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The header above is from the mountain madness trip I just returned from. That blonde head and cocked ear belong to VJ Kathleen Newell. Her subject – John Voss, proprietor of the Caples Lake Resort. Kathy helps John with his blog, among others.
She’s a mountain girl and enthusiastic do-gooder and environmentalist. We are twinned opposites in many ways. I’m old, dumpy, married (very happily) and a teacher. She is younger, energetic and always looking for new mountains to climb – both literally and figuratively. We’re both survivors of 28 years each in the world of media madness. And neither of us knows how to live without a camera in hand and a laptop stashed nearby.
That trip we were on involved the “mom-mobile,” a 2003 dusty old Dodge Grand Caravan with all the rear seats taken out to hold more gear than we can to admit to. The personal bags were the least of it – I think we each took less than enough to fit into a grocery bag.
But the tech stuff – two three chip cameras (a Sony and a JVC GY-DV300), three (I think) low enders for grab shots, a Olympus Evolt 300 for stills. Two laptops, a million cables, four tripods, one monopod, reflectors…and more. And that’s traveling light. Didn’t bring the light kits or mikes (beyond a stick and her wireless). Oh – and one ice chest and enough food to last a few days. And fishing gear (hers). Camp chairs. One air mattress (I refuse to sleep on the ground any more) Sleeping bags.
Back to the van – common stuff in the back (camping stuff, bags, etc).
The van is nifty cause she could slide her passenger door open and have easy access to her goodies and I had my stuff on the driver’s side. Very fast and no confusion.
So we were organized and had fun. Part of this trip is an escape from the daily drudge. We both miss news and travel and meeting people. Me – I’m stuck in Lodi. Kathy – she is looking for new adventures, other roads to travel. But our roads occasionally diverge and we travel a short distance together. As all friends do…
Got some incoming hits from a new site this morning and when I checked my email, it was revealed. A site called Learn-gasm, part of this site, made up a list of what are supposed to be the 100 best sites for journalism students to keep up with trends and learn. Somehow I made (the very end) of the list. Wow.
If you’re interested take a gander here. There are some old friends and some interesting sites I plan to look into.
Gonna be offline for a few days. Buddy Newell and I head for the hills early tomorrow to catch some fresh air, fresh views, and some yummy (over the campfire) home-made cooking!
This posting comes to you courtesy of a confused mind. A combination of blog-hopping, too much time gardening in the sun, and physically and mentally wrapping up a contest my students entered.
So Mindy McAdams had a great blog and link to a Christian Science Monitor article by Robert G. Picard (any relation to THE Picard I wonder). That stewed around in my sizzling brain as I hemmed and hoed in the garden mulling over why my clan of volunteer videots had so much difficulty with climax and resolution in writing their script for the 48 Hour Film Project.
Stories. Storytelling. What does the audience really want – do you give them what you think they want? Do you re-hash the same old/same old? That was a big part of my students’ dilema as they brainstormed and came up with plot after plot for a movie script. The deadline was for real – 48 hours to write a script, shoot and edit a movie and hand it over before the ticking clock cut them off.
The headline over Picard’s article pissed me off at first: “Why journalists deserve low pay.” Like a momma pitbull, I protect my craft. But before I could attack and sink my teeth in, his argument reached my logic center. Dammit.
Wages are compensation for value creation. And journalists simply aren’t creating much value these days.
Summarized: In the past there were not a lot of content providers. Only one or two newspapers and three or four TV and radio stations per market. So what was produced had value – the audience wanted it; craved it. The providers could get their asking price from both audience and advertiser.
This scarcity raised the economic value of content. That additional value is gone today because a far wider range of sources of news and information exist.
Not only are there more providers…there isn’t much enterprise to make up for the glut of information, so there is a lot of duplication. Tune into any TV news program, newspaper (virtual or on paperstock), radio station, website – however you get your daily fix – and it’s just one big story chasing its own tail. I love Picard’s assessment – basically that journalists today are experts at sifting through and finding information – but not at creating new, original content that will satisfy their specific audience.
