good advice from the Poynter Institute's tip of the day: One of the biggest mistakes in feature writing: an over-reliance on emotion.
I totally do this!
Actually, I'm have a revelation of a sort this week. As I go back to watch the videos I've made over the past few months, in order to choose some to enter into the nppa clip contest, I noticed that I bury my 'what' in almost all my videos. Viewers have to make it half way through the video before finding out the 'what' of the story. I put the 'why' and the 'who' and the 'where' long before the what. Why do I do this? My logic up to this point has been that I want to put the most interesting parts first because I want to hook people and keep them interested and to me often the 'what' of the story is the most mundane part. But, if you don't know what you are watching or reading the 'why' becomes a great mystery. And that's when people lose interest and stop watching. It's time to change.
With that said, here's a story that I made last week about Tom Loux. Tom makes a living doing dove releases at funerals and weddings. He trains the birds, which are actually white homing pidgeons, to fly back to his home in Arvada, CO after being released. I'm telling you all this now because you won't find it out in the beginning of this video. My mistake. If I were to do it again, the editing process would go differently.
10.08.2011
9.11.2011
9/11 is more real for me now
Ten years ago I was 14. I did not know anybody directly affected. I did not read many articles or watch much tv. I was in my own small world, a world that yes, was affected but no not greatly affected. I did watch the towers collapse in class at school, 9th grade, and it was horrifying. My brother and sister-in-law lived in Weehawken, NJ and worked in Manhattan, my sister-in-law even worked near the World Trade Center. Luckily they were both fine. So fear and anxiety and strong emotions, for me, receded quickly.
Things have changed. I've been working on a series of videos for the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and in the process my eyes have been opened to tragedy, to anguish and to courage. I've learned so much about what happened on 9/11 and how it affected people that I now know. I met Ann and Dutch and Susan and the Yancy's. For these people, it was all real and close to their hearts and heads ten years ago, and for them, they never had learn about it through other people's experiences, they always knew first hand.
One of the guys we interviewed, Dutch, emailed me with some pictures I'd asked for. Dutch lives in Boulder with his three sons and wife. We interviewed him because his younger sister Nina worked in the World Trade Center and died that day. Dutch and Nina were really close. I'd asked Dutch if he was willing to share any pictures of himself and his sister. He returned my email late late into the night. In it, he included some lovely lovely pictures and a few words..
Due to my growing personal connection to this event in the past weeks, my fascination has snowballed. And I think it's because I'm looking and reading with a new perspective. I've been reading articles written back in the days directly after 9/11, I've been reading retrospective articles, I've been watching StoryCore animated videos (which, by the way are interestingly different, check them out), and videos telling the story from the photojournalist's perspective (Witness to History: The Photographers of 9/11). I've listened to The 9/11 Tapes: The Stories in the Air. I've looked through tons of photo galleries. There is so much happening around the world and for me to take the time to really read and investigate and understand something that happened far away from me, be it physically far away, or emotionally, I need to find a way to connect personally to it.
I guess in the end, this post is about my growing understanding of what journalism means to me. So, broadly, journalists are responsible for bringing as a real an understanding of 'what happened' to their audience as possible. More specifically for me right now, journalists have the opportunity to take a big far away event and give someone an avenue into understanding it on a personal or individual basis.
To show how it affected real people, and what it felt like to be affected personally so that that person can relate and empathize and understand with their hearts.
This video is one of eight vignettes of people connected and effected by the attacks of 9/11. My colleague, reporter John Ingold, and photographers Craig. F. Walker and RJ Sangosti also worked hard on the written and picture portions of these profiles, you can check out their work and the rest of my work here.
Ten years ago, Ann Wichmann took her dog Jenner to New York as part of a local Federal Emergency Management Agency Administration rescue team that searched the rubble of ground zero.
Things have changed. I've been working on a series of videos for the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and in the process my eyes have been opened to tragedy, to anguish and to courage. I've learned so much about what happened on 9/11 and how it affected people that I now know. I met Ann and Dutch and Susan and the Yancy's. For these people, it was all real and close to their hearts and heads ten years ago, and for them, they never had learn about it through other people's experiences, they always knew first hand.
One of the guys we interviewed, Dutch, emailed me with some pictures I'd asked for. Dutch lives in Boulder with his three sons and wife. We interviewed him because his younger sister Nina worked in the World Trade Center and died that day. Dutch and Nina were really close. I'd asked Dutch if he was willing to share any pictures of himself and his sister. He returned my email late late into the night. In it, he included some lovely lovely pictures and a few words..
