysville. I mean in the sense of actually moving to the city or having grown up with family that moved to the city. I want to know what they feel are pros, cons, and any feeling towards living here. I know for myself personally it was a big change and I want to find out if others share a view point with me, or another transplant. Who knows we could start a club.
So, I think for my final, my first idea would be to create a video about the smell in Marysville or surrounding area I suppose. More specifically how the god awful smell is affecting the citizens of the town. I know their is quite a bit of technical information and people have a number they can call every time they smell it, but I want to see a ground view video of actual citizens dealing with a noxious odor in their daily lives. Can they function normally, can they picnic or BBQ, do they wear bio-chemical filtering gas masks when they leave the sanctity of their homes? A real person to person video would, I feel, bring the issue in tighter to the community and people would be heard better.
Another idea I had would be to interview some people who are transplants to Marysville. I mean in the sense of actually moving to the city or having grown up with family that moved to the city. I want to know what they feel are pros, cons, and any feeling towards living here. I know for myself personally it was a big change and I want to find out if others share a view point with me, or another transplant. Who knows we could start a club.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Storyboarding. What, When, Why?
To storyboard you need to things: a story, and a board. Pretty self explanatory isn't it? Okay, maybe you can get away without the board, but its still a basic concept. You have a story and you take pictures, videos, words, anything really, and you line them up in a way to tell the story. Ultimately story-boarding is an organization tool. A sort of pre-edit if you will.
Now when I think of story-boarding I think of movies where directors and such take drawings of scenes and ideas and then put them up on a real board. They can organize everything they want to shoot and pre-plan the sequential order of the scenes. But the greatest advantage to this pre-plan is how liquid story-boarding is. Say they start shooting but something just doesn't fit, or when the final edits are going through the story could be better arranged. Using that previous storyboard they can move ideas around so that the story is better told.
But what does a storyboard look like? When I see a storyboard in my mind its a blown up comic strip; all Kabooms and Kapows! A nice example of this is on a page I found on the omnipotent Google. This page shows a basic storyboard the graphics, the cut lines about what the story is telling, and the order the scenes should be shot.
Save yourself some time, energy, and MONEY. Use a storyboard.
Now when I think of story-boarding I think of movies where directors and such take drawings of scenes and ideas and then put them up on a real board. They can organize everything they want to shoot and pre-plan the sequential order of the scenes. But the greatest advantage to this pre-plan is how liquid story-boarding is. Say they start shooting but something just doesn't fit, or when the final edits are going through the story could be better arranged. Using that previous storyboard they can move ideas around so that the story is better told.
But what does a storyboard look like? When I see a storyboard in my mind its a blown up comic strip; all Kabooms and Kapows! A nice example of this is on a page I found on the omnipotent Google. This page shows a basic storyboard the graphics, the cut lines about what the story is telling, and the order the scenes should be shot.
Save yourself some time, energy, and MONEY. Use a storyboard.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Editorial and The News
Being new to journalism I think that I have more of an objective view of what journalism is, what really constitutes effective storytelling. Journalism isn't what I plan on doing for a career or something I am really all that much involved in outside of class so I haven't formed an ego towards "being a journalist." I don't necessarily mean in terms of egotistical as a negative connotation, but none the less wanting to be a journalist a person will have some sort of attitude of themselves as being an effective writer and being able to tell what effective writing is. Therefore my ego doesn't cloud my judgement on certain processes or tools a journalist uses to get their story across. All I see is the story that is published and I only have to ask one question. Does it work for me?
To tell if something works for me I look at a number of things: are the pictures captivating, do the captions grab my attention, is it current, and does it make me think of an idea in a way I may not have before? So for this weeks homework blog, finding an effective multimedia editorial and news story, I basically chose the top things that popped up on Google and decided if they really deserved to be on top.
The first editorial I found came from the New York Times website after I Googled "editorial," it was third on the list after the definition of editorial and another story from the same site. The story I found Editorials: The Aftermath of 9/11 just happened to be on a sidebar. Now this page is just an overview of editorials about September 11, 2001, but I think its more interesting how they set this up than the stories themselves. Mostly because this is the first thing a reader will see and it tells a story all its own.
The positives: the pictures, though not on every article, are tasteful, detailed, and capture my attention. The timeline is chronological. I can follow the editorials from the day of the attack until the end of last year, so still fairly current. Another positive this page has is simple ease. I can scroll and find the exact type of story I'm looking for quickly and without opening different tabs for hours. Finally, this editorial page about editorials tells the complete story of the attack and actions taken after from start till now. The reader can get the story without going through all the other stories. I honestly wish that every news website was built like this editorial page.
