Bringing the Story Together

News Gathering Process:

           When I search for stories, I try to find the right sources that will enhance my story.  The people you use in your story make or break the story; if they are engaging and relatable, viewers will be able to make a connection with them and as a result will connect more to your story.  I aim to find the sources that will offer the most to my story, but this isn't always easy.  I realized that when I work at the station, the deadlines scare me away from taking the time to find the best possible sources.  Being on a deadline makes me find the easiest and most attainable sources, but these are not necessarily the best for my stories.  I usually end up talking to people that work for my story, but I know there are better options out there that may have more impact on viewers.  Instead of taking the extra time to find these people, I stick to the ones that are easier to find because being on a tight deadline worries me.  After being in the field, I realized that I need to take the extra time to find those people that have a deep connection to my story.  The more involved the characters are, the stronger connection the viewers will have to them.
         I want to find more relatable and involved sources for my stories.  To do this, I think I just have to talk to more people.  I'm surprised at how many people were willing to talk to me last week when I was working on several stories.  I'm used to people not wanting to be on camera; I've come across many people that are hesitant to be on camera or talk to a reporter.  Last week I was lucky because everyone I talked to was cooperative and offered valuable information vital to my stories.  In order to find more powerful sources in my stories, I just need to talk to more people.  The more people I talk to, the more people they can refer me to and I can find more sources that way.  I want my viewers to develop a connection with the people in my stories, and that's what I've been working on these past couple weeks.

Journalism Reflection:

            I recently watched a piece on Media Storm called The Ninth Floor, by Jessica Dimmock.  I was really moved by this story because Dimmock created the piece in a way that enhanced the relationship between the viewers and those in the story.  Dimmock introduces the characters in the story, then shows pictures of them and lays interview tracks so viewers get a better understanding of who they are.  This helps the viewers see the story from the characters’ perspectives, and this twist brings the story to life.  An important element of any story is creating a connection between the people watching the story and the people in the story.  The people on the outside need to be brought to the inside of the story for a more complete understanding of the underlying story. 

            The way this piece is put together grabbed my attention.  It’s told through a variety of mediums; Dimmock uses photographs, text, and interviews to develop a sense of character in her story.  The photographs are beautifully shot, capturing the emotion of the moment.  The lighting sets the mood and tone for the story, which helps the viewers place themselves inside the story.  The text is informative yet descriptive and it guides the story.  The text gives background information and sets the scene, moving the story along.  The interviews further develop the subjects’ character.  I like how Dimmock overlaps the photographs with the interviews because it unravels the story.  The viewers are listening to the people tell their stories and the photographs allow viewers to watch the story at the same time.  Viewers can hear the story and watch it unfold before their eyes.  This is an interesting storytelling technique, and I would like to experiment with it in my stories to come.

            The images in this piece are graphic, but they portray real life.  They highlight and enhance the details of the characters’ lives that are often overlooked by others in society or unknown to them.  The images capture moments in everyday life that add detail to the story.  Some of these moments are joyful, while others are dark and disheartening or even twisted.  It makes me wonder how Dimmock caught all of these moments on camera.  She photographed arguments and fights between two of the characters, Dionn and Rachel.  She tapped into their real lives and exposed their secrets, but she did so in an unobtrusive manner.  Dimmock caught these events on camera but the images look so real that as a viewer I forgot the camera was there and I felt like I was in the room with the two feuding characters, witnessing the events with my own eyes.  From watching this piece, I picked up on several techniques that I want to experiment with and adopt into my own stories.  I want to use the camera as unobtrusively as possible to place my viewers at the scene of the story.  I also want to try using different types of storytelling techniques to capture the most emotion.  I want to use text, photographs, and interviews like Dimmock did in this piece to emphasize certain aspects of my stories.
http://mediastorm.com/publication/the-ninth-floor

Finding the Way to Sharpen My Stories

News Gathering Process:

