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MCJ

The Atlantic The Paranoid Style of American Policing Ta-Nehisi Coates December 30, 2015 (1092 words)

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The topic of this piece focuses on the unnecessary fatal force police officers use against people who are allegedly posing a threat on society. The writer describes a time in their youth when their father was able to easily disengage a fight with one of their brother’s friends. This friend was not always known to be “stable” and sometimes looked for trouble. One day this friend decided to pose a threat by swinging a metal stake around and the writer’s father came out to disengage the young man. The most important note of this piece is that words, not violence were used to de-escalate the situation.

class

Class 2/18: Introducing Photo Galleries

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In class, we discussed the different types of photos that you might include in a photo essay for your upcoming assignment. The photo essay is a form made famous in TIME magazine, where photographers like Ansel Adams and W Eugene Smith made some of the most important contributions to the genre. Incidentally, many wedding photographers essentially use the tools of the photo essay. Inspired by this post on Poynter (as well as some discussion of it here), let's take a look at a photo gallery produced for an NPR story on health care for some examples of the different sorts of photos (or illustrations!) in multimedia publications. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=44&v=N_3m52fzBV0

The different shots that the Poynter article identifies here are a scene-setter, a medium shot, a portrait, an action shot, a macro/detail. 

Poynter's description is in italics, mine in standard font.

Uncategorized

Media Consumption Journal

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Jeremy Gordon, “Is Everything Wrestling?” (1825 words)

The comparisons made between the fake wrestling seen on TV and the reality TV shows people indulge in, are quite striking. As Gordon points out, fans of WWE are often looked down upon by outsiders. But the outsiders are the same one's elbow deep into Kim Kardashian’s life and the whirlwind of politics we think we’re ever so educated on. We are all like the fans of WWE, believing something that we know isn’t fully true. Until we accept that, we will follow the same theatrics.

assignments

Class 2/6: Parts of an Audio Package

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In class on Monday, we went over the next assignment for the course: an audio package. The elements of an audio package are as follows:

Research: Always research first. This could be research of a social, cultural, or political phenomenon that your story is trying to explore, research about the person you'll be interviewing or place you'll be recording in, or research on other types of a stories that have been told in this arena. If you don't know what to look for, you won't know how to recognize it when you find it! Sound effects: Buzzing crowds, footsteps, cash registers, glasses clinking on the bar, traffic speeding by--all of these things help you create a soundscape for your listeners that you can use to paint a picture before, after, or between your segments. 

Wild track: This is the "room tone" of the sounds wherever you will be doing your interviewing.

MCJ

College Admissions

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The Atlantic article “College-Admissions Hysteria Is Not the Norm” written by Alia Wong examines the competitiveness and exposure that extremely selective schools receive from the media. Every year, there are reports on the acceptance rates of the Ivy League and other competitive schools. However, it is important to recognize, Wong argues, that many of the schools that students attend accept “more than half their applicants.” Wong is criticizing the fact that the majority of schools that students will actually attend do not receive the same amount of media attention. I find this to be important because many high school students feel that in order to become successful, one must attend one of the high-profile schools. However, success is determined by the amount of effort one is willing to put into their education and their career.

assignment

Assignment: Photo/Graphic Gallery

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Purpose

You’ve started to think about your story from other perspectives, and in this unit we will continue the process by trying to use visual information to illustrate, clarify, or personalize the stories you’ve told. Format

There are many ways to tell a story using visual data. For this assignment, we’ll break them into two primary categories: Photos & Illustrations on the one hand, and Graphics on the other. The gallery you submit must include at least nine discrete images. Of those images, at least 4 must be photos or illustrations, and must include

A scene setter
A portrait
A detail/macro
Another shot: an extreme close-up, unique angles or framing, an action, shot, long or short exposure, dramatic lighting, etc.

Uncategorized

Media Consumption Journal

By |

Jeremy Gordon, “Is Everything Wrestling?” (1825 words)

The comparisons made between the fake wrestling seen on TV and the reality TV shows people indulge in, are quite striking. As Gordon points out, fans of WWE are often looked down upon by outsiders. But the outsiders are the same one's elbow deep into Kim Kardashian’s life and the whirlwind of politics we think we’re ever so educated on. We are all like the fans of WWE, believing something that we know isn’t fully true. Until we accept that, we will follow the same theatrics.

assignments

Class 2/6: Parts of an Audio Package

By |

In class on Monday, we went over the next assignment for the course: an audio package. The elements of an audio package are as follows:

Research: Always research first. This could be research of a social, cultural, or political phenomenon that your story is trying to explore, research about the person you'll be interviewing or place you'll be recording in, or research on other types of a stories that have been told in this arena. If you don't know what to look for, you won't know how to recognize it when you find it! Sound effects: Buzzing crowds, footsteps, cash registers, glasses clinking on the bar, traffic speeding by--all of these things help you create a soundscape for your listeners that you can use to paint a picture before, after, or between your segments. 

Wild track: This is the "room tone" of the sounds wherever you will be doing your interviewing.

MCJ

College Admissions

By |

The Atlantic article “College-Admissions Hysteria Is Not the Norm” written by Alia Wong examines the competitiveness and exposure that extremely selective schools receive from the media. Every year, there are reports on the acceptance rates of the Ivy League and other competitive schools. However, it is important to recognize, Wong argues, that many of the schools that students attend accept “more than half their applicants.” Wong is criticizing the fact that the majority of schools that students will actually attend do not receive the same amount of media attention. I find this to be important because many high school students feel that in order to become successful, one must attend one of the high-profile schools. However, success is determined by the amount of effort one is willing to put into their education and their career.

assignment

Assignment: Photo/Graphic Gallery

By |

Purpose

You’ve started to think about your story from other perspectives, and in this unit we will continue the process by trying to use visual information to illustrate, clarify, or personalize the stories you’ve told. Format

There are many ways to tell a story using visual data. For this assignment, we’ll break them into two primary categories: Photos & Illustrations on the one hand, and Graphics on the other. The gallery you submit must include at least nine discrete images. Of those images, at least 4 must be photos or illustrations, and must include

A scene setter
A portrait
A detail/macro
Another shot: an extreme close-up, unique angles or framing, an action, shot, long or short exposure, dramatic lighting, etc.

class

Class 1/23: Types of Ledes, Nutgraf Basics

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In class today we walked through a series of types of lede paragraphs, from basic News Ledes to more literary and stylistic choices. Here are the ledes we discussed in class:

Summary lede (AKA Straight News Lede, 5W’s Lede)
Punch lede – It uses strong verbs and short sentences that are meant to create an impact. Anecdotal lede – This one begins, as is obvious, with an anecdote. Descriptive lede – As the name suggests, this type of lede goes into great detail to describe the scene or person that makes up the subject of the story. Quotation lede : Ledeing with a colorful quote can get right to the heart of your story.

assignments

Story Assignment: Audio Package

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Purpose

Now that you have written your first story, we’re going to begin to explore how to adapt those stories into different genres, media, and formats. For this assignment we’ll look to adapt, expand, or extend your story into an audio package in the format of a short radio spot. Format

In a traditional print story, writers and editors utilize language, structure, research and interviews to convey a message, tell a story, deliver a report or explore an idea. In the realm of audio or radio, producers and recordists utilize different means to achieve the same ends. A radio or audio package utilizes many different types of recorded sound (including interviews, ambient sound, and pre-recorded audio).