Now, an effective multimedia news story I found was on the National Geographic website. The article is about a new specie of fish discovered off the coast of Tasmania that uses its fins to walk along the ocean floor rather than swim. Obviously, I am always drawn to new species discovered, mostly because they are the definition of current, but this one really got me.
Why this works for me. First off, the first image they chose is absolutely epic. Even though the fish is only a few inches long the picture made the fish look enormous. Sci-fi make up cannot even touch the creepiness mother nature creates. I could just see this animal crawling towards me, mouth agape and frowning, "hands" grasping objects, while slowly dragging itself towards me. Second, the headline "Nine Fish With "Hands" Found to Be New Species. The headline tells it all in intriguing glory. What fish with hands? I have to see this. Third, the sentence structure is quick, plain so anyone can understand, and efficient. Pulling the reader through and giving jump off points so they can research on their own (unlike the novels I post.) The article tells a story and works, good enough for me.
To tell if something works for me I look at a number of things: are the pictures captivating, do the captions grab my attention, is it current, and does it make me think of an idea in a way I may not have before? So for this weeks homework blog, finding an effective multimedia editorial and news story, I basically chose the top things that popped up on Google and decided if they really deserved to be on top.
The first editorial I found came from the New York Times website after I Googled "editorial," it was third on the list after the definition of editorial and another story from the same site. The story I found Editorials: The Aftermath of 9/11 just happened to be on a sidebar. Now this page is just an overview of editorials about September 11, 2001, but I think its more interesting how they set this up than the stories themselves. Mostly because this is the first thing a reader will see and it tells a story all its own.
The positives: the pictures, though not on every article, are tasteful, detailed, and capture my attention. The timeline is chronological. I can follow the editorials from the day of the attack until the end of last year, so still fairly current. Another positive this page has is simple ease. I can scroll and find the exact type of story I'm looking for quickly and without opening different tabs for hours. Finally, this editorial page about editorials tells the complete story of the attack and actions taken after from start till now. The reader can get the story without going through all the other stories. I honestly wish that every news website was built like this editorial page.
Now, an effective multimedia news story I found was on the National Geographic website. The article is about a new specie of fish discovered off the coast of Tasmania that uses its fins to walk along the ocean floor rather than swim. Obviously, I am always drawn to new species discovered, mostly because they are the definition of current, but this one really got me.
Why this works for me. First off, the first image they chose is absolutely epic. Even though the fish is only a few inches long the picture made the fish look enormous. Sci-fi make up cannot even touch the creepiness mother nature creates. I could just see this animal crawling towards me, mouth agape and frowning, "hands" grasping objects, while slowly dragging itself towards me. Second, the headline "Nine Fish With "Hands" Found to Be New Species. The headline tells it all in intriguing glory. What fish with hands? I have to see this. Third, the sentence structure is quick, plain so anyone can understand, and efficient. Pulling the reader through and giving jump off points so they can research on their own (unlike the novels I post.) The article tells a story and works, good enough for me.
Friday, April 20, 2012
20,000 Leagues Under...Not Over
Do you ever look at the stars and wonder if there are life forms more advanced than humans? Do you ever ponder about a day when some highly evolved creature will swoop down and suck your body into their vehicle, only to prod and prob? I know I have. But, do you ever wonder what things are creeping around in your closet (and its not just R. Kelly.)?
Something I tend to notice in the progression of human knowledge is the extensive journey to space. One astronomically expensive (no pun intended), feat to explore the vastness of our cosmos.In 2005 NASA had a budget of $16.2 billion for engineering, spaceflight, and science funded by NASA. An unfathomable number to conceptualize in our tiny brains, especially given the fact that the money is only supposed to last one year. When honestly, all they are really doing is looking at rocks, wondering if those rocks once had water, or worrying about the big rocks blowing up our planet. But why are we so worried about the rocks hitting us if we truly have no understanding about what is counted in the word "us." Sure humans, verily the most self conscious not to mention anxious species, exist here. But what else?
That hugely open ended question of, "What else," is exactly the cause of a decade long research project by the Census of Marine Life involving 80 countries and $650 million in financing. The results were amazing. The end result of the project's species count: over 200,000 life forms. NASA: zero.
Seriously, less than half of the budget spent on one year of space science can be spent on ten years of research into our own atmosphere. So, our space program could spend uncountable billions on a trip to Mars, Jupiter, or maybe Uranus. Or we could spend that money on something that truly matters, learning what thrives in our own planet. Here are some amazing images proving that our seas are just as vast and spectacular, if not more, than the farthest reaches of space.