            This week I had an especially hard time finding story ideas.  The elections were over and it seemed like every other newsworthy event in Columbia was told a hundred times already and had been beaten to death.  I wanted to find something newsworthy that hadn’t been covered yet; I was presented with a challenge.  I searched for national stories and tried to give them a more local focus.  I think this idea of starting broad then narrowing down into a tighter focus worked for a few of my ideas.  In my broadcast class I did a story idea exercise in which we walked around the block and tried to find as many stories as we could.  We had to draw from our senses- what we saw, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted stirred our search for creative story topics.  This exercise gave me insight on journalism and it helped me see for myself that stories are all around us.  Everything has a story, and as a journalist it’s my job to find those stories and tell them.  This exercise opened my eyes; I learned to not overlook anything, because you never know what will inspire your next story.  Participating in this exercise also helped me see how a story can grow.  One thing you see can make you think about something or question something, and the more you think about its impact the more angles you can expand upon.  Stories are continually growing and developing; it’s our job to help them blossom into something that will impact the community around us. 

            One of the hardest parts about storytelling for me is thinking of ways to make the story visual.  On occasion I’ll think of a great story idea that is timely and relevant, but it won’t be the most visual of stories.  Some of the topics I generate during brainstorming sessions would be better told in print than on the television screen.  Other times I think of ideas that have an impact on the community but the story itself is logistically not doable.  I wanted to construct a piece about health care and how uninsured citizens are dealing with not having insurance, especially now since it’s flu season.  I found some great statistics about uninsured Americans; nearly 400,000 people with chronic illnesses won’t seek treatment because they are afraid of the costs.  There are a number of stories that can be told based solely on this fact, but finding a way to visually prove this story is difficult with hospital rules regulating camera usage.  This is a problem I run into frequently; I find a great story that I think people should hear about, but the logistics behind putting the story together are faulty.  I’m still learning how to find good story ideas that offer great visuals.  I’m constantly searching for ways to make stories more visual; television is a medium for visual storytelling, and I want to maximize the opportunities this medium presents by finding visually stimulating images to guide the story along.

Journalism Reflection:

            One story I found this week takes an interesting idea and uses images to convey the story’s message.  I thought this was relevant to my news gathering dilemma because it confronts an impactful issue and explains the significance of this issue visually.  The story combines an interesting idea with good storytelling techniques, and these are standards I look for throughout my news gathering process. 

            This piece follows several families through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Each family tells their experience with the hurricane, and photographs of the parents and their children bring their stories to life.  The photographs add character and personality to the story; photos help viewers meet the families, which adds depth to the story.  The viewers are able to build a personal relationship with the families; they can understand the struggles and worries and can identify with the ups and downs of each family.

            I enjoyed watching this piece because as viewers we hear the children’s’ voices.  This is unique because in serious stories we never really hear how the children feel; we always hear the story from an official or from an adult directly affected by the situation, but hearing a child’s perspective puts a fresh twist on the story.

            The children’s attitudes show how the family’s life has changed since the hurricane.  Despite losing their homes and favorite possessions, one family found the positive in the situation.  Mr. Ruberts says that they have a house full of love, four beautiful kids, and a beautiful wife, and that’s all you need.  The images help show how the Ruberts family found the beauty in such a devastating situation.  The images help express their happiness and they let the viewer see the close relationship the family members have with one another.  The images tell the story; what the interview subjects say is important, but more important are the visuals that take the viewers on a journey through the situations these families are forced to cope with. 

            I was inspired by this piece because it was crafted in such an innovative way.  It’s based off of an impactful event, but the reporter found a new angle to take on a popular issue.  The combination of photographs and interviews carried the story along, and I want to use this piece as a guide to help me sharpen my skills in finding story ideas and to make these stories visually enticing.

http://www.mediastorm.com/publication/finding-the-way-home

Using Pictures to Tell the Story

News Gathering Process:

            Recently I was working on a story that focused on foster families.  I went to a local 5K race that raised money for organizations that help foster children and foster families.  After talking to several foster parents, I realized that state funding is a problem that confronts foster parents.  They need all the financial help they can get, and they face struggles in providing for their families daily.  Their story is complex, but it’s one that is generally overlooked.  I wanted to tell this story in a meaningful way to explain to people just what they have to go through to help their foster children succeed. 