…the real measure of journalistic value is value created by serving readers.
He sums it up in three words: ADAPT OR DIE.
Read the entire article – concisely written and worth both the read and the time spent mulling and then returning for a second read. Picard is pointing us in the right direction – and it isn’t looking backwards, but honestly talking with the audience, getting to know them, and keeping up this conversation as we cover OUR community.
So what does this have to do with my movie-making moguls? Lots. After hours of plotting, they began to realize they were just re-hashing every bad (or good) movie they had ever seen. They realized they had to break away from the trite, the predictable and not be plot plagiarists, but take a risk and be original.
The result is a simple short story that has all of the elements of plot (forgive the English teacher for reiterating: exposition, conflict/rising action, climax, resolution/falling action) AND is delightfully original and unexpected. I’ll post a link to my VJ Classroom after Tuesday night when we see the screening of the movie in San Francisco.
Oh – and yeah, bloggers (my guilty hand is in the air) are often the worst when it comes to original content. Too often we take other’s ideas and (as in this posting) review and present to our own audience. Although I do like to think (1) spreading information is not a bad thing and (2) most of my postings are my own demented creations.
…refuge by the sea. My soon to be former home for the past few days.
Buddy Kathy Newell and I escaped from our lives to come down here and do – nothing.
Nothing for us is to wander in the wind, listening to waves. Of course, taking the occasional photo when the mood struck. Or rolling off a bit of video.
Nothing is good for the soul when you’ve spent your life chasing the elusive moment. We watched a firetruck pursued by two cop cars and an ambulance, looked at each other -almost thought about it – and continued on our way. We knew what was at the end of that road and we’d been there too often to want to revisit it.
Nothing was almost walking over a raccoon intent on entering a building. Being startled by deer that think they own the place. Nearly stepping on a jellyfish to ten on the beach. Wondering what to do and realizing we didn’t have to.
There’s an eclectic group here this week. A bunch of hot water engineers. Some researchers from Gallo. Flute, alto, and bass players from all over the country here for a master musicians class (I eavesdropped on them outside their practice room). Families, couples, friends.
No phones in rooms, no TV at all. Thank goodness that my one vice is indulged – there is internet in the social hall.
Breakfast calls.
Turns out the new Ground Zero is south of Stockton in Merced.
We had our guest speaker point that out in class Thursday – class being my fourth period broadcasting class at McNair High School.
Mr. Imran Poladi got to the classroom just as my students finished setting up lights, mikes, cameras and re-arranging the desks for a press conference. It was their first time and turned out to be his first time too at an event like this.
Fist the ground rules. Generally, a press conference is held for the purpose of giving information to and answering questions from a number of reporters at the same time. Organization and agency press conferences are pretty calm – very much unlike the feeding frenzy you will see at breaking events.
There are recognized protocols. The speaker introduces themself or is introduced by someone (press officer, local person). Usually the most senior reporter or reporter with the most expertise in the area begins the questioning. This usually sets the tone for the conference. Others then either raise their hands or call out to be recognized.
In this case I had a wireless stick mike which was passed to each person so that their question could be clearly recorded (after all I am keeping track of quantity and quality of questions for grading, as well as wanting this recorded for student stories).
I explained to Mr. Poladi that he could recognize and call on students to ask questions. You might think that the person running the conference could control the line of questioning this way -and in some cases this might be the case. But reporters are a tenacious lot and like bulldogs, they will not let their victim walk away until they have an answer. Trust me, it is best to answer the questions and get it over with.
That said, the press conference went well. I imported all of the video to computer last night and need to switch out the on-camera questions into the main tape with Mr. Poladi so students can view and choose which segments they will use in their stories.
Visited the counseling department at McNair Friday morning and (as with the real news world), had to make some changes. Apparently the counseling staff has been hammered by potential budget cuts, cuts due to loss of students, and having to counsel kids whose families are evaporating and they had to politely decline speaking to my class due to fears they would break down and cry on camera. Wow.