I have one final question, would you be more worried about the home intruder lurking two states away or the one hiding under your mattress? Guess where I'm looking before I go to sleep tonight.
Something I tend to notice in the progression of human knowledge is the extensive journey to space. One astronomically expensive (no pun intended), feat to explore the vastness of our cosmos.In 2005 NASA had a budget of $16.2 billion for engineering, spaceflight, and science funded by NASA. An unfathomable number to conceptualize in our tiny brains, especially given the fact that the money is only supposed to last one year. When honestly, all they are really doing is looking at rocks, wondering if those rocks once had water, or worrying about the big rocks blowing up our planet. But why are we so worried about the rocks hitting us if we truly have no understanding about what is counted in the word "us." Sure humans, verily the most self conscious not to mention anxious species, exist here. But what else?
That hugely open ended question of, "What else," is exactly the cause of a decade long research project by the Census of Marine Life involving 80 countries and $650 million in financing. The results were amazing. The end result of the project's species count: over 200,000 life forms. NASA: zero.
Seriously, less than half of the budget spent on one year of space science can be spent on ten years of research into our own atmosphere. So, our space program could spend uncountable billions on a trip to Mars, Jupiter, or maybe Uranus. Or we could spend that money on something that truly matters, learning what thrives in our own planet. Here are some amazing images proving that our seas are just as vast and spectacular, if not more, than the farthest reaches of space.
I have one final question, would you be more worried about the home intruder lurking two states away or the one hiding under your mattress? Guess where I'm looking before I go to sleep tonight.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Do's and dont's of social media and journalism. In paticular, what good is Twitter?
First off, let me welcome my readers (classmates) to my first official blog post for the quarter. Please bear with me as I am completely new to this form of writing. Being new to blogging, and the usage of social media for anything other than personal means, writing this blog and hashing out what is acceptable and "un," is probably a very good thing. So, that being said I'll start my official rants and raves about social media i.e. Twitter.
I created my Twitter account sometime last week, and reopened my Facebook at the same time. Coming into the class and learning that we would be using these tools as reporting agents put me at unease. I originally thought that "multimedia" was exactly just that pictures, videos, audio. Certainly more-so out of the stone-age than just black on grey print, but surely not Extra-Terrestrial-Beings advanced.
I see a news room in terms of 1950's Chicago: middle aged men dressed in suspenders, waist high dress pants, and chain smoking unfiltered Lucky Strikes. Each time the 19 year old secretary struts by its all cat-calls and hiney pinching. I certainly can't picture a news room as my kitchen table. Who wants to work in the one place every nosey member of their family walks by. Constantly asking what the writer is working on, or just trying to edge their way in on the action. Let me ask you a question, have you ever tried to wolf whistle at your mom? Honestly? You can tell me the truth just write me a comment on this blog no one will ever find out.
Yet here I am in exactly in that position. No I did not whistle at my mom that would be a hard smack to the face and a call to my grandpa. 20 years old and my grandpa is still the most intimidating person in my life and probably always will be. Do I feel comfortable writing here? Of course to an extent. Would I rather be in a professional environment where my colleagues have basically the same things going on? Yes. I really can say I envy the 1950 Chicagoans. But, my envy of that time period is exactly the problem our culture faces with the new form of information.
As we have discussed in class a certain point has been dragged, beaten, dragged again, and hung up on the white board gallows, self censorship. We see it all the time, athletes, movie stars, politicians, and sometimes Average Joes' make the social media mistake of blatant bigotry. The ultimate career suicide. To me, your opinion is your opinion. If you don't like someone because of their color, faith, sexual orientation or gender that's your right. I honestly don't feel anyone has the right to attempt to destroy you for that opinion. But like the wisest of rabbits Thumper said, "If you cant say anything nice don't say anything at all." I mean it's pretty basic, certain things you can say in public and certain things are meant for your own mind. Unfortunately ladies and gentlemen, even though there should be one, there is no button next to your spell-check that goes through your off kilter ravings and presents alternatives to stupid things you said. Even though there should be one, a little bubble doesn't pop up and say, "Hey, that was pretty hateful and has some potential to ruin your life for a while. Are you sure you want to send this? Click nowhere, go back, and take another look dummy."