            I shot some video of the families, but I was looking for a way to tell the story that would have more impact on the viewers.  One of the foster parents gave me a few pictures of local food distributions and clothes drives; having these pictures was a powerful storytelling tool.  The photos allowed me to reach out to the audience and actually show them what was happening.  Instead of telling the story, I could show it and have viewers experience it firsthand.  The photos document the foster parents’ lives and show the tiny details that are typically overlooked by many.  The photos enable the viewer to experience the foster families’ situations firsthand.  Each picture was a valuable asset in telling the story.

            Unfortunately, I didn’t end up using the photos because I didn’t know how to incorporate them into my story.  I had some great video of foster parents and their children, and I didn’t know where to tie the photos into the story. I wanted to include the photos in my piece because they had the ability to tell the story that words don’t have the power to express.  However, I was unable to visually connect the video with the pictures.  As a result of this, I think my story lacked impact.  The photographs had potential to add depth and variety on the audience.  If I used the photographs I think my story would’ve left a longer-lasting impression on the viewers.

            While I was working on this story I realized the importance of using a variety of media to tell a story.  A story can be told a number of ways; you have to find the most effective way to tell it.  This story could’ve been more effective and had a greater impact if I integrated the pictures with the video.  The pictures would’ve set the tone for my piece and added emotion that the video couldn’t evoke.  I think my story was still meaningful in the end, but I could’ve taken it further to let the audience really experience for themselves what foster families encounter and overcome.  The photographs could’ve helped me set the scene of my story and guided the viewers in visualizing this scene.

Journalism Reflection:

            I learned more about my strengths and weaknesses as a journalist from my piece about foster families in Mid-Missouri.  I need to learn how to incorporate different types of storytelling elements into my pieces.  I wanted to use both video and pictures to tell the story of struggling foster families, but I stuck with video because I couldn’t use both effectively.  I wanted to improve on converging different types of media to tell one fluid, concise story.  I searched for good examples of visual storytelling, and one that I found seemed to jump out at me more than others.

            A journalist covered a volcanic eruption in Indonesia.  The pictures taken to capture the action and reaction of this event were compiled into a video slide show.  The slide show taught me about composition, capturing the action and a reaction, and finding visually stimulating images to push the story along.

            Several of the images really jumped out at me.  They forced me to imagine the extent of the situation and made me think about how people are really affected.  The photos offer a visual representation of what's happening.  Some of these photographs contain gory or gruesome content; it's hard for me to imagine being in that position, but it makes me wonder about the people who are actually affected by the eruption.  The pictures add a sense of reality to the story and they bring the viewers to the scene, which enables them to experience the catastrophic events.

            The order the pictures are presented in is important.  They can be sequenced to tell the story in chronological order, or they can be put in an order to show the action and how people reacted to the situation.  In this slideshow, the images are presented in a chronological order that traces the start of the eruption all the way to then end, where the aftermath of the explosion is documented.

            The photos used vary in content.  The slide show starts with the explosion, then it cuts to the reaction of a young Indonesian girl, followed by the devastation in a nearby village. The devastation is displayed through images of injured cows, their bodies covered in ash and blood.  The destruction is also portrayed through pictures of families walking through remains of their homes, as well as pictures of villagers relocating to refugee camps. 

            This slideshow masters the technique of capturing an action, the volcano exploding, and the reactions of the people.  It tells the story without words; from watching the slideshow you can tell what happened, the devastation caused, and the outcome of the event.  You can feel the pain of the young girl who watches as her village is turned to ash, and you can’t help but feel sorry for the mother who covers her baby as she runs from falling ash.  From looking in the eyes of the elderly woman who sits in the truck, you can see her thoughts.  She is deep in thought about how the land that has been her home for more than sixty years has been wiped away in a flash.  She thinks back to all the memories and the life she knew, and wonders about how different her life will be now.  Her facial expressions tell a lot about her thoughts, and just from looking at this picture viewers are exposed to a deeper, more complex story than the overlying events.

            Each of these images portrays a story with greater depth and detail than the story on the surface.  Looking at these photos inspires me to capture this much emotion in my own stories.  I want to be able to use photographs in my video pieces to expel as much emotion as I can.  I want my viewers to be affected and impacted by my stories, and to do so I need to use thought-provoking images that tell a deeper story.