So when class started up on Friday afternoon, I explained the changes to the students, and then read the notes I took for them in lieu of them asking questions directly to the counselors. Several students kept questioning me about why the counselors were not there…and I had to keep repeating that it might be too traumatic for them to speak. Fortunately former KOVR reporter Craig Prosser was our guest that day, and he explained they were not refusing to talk – something that officials or politicians might do if they didn’t want to deal with the press. This would be more akin to a distraught family member declining to speak after a family tragedy.
Craig picked it up for the rest of the period, talking about how he might go about setting up a story like our Ground Zero story….find some way to personalize it, find an official, make sure you get both sides and the necessary B-roll to cover the story.
We reminisced about our days together and showed some of his old stories and then I left him to the advanced students to go to the back of the studio to work on studio lighting with the beginning students.
So this is where Ground Zero stands right now:
We have an hour long press conference with the president of the Stockton Realtors Association (Imran Poladi).
We have about a half page of notes from the counseling department on how many students have left the school due to losing their homes (60-80 so far this year), and how many staff/counselors might lose their jobs because of the decline in student numbers (6-8 teachers/maybe 2 counselors). We have quotes from a counselor about the traumatic effect this issue has on student ability to focus on day-to-day school issues and long term issues such as college planning.
They have a good overview of how a story is planned and put together from a veteran reporter.
Next week, along with their studio talk show assignments being taped, they have to interview students on campus about their knowledge of the Ground Zero issue as well as how it affects them directly or indirectly.
Oh yeah. And we lose two days of class time to STAR testing. Looks like another sliding deadline…
Blame it on Sixty Minutes – the label stuck. Stockton is Ground Zero in the US real estate meltdown. More specifically, zip code 95210. That’s my school – my kids.
So what better way to get them into working on a news story than making personal. When I first introduced the concept, most of the class said, who cares. Until one of my quiet sophomores spoke up and said he might be losing his home. Silence.
Then a little bit of talk about…maybe we all know someone who might be losing or have lost their home.
Thus began the assignment. With an idea.
This past Thursday I got them into the terminology of the story. Mortgages. Interest rates. Prime and sub prime. Borrower, lender, equity. Their questions revealed both their interest and lack of knowledge of real estate transactions – and this was what I fully expected. How many of YOU knew it all at ages 15-17?
Thanks to this site I was able to get some good solid information to prep the students.
Then it was off to Google Land to find and print images of homes…from the high and mighty to trailer trash. I wrote three years/prices on each photo. Year 2000 and an estimated price for the real estate; year 2004 and a high price for the real estate; year 2008 and a very low price reflecting the decline in real estate prices.
We drew names and each student got to choose a piece of property. Then they each drew a purchase year. The lucky ones got the 2000 price. The unlucky ones drew the 2004 price. They then compared their purchase price with the estimated current price.
My point: I wanted them to understand how random this could be. Told them that some folks were speculating (had to explain yet another term) and flipping houses for profit, while many homes were bought by people who just wanted a home. Nobody knew a collapse was coming.
They get it now – or at least the basics.
The rest of the assignment will take place over the next few weeks. This past week and over this weekend I sent cameras home with each student with instructions to shoot homes in their neighborhood, focusing on homes for sale if possible. Five minutes of video (variety of shots; each at least ten seconds long) or 20 still shots. This is our pool of raw cover video.
Sidebar: after the first group of students sallied forth into their neighborhoods and returned to class the next day, we had an impromptu lesson on media rights. One student who lives in a fairly nice, close-knit neighborhood where everyone knows each other, was threatened and told NOT to shoot pictures of the neighborhood. Apparent fear of break-ins by the adults. So I got to explain media rights – they cannot prevent you from shooting if you are on public property. And then common sense. Don’t argue at your age – walk off. It isn’t worth the trouble. What I might do as a professional does not apply to you as a student – especially for a simple assignment like this.
This coming week we will have speakers. The San Joaquin Board of Realtors is sending a speaker for a “press conference” on Thursday. The students will learn press conference protocol Monday so they can properly question their guest.
Former KOVR reporter Craig Prosser will visit later in the week and discuss how to cover a story like this (I had him slotted for Monday, but he had to bail).