"I found more but some were too personal and others were too embarrassing…I spent a couple of hours going through old photos. it was good for me, brought back some really fond memories. though I have to say I miss her more than ever right now…"It was such a seemingly small gesture for him to have included these words in an email to me, someone whom he has met once and talked on the phone with twice. But when I read it I thought about Dutch and his sister laughing at the dinner table when they were kids and that they used to write letters in code to each other. Memories he was able to share with us, but memories nonetheless that he does not bring to the surface often because it is too painful, memories of a lost sister.
Due to my growing personal connection to this event in the past weeks, my fascination has snowballed. And I think it's because I'm looking and reading with a new perspective. I've been reading articles written back in the days directly after 9/11, I've been reading retrospective articles, I've been watching StoryCore animated videos (which, by the way are interestingly different, check them out), and videos telling the story from the photojournalist's perspective (Witness to History: The Photographers of 9/11). I've listened to The 9/11 Tapes: The Stories in the Air. I've looked through tons of photo galleries. There is so much happening around the world and for me to take the time to really read and investigate and understand something that happened far away from me, be it physically far away, or emotionally, I need to find a way to connect personally to it.
I guess in the end, this post is about my growing understanding of what journalism means to me. So, broadly, journalists are responsible for bringing as a real an understanding of 'what happened' to their audience as possible. More specifically for me right now, journalists have the opportunity to take a big far away event and give someone an avenue into understanding it on a personal or individual basis.
To show how it affected real people, and what it felt like to be affected personally so that that person can relate and empathize and understand with their hearts.
Before, I knew 9/11 as a whole, as an event. It was big and horrible, too big really for me to comprehend at age 14. Now, when I read all these articles and look and pictures and videos, I think about what it meant for the people I interviewed for this story. Now I can see 9/11 in small heart-wrenching pieces as well as hopefully begin to better see the mosaic. I hope the videos I've contributed to the Denver Post's 9/11 - 10 years later can give some people that avenue in.
This video is one of eight vignettes of people connected and effected by the attacks of 9/11. My colleague, reporter John Ingold, and photographers Craig. F. Walker and RJ Sangosti also worked hard on the written and picture portions of these profiles, you can check out their work and the rest of my work here.
Ten years ago, Ann Wichmann took her dog Jenner to New York as part of a local Federal Emergency Management Agency Administration rescue team that searched the rubble of ground zero.
9.10.2011
CETH "the light that shines through my life."
Several months ago, Sung Park, my former photo professor, asked me to skype into his multimedia class to talk with his students about my job, how I got here and what I do on a daily basis. It was pretty daunting and it set me to thinking about how I would answer those questions for myself.
One thing the students asked about is how do I come up with story ideas. What a huge question, it's one that photojournalists struggle with that all the time. I'm lucky enough to work at a paper where stories are given to me. But when other people give you story ideas they sometimes are really not visual, or they are boring, or they don't interest you. My best work often happens when it's based on a subject of interest to me.
One non-video-related thing I know I want to be doing right now is learning how to dance. I feel really good when I'm out there on the dance floor and at least part of the time I feel like I'm floating around in the correct fashion. Is there a correct fashion? Well, then the fashion that suits me.
In any event, I decided to make a video about dancing, not for the Denver Post, just for myself. Here it is.
One thing the students asked about is how do I come up with story ideas. What a huge question, it's one that photojournalists struggle with that all the time. I'm lucky enough to work at a paper where stories are given to me. But when other people give you story ideas they sometimes are really not visual, or they are boring, or they don't interest you. My best work often happens when it's based on a subject of interest to me.
One non-video-related thing I know I want to be doing right now is learning how to dance. I feel really good when I'm out there on the dance floor and at least part of the time I feel like I'm floating around in the correct fashion. Is there a correct fashion? Well, then the fashion that suits me.
In any event, I decided to make a video about dancing, not for the Denver Post, just for myself. Here it is.
3.09.2011
Working Late
There are some videos I create and never want to watch again, and there are others that I don't mind watching over and over. I have to say, I've watched this one a few times. Sometimes it can be very hard to watch my own work because all I see are the parts where I failed or where I should have made changes. But sometimes, even when a video is not perfect-and they never are, I am able to look past the imperfections. When I watch this video I can feel all the positive energy coming through from the people I interviewed and from the dancers and it imbues me with a sense of well-being. This video is by no means the best i've made, or hard news, but for a feature I think it's one of my better ones.
Hosted by the nonprofit organization cmDance, Rocky Mountain Balboa Blowout offered lessons and a host of competitions in the Balboa swing style for the several hundred people who gathered from around Colorado and across the nation to share their passion for the dance. Balboa is a form of swing dance that was developed in the 1930’s on Balboa Island off the coast of California. During that era, the dance floors were very full forcing people to change their style to a closer, small-stepped dance.