Slideshow: Indonesian Volcano Erupts

A Game Plan For My Future In Journalism

Personal News Gathering Process

This week I was looking for a story with a strong central compelling character.  A strong character can tell a story more effectively and can have a greater effect on the audience.  I wanted to find a newsworthy story that had a strong character, but this was harder to find than I thought.

Everyone has a story to tell, so I thought it would be relatively easy to find a story idea.  But it's not finding an idea that's the hard part; it's finding a story that can be told visually.  Broadcast is a visual medium and requires images to advance the story.  It's easy to tell a story, but I was presented with a challenge when I tried to find a solid story that provided good visuals.  There are an infinite amount of good stories, but not all of them can be told visually.

In order to tell a story visually, I realized that it has to have action.  That narrowed down my list of ideas.  After reading the news and searching for stories, I learned that there is a local 5K that raises money for foster care children.  I thought this would make for a great idea because it has all the components a recipe for a great broadcast story should have.  There is lots of action with the 5K run/ walk, and the race dives deeper into a human interest story in which children are affected.  This story contains visually interesting images and repetitive action; the footage I shoot from the 5K will be exciting video that advances the story.  I can shoot the 5K and explain the race in my story, but I can also connect this race and the money donated from this race to someone who is affected by it.  I can find someone who this donation money will affect, and I can show how the race impacts their life. 

 I watched a story like this one in my class.  The reporter was Jana Shortal, a University of Missouri graduate.  The story was about a 5K run/walk established in honor of a runner who died of cancer.  The piece gives a backstory on the runner, and ends with the race and the impact the race had on the community.  The story was well done, so I want to use it as a guide to help me put together a meaningful piece.  I am inspired by good journalism; I'm attempting to improve as a broadcast journalist, and I plan to use Jana Shortal's piece to help me see what it takes to put together a strong, compelling story.

Journalism Reflection

As I mentioned earlier, I am inspired by good journalism.  I found a piece that ties together strong, concise writing with eye-catching visuals.  The story "Outside the Lines: OTL: Game Plan" sparked my interest not only because of the subject matter, but because of the way the story was put together.

Outside the Lines OTL: Game Plan
The story opens with great nat sound of the football team in a huddle.  The team looks intense, and the players seem like they have years of experience.  The reporter mentions that the team's quarterback has already accepted an offer to play college football at USC, which makes viewers think the team is a high school team.  But the story takes a turn when the reporter says the team is made of up middle school students and the quarterback is an eighth grader.  The reporter uses the element of surprise to take her story from ordinary to unexpected.  This is a great tool is storytelling; it keeps viewers guessing.  Surprise is key in storytelling.  The story starts like any ordinary football story might, but then it takes a twist.  I realized that I have to incorporate more surprise in my stories.  I want to use more unexpected turns in my stories to keep them fresh and original.  By doing this I can also improve my storytelling abilities.  I'll have a better understanding of how to use the components of a story to draw a reaction and emotion from the viewers.

This piece uses a number of elements to tell the story.  Storytelling involves finding the best ways to get the message across.  You have to think about ways other than using words to tell the story.  This piece uses great footage of football games and practices.  The shots vary from tight, medium, to wide and show a number of angles on the football field.  The reporter also uses video from outside sources to communicate the message.  In part of the story, she uses video from the Flash Training program, as well as video from the FOCAS Foundation.  She uses video from other outlets, then cuts back to video from the middle school football team.  This keeps the story fresh; instead of watching the same video throughout a nine-minute story, the reporter cuts to clips of other footage.  This helped me think about how to use video from other outlets in my story.  I learned how to think more creatively about what video to use from watching this piece.  She incorporates a broad mix of various video sources, and to keep a longer story interesting I think this can be helpful.  Her edits and cuts were still smooth and the story was fluid.  The different pieces of video fit together smoothly to create one unified story.  This inspires me to think deeper about how I put my stories together.  After watching this piece, I have a few mental notes on how to link pieces of my story together to create a more fluid story.