Friday the McNair counseling department will send a counselor to discuss how traumatic this might be to students as well as how it affects the school itself. We’ve lost several hundred students who have been forced to move because they lost their homes…and this dominos into losing staff.
Final piece of the puzzle – each student will find and interview a student on campus on the topic.
Then it is on to logging, scripting, and editing.
I honestly wish I could post examples of student work on the blog – but like many educators, my hands are tied by a very restrictive district policy regarding student work on the Internet.
Whew…I spend way too much time in front of the class and not enough sitting and learning. This is a hoot – I’m finding out that Premiere and Final Cut and close relatives and learning new software is easy.
The brain-twisting part is the lead-in and instructor —– made me sweat but did a fantastic job explaining how interlaced/progressive, pixel ratios, frame rates v. shutter speed, lines v. pixels and oh so much more. I knew the pieces, but his take on how they all tie together really made sense.
Oh – and it’s nice to be back in The City again. Too many years in the outback of the Great Central Valley. I beat the sun into the Bay area and hopped on board BART for the (almost) final leg. Final leg was my own legs taking me about 12 blocks and up a flight of stairs.
Stay tuned and I’ll keep you up with anything new learned.
11:38pm
Ouch…this day is way too long. My biggest lesson seems to be that once you learn on system, you can segue to another pretty easily. Caputure…cut…paste…adjust audio…transitions (if needed).
On the way back from lunch I looked over and, by gosh, there was KQED!! My old staton moved to 18th and Mariposa about 20 years ago and this was my first sight of it.
Left a message and got a callback from former co-worker and reporter Spencer Micheals, who now works for the McNeil-Lehrer Report and got a quickie tour of the (to me) new facility.
After the layoffs in 1980 I never thought public television would be prosperous, but the place looks regal. Spencer says they very nearly went under in the 90s but recovered.
Sorry…not much left to talk about and a long(er) day tomorrow.
…signing off…
Addendum April 8: a quick look back at Premiere. The actual desktop similarities to Final Cut are location of the raw video and monitors. There are a couple of nifty shortcuts to insert or do overlays rather than dragging/dropping. Acquiring video is pretty much the same (import or drag/drop). Three finger control for forward/stop/backward and in/out is identical. There are some difference in creating motion paths (sorry, couldn’t stay for days two and three) which I will figure out on my own. And for around $700, a pretty good solution if you want a good solid program.
Part One of this series delved into the elements of visual storytelling. Today we’ll check out different styles of telling the story and how to determine what might work best for your story.
The beauty of storytelling is you can choose which elements to use or not use – and also which elements to lead with and which to use as background noise/information. So you can go with a slide show, an audio/video clip, a narrative….it all depends on what you have to work with.
First ask, “What drives this story?” Is it the interview, the facts, the video or audio (natural sound or music from the scene), or the event itself?
Next ask, “What can I use to hook my audience?” Look at the same elements mentioned above.
Generally I begin asking these questions when I first start considering or shooting a story…and focus on the strengths of the story as I shoot. Before heading down that path, let’s consider the options for styles or formats.
Fact-driven
Stories that are driven by information. City council meetings, legislative hearings, medical reports and updates.
Event-driven
The easy choice – breaking and general news. Fires. Crime. Parades. Sports.
Audio-driven
When audio rules. Parades (again). Breakers (again). Interviews (character stories included). Musical events (profile of a musician). Barking dogs. Demonstrations.
Visual-driven
When visuals tell the story. Repeat the first two above (breakers, events with something happening). The money shot. The perfect sunrise, scenic, decisive moment.
Chronological
I’ve included this because it is the classic. “Once upon a time…” Telling the story for the sheer joy of sticking with a classic form and walking the audience through the details.
Let’s take a look at a couple of stories and how they developed and how the decision was made to go with a certain format.
Yosemite Demograpics/visual, sound (natural or ambient sound), and fact driven
Sometimes the scenery makes the story. You can’t go wrong in Yosemite National Park. This story began as a fact-driven look at how the economy has effected tourism in the park…but the natural beauty of the park was a natural way to get the story going. The sounds of nature also help pull the audience in…and as they enjoy the scenery and sounds, they are also picking up information.
