"Increasingly music is finding its way into online multimedia journalism, and with good reason. A well chosen soundtrack can pull your viewers deep into your story, keep them hooked and make an emotional point.
Music is, and let's be honest about this, a way of manipulating how your audience feel. There are those purists who are against that, who argue the story should be strong enough not to need to tell your viewer how to feel.
Whichever camp you lie in, one thing is for sure: if you use music in any piece of online video journalism or digital story it must be legal. There is no excuse for getting your client or your newsroom shouldered with an expensive bill just because that bit of Arcade Fire fitted perfectly with the film. The good news is there are plenty of resources out there for free, or cheap, music. Most, but not all, operate under the Creative Commons Licence, which lets you use music on certain conditions."
"I know this can be a controversial subject. I know there are passionate beliefs built up over years of personal experience. This list, like any list of its kind is bound to have some short comings. In the spirit of that acknowledgment, please feel free to leave additions or suggestions in the comment section. This list will inevitably be outdated within a year, so an updated comment section would be of real value to everyone.
For this post, I've created three separate gear lists (budget, moderate and high-end) with three budgets in mind. "
About...
Verve: endurance, fire, force, gumption, gusto, intensity, moxie, passion, spunk, stamina, strength, toughness, vigor
Photographer and photo editor Geoffrey Hiller has created Verve to feature photos and interviews by the finest young image makers today. Verve is a reminder of the power of the still image. Verve will also point you to new photo agencies, publications and inspiring multimedia projects.
Introduction to Digital Storytelling by Daniel Meadows
Digital Stories are short, personal, multimedia scraps of TV that people can make for themselves.
They're 'mini-movies'. Desktop computers enabled with video editing software are used to synchronise recorded spoken narratives with scans of personal photographs.
This project requires commitment for, as well as all the technical stuff that must be learnt, script writing, picture editing and performance skills are also needed and these have to be worked on, which is why most Digital Stories are made by people attending workshops where participants can benefit from the help and advice of facilitators.
People of all ages and abilities make Digital Stories and many have testified how rewarding the experience is for, when their story is shared with friends and family or posted on the web, they find they have discovered a new voice.
There's a strictness to the construction of a Digital Story: 250 words, a dozen or so pictures, and two minutes is the right length. As with poetry these constraints define the form (e.g. a haiku is a poem written using 17 syllables, and the 14 lines of a sonnet are written in iambic pentameter) and it's the observation of that form which gives the thing its elegance.
Declaration of Principles
Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone is news reporting for the new millennium - a nexus of backpack journalism, narrative story-telling techniques, and the Internet, designed to reach a global audience hungry for information.
Our Mission and Goals
To cover every armed conflict* in the world within one year, and in doing so to provide a clear idea of the combatants, victims, causes, and costs of each of these struggles - and their global impact. With honest, thoughtful reporting we'll strive to establish Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone as a forum for information and involvement. Users will not only learn about the scope of world conflict, but will find ways to be part of the solutions- through dialogue, debate, and avenues for action.
How We'll Do It
We will be aggressive in pursuing the stories that are not getting mainstream coverage and we will put a human face on them. We will not chase headlines nor adhere to pack journalism but vigorously pursue the stories in front of and behind the conflict, the small stories that when strung together illustrate a more complete picture.
Veteran war correspondent Kevin Sites will travel solo to these conflict zones, aided by a U.S.-based "mission control" team: Producer Robert Padavick (NBC News, CNN) and Researcher Lisa Liu (Radio Free Asia, International Medical Corps).
Using the latest technology, including high-definition digital cameras and satellite modems, Kevin will deliver stories via a five-fingered multimedia platform of text, photography, video, audio, and interactive chat - all available on one website (http://hotzone.yahoo.com).
"RGMP 2: Start a blog
Yesterday I started this series of posts called "Reporter's Guide to Multimedia Proficiency." (I like the way the abbreviation RGMP reminds me of the Canadian Mounties - RCMP.) The first topic was Read blogs and use RSS. Today's topic might seem mundane to many of you, but I always say that writing a blog with commitment, on some kind of regular schedule, makes you smarter."
"Creating a Transmedia Symphony
I re-read the article in Wired on transmedia today, and found it as good a read as the first time. Coming to the last paragraph I read Jeff Gomez's comment about transmedia and the birth of a new Mozart, "We are going to see visionaries who understand the value of each media platform as if it's a separate musical instrument, who'll create symphonic narratives which leverage each of these multimedia platforms in a way that will create something we haven't encountered yet."
This rings true for me as an analogy of what many of us are trying to create. The question that popped up in my head was, however, "but hey, how do you create a "normal" symphony?". Lo and behold, a Google search later I found this wikihow on, yes, how to create a symphony. After reading it, the analogy rings truer still. So, to translate the creation of a "normal" symphony to the creation of a transmedia symphony, these would/could be the steps to take:"
The Beauty of the Slideshow - Now Available to Everyone
By Stanley LearystanleylearycloseAuthor: Stanley Leary See Author's Posts (38)
Recent Posts
* Still Images Plus Audio Can Be More Effective Than Online Video
* Teaching Is a Great Way to Learn
* Telling Stories with a Telephoto Lens
* If Your Pictures Aren't Good Enough, You're Not Close Enough
* What Kind of Photographer Are You?
Stanley Leary is a Black Star photographer who has been telling stories for more than 20 years as a photojournalist. His work has appeared in Newsweek, Business Week, Sports Illustrated, Wired, Chicago Tribune, NY Times, World Book Encyclopedia, Information Week, Popular Mechanics, Technology Review, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, and many other publications. in Video and Multimedia on January 20th, 2008
Even before the Internet, I appreciated the slideshow. I created presentations with multiple projectors and audio, and I was always impressed with what the combined media could communicate. Even compared to video - where you move right through a moment so quickly you can miss the subtlety of it - the slideshow has its unique charms.
The problem, in the old days, was that you had to have the audience present to deliver the program; it was a lot of work for a small number of people. The printed page reached a much larger audience.
Today, with the Web becoming the leader in delivering the news, we are no longer limited to printed words and still images on the page. Rather than publishing a quote, we can deliver audio of the interviews and the experience, giving a story authenticity in a way that we couldn't achieve before. We can create slideshows for everyone - to watch whenever they choose.
Welcome to Innovative Interactivity
… for those who are curious about the ever-evolving trends of interactive multimedia, who's doing it best and the tricks to staying on top.
Short excerpt from Gregory Colbert's film ashes and snow. Not to everyone's taste, but i think visually it's stunning and it certainly raises a lot of interesting questions re the purpose and aesthetics of multimedia.
""Should we present this story as an interactive?
Before undertaking any large story project be sure to ask:
* Who is the target audience for this story?
* What do we hope to accomplish in telling this story to them?
Then use this decision-tool to see which approach to storytelling is best supported by the research in these studies:"