The reporter also links graphics to her story to help illustrate the piece.  She used graphics when she mentioned a lot of numbers and statistics that would be hard for viewers to remember.  The statistics added valuable information to the story so they were key to include; instead of overloading the viewers with facts numbers, she presents the information clearly with a graphic.  I was looking for a way to tie graphics into my stories more smoothly.  The way this reporter used graphics in her story helps me visualize when, where, and how graphics should be used in a story.  I also like the layout and page design of her graphics.  The type is bold and each statistic is located in its own separate box so viewers can see each separate fact.  This piece taught me more about using different ways to tell a story.  I learned how to use the element of surprise to keep a story interesting, I saw how other videos can be incorporated in a piece to help tell a story, and I saw how clean, concise graphics can help viewers retain the information discussed in a story.  I now have a better game plan for my future stories.

Thinking Outside The Lines

Personal News Gathering Process:

            In journalism it’s always important to have a plan B.  And in case that plan fails, a plan C and D are good to have too.  The past two weeks of my story hunting are a reflection of this idea.

            Two weeks ago I was working on a story about SAT scores in Missouri.  The story focused on how the state of Missouri’s average SAT scores dropped.  I scheduled interviews to talk with test prep centers about why the scores are dropping and what the solution is to the problem.  After playing a three-day long game of phone tag with the test prep centers and high school guidance counselors, I was finally able to schedule interviews.

On the day of my interviews I was prepared to talk.  I wrote a list of questions I needed to be answered, I reserved equipment from the broadcast lab, and I was ready to go.  When I called to notify the center that I was heading over for an interview, I was told that the interview had to be cancelled because the SAT tutors were too busy to talk to me.  I desperately attempted to compromise and I tried to sneak in for a quick interview, but my video for a class project wasn’t important enough for them to dedicate their time to.

In a panic, I tried to think of other sources I could use to tell the story.  I hit the ground running with my plan B.  I called other test prep centers in Columbia, Missouri, but to no avail.  It seemed I hit every dead end possible.  It took me so long to schedule an interview at the center in the first place; all of the long minutes of being put on hold, the brief phone conversations, and my persuading to get an interview took so much effort, and in the end it all fell through.

I made a number of phone calls, but none would lead me to advancing my story.  It seemed like I hit a dead end, and I had to move to plan C: find a new story.  I was on the hunt for a new story idea.  I flipped through local newspapers and checked the internet for things happening in Columbia.  I even asked people around me if they had heard of any interesting local news.  I remained unsuccessful.

Not knowing what else to do, I decided to go to the Columbia Public Library.  The library is constantly hosting local events, so I figured I could find a story there.  I knew it wouldn’t be big news, but at least it was something.

When I arrived at the library I learned that a local library group, Friends of Columbia, was hosting a book sale in the library’s lobby.  A good amount of people were browsing the books for sale on the carts, so without hesitating I whipped out the camera and started filming.  I observed the people at the book sale, and when I got a good idea of what was going on I began the interviews. 

I knew this story wouldn’t be hard-hitting; I was at a library where it was fairly quiet, and there sure wasn’t any spot news to cover.  I tried to make the most of the situation though, and I talked to a number of people at the book sale to find my focus.  From there, I looked for the central compelling character that would help me tell the story.  The challenge of this story wasn’t filming the b-roll or conducting the interviews.  It was the lighting that posed a threat to my story.

The library’s lobby walls are made of glass; it’s as if the whole lobby is a window.  I had to position myself in a place where the video I was shooting wasn’t affected by the light.  I didn’t want my video to be hot, nor did I want the people I interviewed to be backlit.  It was difficult to find a good place to film from when light was pouring into the lobby from all different directions.  It was hard to designate a place to shoot from; I had to maneuver around the lobby to try different angles.  The difficulties I faced with the lighting forced me to think about each shot, and it made me think about the techniques used for gaining optimal lighting.

From this experience I learned to always have a plan B, or even a plan C, D, or E.  I hear it all the time from my professors, but it really hit home when I was put in a position in which I had to think on my feet, and fast.  I also witnessed firsthand the importance of lighting and composition.  In all of the previous times I shot video, I’ve never had a lighting experience as tricky as this one.  I learned a lot from being put on the spot; I was challenged to think and react quickly.  Although my story might not have been the greatest, I wouldn’t change the experience I gained from it.  I learned a lot about being a broadcast journalist and the daily pressures and situations you have to work through.  I was challenged to think more creatively; I brainstormed ideas for how to make a story about a local library book sale appealing to the masses.  I also learned more about myself through this process.  I have a better understanding of how I react to these situations, and I now have a better grasp for ways in which I can improve in these types of situations.  My story may not have been the best but what I learned from the experiences in filming is meaningful, and I hope to reflect on what I learned so I can become a better journalist.  I’m all for learning from my mistakes, and this is a situation I will be able to draw from.