Relay for Live/visual, sound (interviews)
Images drive this story…and a theme of light. The narration works to tie the images and interviews together. This story began as the sun began to set and the theme emerged as spots of light – so I shot to the developing theme.
Absailing/sound (natural sound and narration)
The visuals are so-so, but the enthusiasm of the climbers and the interviews make this story work.
Bleacher Creatures/sound (natural) and visuals
Sometimes the clip alone is enough to tell the story. Sometimes you just need to find a single clip or series of clips and let them run without explanation.
Emergency Windscreen/fact or information driven
A basic how-to video. Simple and effective.
Wyoming Cattle Drive/visually driven
Without the visuals this story would be difficult to tell. One of the few times I’ve used music (royalty free).
You may have noticed that each story fit several formats…and this is true with most stories. You may also realize that choosing the format begins before you begin editing…also very true.
As the story reveals itself to you or as you begin to realize what the story is about, you should begin shooting to the format that plays to the strengths of the story. If there are few visuals, think of ways to enhance the story with audio, information, interviews. If you are strong on information, you will need to come up with appropriate and creative visuals and sound to make the story.
Next up…(hey I’m tap dancing through this as I rack my brain trying to explain what I do daily without thinking about it)…let’s shoot something and explain our way through it as we produce the story.
So sometime in the next week I’ll shoot something and do a walkthrough. And if you’re in my blogging audience and you have a story you can’t quite figure out how to produce, let me know and maybe we can work this out together (yeah…I love a challenge).
What makes a story memorable? Is it the plot; the setting; the characters; use of imagery and figurative language? Although these are standards in written stories, there are additional elements in visual storytelling that must be taken into account.
Stories originally were told orally – through words and gestures by common folk and master storytellers. The master storyteller used pacing of words and sentences, choice of words, facial expressions and gestures with arms and hands and even whole body movements to hold the audience’s attention.
But a story told by a master storyteller could be trumped by a common person with compelling news or information. Such “stories” were fact or event driven – they had information the public wanted to or needed to know.
Although master storytellers are still with us, technology has advanced how stories can be “told.” We moved from oral to written stories (newspaper/books) to visual (silent movies) to audio (radio) to audio-visual (talkies) to more audio-visual (television).
To where we are today – storytelling on the Internet using words, audio, and visuals. Although it may seem that technology has made storytelling more complex, today’s visual stories still have many of the same elements as those told the old-fashioned way.
Stories are told using sound – orally. Narration, interviews, music, natural sound are all used to “tell” or enhance stories created using technology.
Stories are told using words/print. Today’s technologically-created stories use titles, supers, pages of information, overlays to convey information. They also use graphs and artwork, maps, etc.
Body language and gestures helped the master storyteller convey information. In today’s language, that means photos and video: what the audience sees that helps them understand the story.
Let’s look at the progression of complexity in telling a story using visuals:
1. Silent still – Series of stills with no sound (also called a slide show).
2. Silent video – Clip or series of video clips with no sound. Not used much because audio and video are recorded simultaneously with most cameras.
2. Music added – Music added and visuals (still/video) are edited to match the mood of music. There are ethical questions about adding sound that was not part of the original event that must be dealt with on this type of story.
3. Natural sound – Sound recorded at the event is added and visuals are edited to follow audio/with video sound recorded with clip is played back.
4. Interviews – Interviews are edited down to include essential information and visuals are edited to follow/match information in interviews. Natural sound may also be used to help tell the story.
5. Narration – Narration is written and added with visuals edited to follow/match information in narration. Natural sound may also be used to help tell the story.
6. Full package – Natural sound, narration, and interviews are mixed together and visuals edited to follow audio.
The beauty of storytelling is you can choose which elements to use or not use – and also which elements to lead with and which to use as background noise/information.
Next we’ll look at what drives stories – which elements to choose to best tell your story. These include visuals, audio, event, fact, chronological. Stay tuned.
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