Personally, I think Twitter has the easiest capability to destroy your life if you were to do that. Twitter is the ultimate instant gratify machine there is. I can think of a million disgusting, terrible, dirty things to write in less than 140 characters and send to the masses. Twitter is the friend that everyone has who drunk dials consistently and just spews everything you didn't ever need or want to know. Twitter is the loud mouth girl at the bar with a vile mouth, that only the six foot four bald guy has the guts to attempt to quiet down. It's not only the simple ease of mess that can fall from Twitter that I carry a great disdain for, its the cockiness. Twitter is a way to constantly shove into peoples faces how great your life is in comparison. "Hey I just bought a new house, its huge." " Hey I'm on TV and you worthless vermin have to watch me." "Hey just wanted to say follow this other beautiful being @soandso #ImTheGreatest." I think Twitter is a bad idea.
So maybe we shouldn't jump back a few decades and be stuck in a smokey, dimly lit, den of debauchery. But at least if someone wrote something that was just plain awful it had to go through a few other people first before it went straight to the press. I don't think people can mediate themselves, I probably just wrote a few hundred words that need to be put through a ringer. (I love comma's a whole lot.)
I don't believe in censorship, but I do believe in common courtesy.
I created my Twitter account sometime last week, and reopened my Facebook at the same time. Coming into the class and learning that we would be using these tools as reporting agents put me at unease. I originally thought that "multimedia" was exactly just that pictures, videos, audio. Certainly more-so out of the stone-age than just black on grey print, but surely not Extra-Terrestrial-Beings advanced.
I see a news room in terms of 1950's Chicago: middle aged men dressed in suspenders, waist high dress pants, and chain smoking unfiltered Lucky Strikes. Each time the 19 year old secretary struts by its all cat-calls and hiney pinching. I certainly can't picture a news room as my kitchen table. Who wants to work in the one place every nosey member of their family walks by. Constantly asking what the writer is working on, or just trying to edge their way in on the action. Let me ask you a question, have you ever tried to wolf whistle at your mom? Honestly? You can tell me the truth just write me a comment on this blog no one will ever find out.
Yet here I am in exactly in that position. No I did not whistle at my mom that would be a hard smack to the face and a call to my grandpa. 20 years old and my grandpa is still the most intimidating person in my life and probably always will be. Do I feel comfortable writing here? Of course to an extent. Would I rather be in a professional environment where my colleagues have basically the same things going on? Yes. I really can say I envy the 1950 Chicagoans. But, my envy of that time period is exactly the problem our culture faces with the new form of information.
As we have discussed in class a certain point has been dragged, beaten, dragged again, and hung up on the white board gallows, self censorship. We see it all the time, athletes, movie stars, politicians, and sometimes Average Joes' make the social media mistake of blatant bigotry. The ultimate career suicide. To me, your opinion is your opinion. If you don't like someone because of their color, faith, sexual orientation or gender that's your right. I honestly don't feel anyone has the right to attempt to destroy you for that opinion. But like the wisest of rabbits Thumper said, "If you cant say anything nice don't say anything at all." I mean it's pretty basic, certain things you can say in public and certain things are meant for your own mind. Unfortunately ladies and gentlemen, even though there should be one, there is no button next to your spell-check that goes through your off kilter ravings and presents alternatives to stupid things you said. Even though there should be one, a little bubble doesn't pop up and say, "Hey, that was pretty hateful and has some potential to ruin your life for a while. Are you sure you want to send this? Click nowhere, go back, and take another look dummy."
Personally, I think Twitter has the easiest capability to destroy your life if you were to do that. Twitter is the ultimate instant gratify machine there is. I can think of a million disgusting, terrible, dirty things to write in less than 140 characters and send to the masses. Twitter is the friend that everyone has who drunk dials consistently and just spews everything you didn't ever need or want to know. Twitter is the loud mouth girl at the bar with a vile mouth, that only the six foot four bald guy has the guts to attempt to quiet down. It's not only the simple ease of mess that can fall from Twitter that I carry a great disdain for, its the cockiness. Twitter is a way to constantly shove into peoples faces how great your life is in comparison. "Hey I just bought a new house, its huge." " Hey I'm on TV and you worthless vermin have to watch me." "Hey just wanted to say follow this other beautiful being @soandso #ImTheGreatest." I think Twitter is a bad idea.
So maybe we shouldn't jump back a few decades and be stuck in a smokey, dimly lit, den of debauchery. But at least if someone wrote something that was just plain awful it had to go through a few other people first before it went straight to the press. I don't think people can mediate themselves, I probably just wrote a few hundred words that need to be put through a ringer. (I love comma's a whole lot.)
I don't believe in censorship, but I do believe in common courtesy.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
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