<http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4489416>

Journalism Reflection: Outside the Lines

            This week in lecture the discussion focused on interviewing techniques, which ties into the Outside The Lines video “Full Circle”.  The video follows the story of the late football player Sal Aunese and his son T.C.  The video highlights several events in Sal’s life, including his unexpected pregnancy with his coach’s daughter, and his battle with cancer.  These are sensitive subjects that some people might not want to talk about, but the interviewer handled them with care. The people interviewed in this story are willing to talk to the interviewer and let their stories be known despite the sensitivity of the material.

            I think the interviewer did a good job of evoking emotion in the interviews.  When you watch the video you can feel the mother’s pain when she loses her son.  You can feel the father’s heart sink when the man who got his daughter pregnant says he will not marry her.  You can sympathize with the son whose father died before he got a chance to meet him.  There are quite a few emotional moments in this piece and the interviewer makes sure those emotions seep through each interview.  The people involved in this piece help tell the story, and their emotions bring the piece to life. 

            The interviewer is unobtrusive, which makes the story is seamless.  He steers the interviews to drive the story forward.  The issues covered in “Full Circle” are not easy to cope with, but the interviewer somehow soothes the people being interviewed and persuades them to talk.  When I come across stories that deal with sensitive issues, I think about how hard it must be to get your sources to talk.  I wonder what it took for Coach McCartney and his family to speak about their personal lives, or what Sal’s mother went through to gain the courage to speak about her son’s death.  This is hard subject matter to deal with, but I think it was executed professionally.  The way it’s put together helps tell the story completely; the reporter ties together lose ends, bringing it to a full circle.

            Another element that strikes me about this piece is how the reporter decided to put it together.  There are a number of photographs used to advance the story, which I think humanizes the story even more.  The photos make the story authentic; they help show pieces of the story better than the reporter can explain it.  Photographs are very personal.  By looking at a photograph you can tell a lot about a person.  Like the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  The reporter is limited and can’t use a thousand words to tell each part of the story, but a picture can do all the talking.  I like how the reporter incorporated photographs into the story because it adds depth to the story and sparks a stronger human connection with viewers. 

            Photographs don’t just appear in the piece, they line the borders of the website as well.  The photographs are integrated into every piece of the story, and I think this ties the whole story together, bringing it to a ‘full circle’.  The photos highlight moments in Sal and T.C’s lives, and it makes the viewers a part of the story.  This story is a good model for a convergence story because it expands on multiple platforms.  The story is told through a video, pictures, and a written story.  It has something to offer to all types of viewers.  This is a well-done piece that tells the complete story on multiple platforms, and I think it’s something I can use as a model for future multi-media stories. 

It Takes a Few 'Hard Knocks' to Learn a Lesson

Stories are all around us.  The man working behind the counter at the coffee shop has a story to tell.  The woman driving the bus I take to get to class every morning has a story to tell.  Everyone has a story; some are just more obvious than others.  I like to find the more hidden stories.  I like to look for the minute details that I can pull out and emphasize to enrich the story.  I try to go beneath the surface when I’m looking for story ideas because there are usually layers to every story.  The more research I do, the easier it is for me to pull back the layers.  I try to humanize every story I work on, and I try to make it relatable to the normal, everyday people in the audience.  

I love covering sports stories, not only because of the excitement and the action, but also because of the emotion expressed.  Athletes are passionate about what they do; they live, eat, and breathe their sport.  They are dedicated individuals who aspire to reach their goals.  Athletes are constantly striving for greatness, and once they get to the top they keep on pushing.  You can see the hunger in their eyes, the determination on their minds.  I love the emotions sports stories convey.  You can feel the adrenaline rush of a running back dodging the defense and running the ball in for a touchdown.  You can feel the pain of the sprinter whose legs are churning faster than ever to propel her across the finish line for the gold.  You can feel the pressure of the pitcher when it’s bottom of the ninth, bases loaded and the game is tied.  An athlete’s story can be told without words, which is why the visuals are so important. You can tell a great sports story without words.