1.27.2011
Chickens and Champions
This is my favorite video that my coworker AAron and I made at the National Western Stock Show this year. I think it works so well because we actually accomplished a lot of the basics of multimedia storytelling while having fun with the video.
We kept it short. We started strong. The audio drives the piece. We cut the interviews down to the basics, we didn't try to tell the entire story through the words (interview) instead we let the words give a flavor of the place and people. Cuts between video and photos are fairly seamless. And our main interview, the kid named Wyatt, was perfect. He was funny and witty and fun to watch.
Snowboarding downtown Denver at Big Air
coffee, a sore throat and an imagined confrontation
Compelling videos have to start strong in one way or another. I imagine compelling blog posts are the same. This is not one of those.
I'm too tired to write coherently, or to have a purpose to my writing. It's 3:30am and I'm still awake. I covered Denver Big Air this evening and I've been sick for a week or two--on and off.
After finishing, I walked over to a McDonald's to get a coffee to make the editing go faster and to sooth my throat. I try to pee before ordering only to be headed off at the door by a fat supervisor who was very much in charge of the situation. "You can't pee unless you buy food first," he practically yells at me. I'm pissed. I'm tired. I'm full of urine. All I wanted was a bathroom and a coffee in that order, not the other way around. "I have a job," I say. "I work across the street, let me pee." All I get is the same response from the supervisor and a fat body between me and the bathroom door. He's really having none of it.
In my head I run past the supervisor and offhandedly mutter, "you can suck my fat cock," I go pee, and THEN buy a coffee. But, in reality I just say, "I heard you the first time," in a louder voice than the situation warranted and wait dejectedly in line for my coffee.
What a let down.
On an unrelated note, check out my Big Air Video. Also, here are the Rockies as seen from above (obviously).
I'm too tired to write coherently, or to have a purpose to my writing. It's 3:30am and I'm still awake. I covered Denver Big Air this evening and I've been sick for a week or two--on and off.
After finishing, I walked over to a McDonald's to get a coffee to make the editing go faster and to sooth my throat. I try to pee before ordering only to be headed off at the door by a fat supervisor who was very much in charge of the situation. "You can't pee unless you buy food first," he practically yells at me. I'm pissed. I'm tired. I'm full of urine. All I wanted was a bathroom and a coffee in that order, not the other way around. "I have a job," I say. "I work across the street, let me pee." All I get is the same response from the supervisor and a fat body between me and the bathroom door. He's really having none of it.
In my head I run past the supervisor and offhandedly mutter, "you can suck my fat cock," I go pee, and THEN buy a coffee. But, in reality I just say, "I heard you the first time," in a louder voice than the situation warranted and wait dejectedly in line for my coffee.
What a let down.
On an unrelated note, check out my Big Air Video. Also, here are the Rockies as seen from above (obviously).
1.11.2011
Exhaustion-induced hallucinations and video export nightmares
I was going to post some of the recent videos I've produced for the Denver Post but I've been flummoxed by Blogger's inability to let me resize my videos. Idiot technology.
My boss Tim put me and my co-worker AAron (I swear, it's really spelled with two capitol A's) on stock show duty for the entirety of the National Western Stock Show. Being from the East, I've been harangued by everybody from the lady at the info booth to the guy who steams cowboy hats. I don't have the right jeans (wranglers) I don't have the right shoes (cowboy boots) I don't have the right flannel shirt and schmancy belt buckle, and I tend to ask questions that three-year-olds know the answer to (what's the difference between a bull and a bronco). Meanwhile, AAron, who's from Wyoming, is fitting right in. I think they can smell the West on him. Little do they know, he's never actually ridden a horse, Jeeze.
We've been tasked with producing a story a day from the show. This is a cool assignment because we get to find interesting people and create our own schedules for two weeks, but it also means that we have to be at the Stock Show when the stories are happening. Getting done at 5 or 6 pm is a sweet dream far off on the horizon. And when I say horizon I mean, as I watch the sunrise while I fall asleep for the night after producing a video at the 24-hour Starbucks, jacked on coffee, kind of horizon.
Despite my chagrin at not fitting in and and an onslaught of exhaustion-induced hallucinations of my bed sprouting wings and flying across Denver to the Stock Show to save me from myself and my weird need to stay till the end, it's great. I've been hanging out with rodeo clowns, tall cowboys sporting pants that I believe are referred to as 'nuthuggers' (Tim swears that cowboys wear pantyhose and it's acceptable, I'm skeptical) an eight-year-old fiddle-playin' wizard, split-lipped alpacas and a whole bunch of happy people eating turkey legs. I'm enamored, and I may be sporting some cowboy boots by the end of the show because seriously, these sneaks are not cutting it.
Check out AAron's and my multimedia presentation for the Denver Post here: NWSS 2011
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