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Staying Safe

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This is a short film to remind students to stay safe while working in the field. It includes advice from first responders, journalists, and current and former Boston University journalism students.

Obama Advocates for Middle-Class Tax Cuts

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President Obama gives speech on raising taxes for top earners to pay for middle income tax break. He spoke at Central High School in Manchester, NH on November 22, 2011. This video was cut with Premiere Pro. I am switching from Final Cut Pro to teach additional editing platform to Boston University journalism students.

Class Project on local story

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The ‘breaking news’ feature

Safety first – mind the gap, and keep out of the way of moving trains. Know where you are – know where the train is – don’t cross paths. Keep a safe distance. Don’t frighten the driver. Be Careful!

As a class project, create 90-second multimedia feature on the Green Line using: interviews, b-roll, nat sound, and photos.

Time budget:

shooting 4 – 4:35 pm

airdrop / edit sequences 4:45 – 5:30 (interviews + b-roll)

final edit 5:30 – 6:00 (writer/researcher, editor, producer, assistant producer)

screening 6 pm

1080p 24fps

correct white balance

because iPhone shoots wide you need to get close sometimes.

Two interviewers – shoot tight for good sound

  • formulate questions
  • How well does the Green Line serve BU community? (specific)
  • Would you bury the Greenline?
  • How do you feel about the the Green Line? (open ended question)
  • Do you have any frustrations with the Green Line?
  • edit best two soundbites each

Three b-roll shooters

  • creative angles
  • wide, medium, tight shots
  • on train, on platform
  • people
    • on their phone
    • waiting/looking/smoking
    • tight, groups
  • edit two best sequences

nat sound journalist
capture several distinctive sounds

  • brakes, train take-off, interior – speaker barking, train rumbling
  • edit, adjust sound
  • send mp3 to editor
  • cc: pasmith@bu.edu

photographer

Shoot lede photo to use with title and byline

Shoot a sequence of four photos that might work as a lead-in

Artful shot of the train

    • entering tunnel with red lights showing
    • panning

researcher

is it America’s oldest line?

how many people/students ride the Green Line

how many riders use Green Line daily

BU students?

how much does a driver make

how many hours do they spend under Boston Streets

editor

  • download sequences from smugmug
    use three best sound bites
    three or four good b-roll sequences
    add, titles, lower thirds, transitions
    adjust audio, add fades
    color grade
    export master, create compressed version, upload to smugmug

assistant editor – work with writer/researcher
gather info for:

    • slides for story context / watch interviews
    • title + byline – gather this early and give credit by job, i.e writers, camera work, interviews
    • send info to editor by email

producer – manage content flow 

  • work directly with journalists from all areas
    add title, find story arc, lede, twist and wrap-up
  • tech genius – knows stuff but can Google stuff

Podcast Pitch and Data Visualizaton

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Podcast Pitch

Write a five-graph pitch to explain your podcast concept. Then record a five-minute podcast interview as a short pilot. Think niche topic and think of it like other stories, where you introduce your topic, create a narrative, build character, add layers with nat sound or music, add color with descriptive details.  Leave your audience wanting more by raising interesting questions. Q+A interview style works best for this assignment.

In post-production: create a radio edit, sequence sound bites, adjust levels, add fades, add music and ‘nat’ sound when needed, add space between sound bites where needed, and upload to Soundcloud. Copy embed code and paste into post with headline and pitch!

Things to Consider:

Seven Factors to Consider When Pitching a Podcast

(1) Cost to Entry

(2) Style – scripted, reporting, candid interview, conversational, consistent, eclectic, political, etc. How will your podcast be serialized? 

(3) Interactivity –  How much direct engagement do you want from fans? How will you engage/market to them? 

(4) Personality – Who is the best host?

(5) Broad vs. Niche – What’s your topic? Are you focused on something specific or very general with mass appeal?

(6) Your audience – Who are they?

(7) Pre-Produce Your Episode – research for best panelist, research topic for best list of questions, think how best to organize questions to create a good narrative arc, understand what your narrative flow might be.

 

Some great podcasts for starting out are: Serial, RadioLab, On The Media, Reply All. I also would recommend subscribing to Hot Pod!

Eighteen More Podcasts to Consider:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/18/podcasts-trump-presidency-political-left-right-alt-right

Post update: current links

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/469516571/modern-love

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510200/storycorps

https://www.muellershewrote.com/

https://www.patreon.com/ allows you to monetize your podcast – there are other options.

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/russia-if-youre-listening/

https://dworkinreport.com/

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510308/hidden-brain

https://www.dancarlin.com/product-tag/podcast/

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/range/gaslit-nation

https://art19.com/shows/pod-save-america

Look through the podcast app and see what is new and interesting. Follow your interests.

 

Data Visualization

A second assignment choice is to create a data visualization to support your news story. Write a five graph story supported by data. Use reliable data to create visual that you will analyze and source. Make sure your lede and headline tightly focus on your numbers.

Create charts, graphs, and timelines to help your audience understand how numbers impact your story.

Here are some data journalism tools from MIT’s Knight.

data links:
Boston gov data
BU sustainability numbers

ClassNotes ~ 304, October 11/18

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Part 1
Edit your videos, add interviews + photos at 16×9, adjust audio – add fades, add lower thirds, transitions, title + credits, create a master, use Compressor, upload to Vimeo, publish to blog.

Part 2
The podcast. What is it?
Review the assignment and the rubrics.

Part 3 – for next week

EVERYBODY GET ONLINE!!!

Open a tab for all 304 blogs. I’ll lead a quick review.

Take notes on each site as we look for quick comments for interactive review.

  • Look/Feel/Color/Font
    Layout
    Organization
    Navigation
    Features
    Content
    Headlines
    Photos
    Banner/Tag
    What else?

You need to choose an online news site to analyze in this same way – connect your analysis to what you are doing with your blog!

Don’t forget to maintain a social media campaign to promote your stories.

Part 4
Data Visualization – creating visual to display data.
Using visual for a story that relies on numbers.

 

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