I recently watched several videos on HBO videos.  One video, entitled ‘Hard Knocks: Ask a Jet #4’ really captured my interest.  The video opens with a graphic of a question that a reporter would ask, then it cuts to the interview subject answering the question.  The text is clean and looks somewhat sporty looking.  It made me realize that the graphics and text used to tell the story affect the tone of the story.  The text is bold and solid, and it pertains to a football video.  The text and font used help set the tone for the rest of the story, which I think is interesting.  It made me think about how every little detail and piece of the story has to strengthen the piece as a whole.  It made me realize the significance of even the smallest details because it portrays the effect they have on the mood and tone of the overall piece.

The framing of the interviews in the video was visually striking.  The interview with Mark Sanchez uses a fairly wide frame.  In class I learned to go tighter on the camera when framing an interview, but the framing in this interview seems to work.  The camera isn’t that tight on Sanchez, and there is a lot of background in the shot, but there’s something about the quality of the framing that stands out to me.  The background isn’t too distracting and it puts Sanchez in his element.  The way the light is shining on the field in the background is no natural; it feels like as a viewer I am transported to that moment.  From watching this interview I learned a few things about composition, especially lighting.  The background is well lit but it isn’t distracting.  Sanchez’s face is lit, and there are natural-looking shadows below the brim of his hat that make him come to life on camera.  The framing of this interview brought me from my couch to the football field; the scene is brought to life by the composition.

In the interviews with Jim Leonhard and Bart Scott, only the foreground is in focus.  Leonhard is in the locker room, but the locker room is blurred behind him.  He is in focus and the viewer can see and hear him perfectly, but the background is out of focus.  I like the idea behind this technique because the viewer can see just enough of the background to know what it is, but it doesn’t steal the attention away from the interview.  The same technique is used in the interview with Bart Scott.  The football field behind him is out of focus, but he is standing in the foreground as is in focus.  It sets the setting without interrupting the interview.  I’ve never really used this compositional technique before, but in some instances I think it can add to the story.

Another video in the Hard Knocks series made me think about storytelling in a new way.  The video opens with an introduction by Rex Ryan, and then it cuts to a player with his family.  In his opening words, he says “words cannot express…” and after looking at the video to tell the story that’s exactly what ran through my mind.  Words cannot express the meaning of a story as well as video.  There’s a long clip in the video that lacks narration.  Instead of using a voice track to complement the visuals, the visuals stand alone.  This raw video adds a real-life, down-to-earth feel to the story.  It builds character the family is captured in their true environment.  Words can’t describe the relationship he has with his children, or with his dog.  The visuals help the viewers understand.  This helped me realize the importance of filming good video.  The visuals are the strongest element in the story; it helps people understand the story on a deeper level.  After watching this video I’m inspired to capture more real-life moments when I shoot my stories.  The footage in this video really humanizes the story and connects the viewer with the family, and I want to be able to add that connection to my stories.

This video switches gears from the family and continues with training camp footage.  The second part of this video clips relates back to what I love about sports stories: emotion.  The film of the football players at training camp expresses emotion, and there are no words guiding the viewers.  The football players show a roller coaster of emotions; everything from determination to excitement to disappointment can be seen.  The videographer focused on capturing moments with emotion and conveyed the players’ and coaches’ feelings to the audience.  I want the video I shoot to be as captivating as the film in this clip.  Every clip contains emotion that the viewer can feel, and no words are necessary to describe or explain it.  I want the video I shoot to be just as self-sufficient, captivating and unique as the clips in this story.  I want to create meaningful stories.  If a story doesn’t evoke emotion, what has it fulfilled?  


http://www.hbo.com/video/video.html/?view=index&forumId=hard%2Dknocks&vid=1116761&filter=all%2Dsports&autoplay=true


http://www.hbo.com/video/video.html/?view=index&forumId=hard%2Dknocks&vid=1116296&filter=all%2Dsports&autoplay=true