Critiquing a Soundslides: University of Florida Bike Repair Service October 25, 2007

Overall, I liked Matt’s Soundslides, University of Florida Bike Repair Service. I thought the pictures were of good quality, and I found them interesting. The sound bed underneath the interview was great - it added a wonderful dimension to the Soundslides project.

However, I have to say that while I found it interesting, I don’t think it’s a ‘real’ story in terms of a conflict and resolution. It’s very informational, but I can’t really pick out a specific part that’s a conflict and one part that’s a resolution. I like that the student speaking talks about what he likes and dislikes about working for the bike service, though, and that’s probably the closest to these aspects of storytelling.

I like the beginning of the story. The music in the background and the tinkering of the tools really gets my attention and makes me curious as to what’s happening. That question is quickly answered with the first two photos: the opening photo showing the two students fixing bikes, and then the sign that says “student government free bike repair.” The sign also answers another question: when this bike repair service is available. That information is on the sign as well.

It’s a good transition into the student’s more detailed descriptions of the bike repair service: how many employees there are, how much money they make, what’s good and bad about the job, when it’s really busy, etc.

The conclusion of the Soundslides was kind of abrupt, I felt. The closing part of the interview, where the student says “This is UF student government bike repair and we fix bikes,” is just kind of hanging there. I guess before this point, you can’t tell that the project is approaching it’s end.

I think the Soundslides maintains a good proportion between the “campus life” part and the “profile part.” I would say it’s about 75% “campus life” and about 25% “profile” (the profile part being the part where the student talks mostly about his personal experience with bikes, etc). For the most part, he talks about “we” and describes basic things about the job.

The one thing about this story that I would improve is quite basic, but I think it would be pretty valuable. I really wanted the student to tell me who he is. He never introduced himself during the project, and, since I viewed the story with the captions off as we were instructed, I was clueless about who the student is.

The thing that I like best about the project is the audio mix. Like I said earlier, the soundbed with the music and the tools is terrific. I especially liked how at one point, when there was a photo of a bicycle wheel that someone was holding up in there air and the spokes were showing, you could hear the sound of the bicycle wheel spinning. That was neat.

Evaluating a photo story: is there more to Mia? October 20, 2007

The photo story about Mia, the woman who lives in Copenhagen and is addicted to drugs, impressed me as the most varied of the photo stories posted on the NPPA “Best of Photojournalism 2007″ site (by David Hogsholt of Getty Images). Mia
It shows the conflict in this woman’s life, but not a resolution. Unless you consider it a resolution that she continues to live her life the same way: addicted to drugs, working as a prostitute or stripper, and seemingly separated from her family. Through the captions, the story also conveys details about the conflict - her daughter has been in foster care for years but sometimes sends her letters or pictures, she has attempted rehab at least once and she spends nearly all her money on drugs.

The story’s focus is pretty narrow - her work and her drug habit - so that it seems those things are all this woman does. Maybe that is true, or maybe it is no, although the fact that she can spend $500 before she even reaches home after earning it makes me assume that it is true.

In some ways, this photo story seems like it could be a good representation of life for drug addicts in Copenhagen’s red light district. But, my ability to judge that is limited - since it’s a way of life with which I have no familiarity. Surely, there are other aspects to this slice of reality a photographer could explore: people who make it out of their addictions into healthy lives, for instance.

Mia’s presence in the images and the black and white look provide the continuity for this story.

For those interested in knowing more about Mia, like myself, I think Kobre’s section on page 155 about using ‘existing pictures’ would have been helpful. The photographer could have inserted some photos from Mia’s childhood, happier days, may have given a dramatic contrast to her present life. It’s apparent that the photographer has contact with Mia’s family, since at least one quote from her brother is included in the captions.

I find myself wanting to know more about Mia and wonder if a longer project, like the one on “Motel Dad” that Kobre discusses in chapter 8, would have led to a happy ending. I hope so.

My growth as an interviewer October 10, 2007

I really liked the interview tips offered in “Sound in the Story.” The tips about asking simple questions instead of long, complicated ones was good. The advice not to ask double-barreled questions was totally opposite of what one of our other recent readings said on the topic. But I guess it’s good to get a variety of viewpoints.

I’ve been working in journalism for a while, and I feel like my interview skills have markedly improved since I first started, but there are different things to take into consideration when you’re recording an interview for the purpose of editing it and putting it out there for people to hear.

I found that when I interviewed my subject for the Soundslides 1 assignment last week, it was difficult to get responses that were “self-contained” - that is, the listener could tell from the sound bite what topic the interviewee was discussing. I couldn’t direct her responses, obviously, so I’ll just have to see what I have when I edit.

I remember the kinds of interviews I used to do when I first started reporting. They were awkward, disjointed, repetitive – boring. I’ve gotten much better at it and learned many of these techniques just by working in the field. It’s neat to have a new revelation about interviewing- how to deal with particularly difficult (crabby, quiet, too talkative, obviously media savvy) subjects or just how to conduct a better interview. It just makes the job so much easier and more rewarding – it lets you get to the good stuff you’re really seeking.

I can especially relate to the part about making subjects feel comfortable. Since I interview people all the time, it surprises me how reticent people can be sometimes to talk, even about simple matters. It shouldn’t, but it still does. I know I handle these situations better now than I used to.

Just a few weeks ago I was doing a phone interview with a woman who told me she was quite nervous. I could tell. By the end, she said I made her feel very comfortable. That made me glad. After all, I like the people aspect of journalism just as much as I like the writing aspect.

It made me feel good to read the section about “mopping up” after an interview – speaking with the person later to clarify things, ask other questions, etc. I don’t have to do this as much as I once did, but I still do it and I wasn’t sure if it was something most other journalists regularly did or not.

The tip about recording the room was quite helpful. This reinforces another mantra for journalists: get there early! That way you can capture the ambient/room sound/noise before the subject arrives and your attention switches to him/her. In my opinion, leaving things to be done after the interview is a bad idea – my attention is always focused then on what the subject said/didn’t say, the quality of my recording, the question I just realized I should have asked, the great anecdote he/she told that will make a perfect lead, etc.

The right mix of photos October 3, 2007

I was out of town last weekend - now that I’m back I finally have time to reflect on my Photo 1 assignment. For this assignment, I took photos of a student bowling in the student union on campus. It’s an activity that lots of people do.

Taking the photos was challenging, especially dealing with the motion and lighting. But, considering that I’m just learning how to really take photos correctly, I think I did a pretty good job. The photos actually turned out better than I thought they would.

Selecting the 20 photos I would turn in to my professor was definitely a challenge. There were a lot of things to consider - whether the composition and quality of the photo was good, what part of the story the photo told, whether it was repetitive of another photo I’d already selected, and what kind of photo it was (close-up, detail, overview or medium). Sometimes I had several great photos of a single element of the story - but I couldn’t use more than one, maybe two. Other times I needed a photo of a certain type (close-up, detail, etc.) but all the ones that were the best were too repetitive.

I think I ended up with a good selection of photos that tell the story well and will lend to a good interview, but I guess that remains to be seen…I’m still awaiting the grade.

Audio recordings - beyond the basic interview October 2, 2007

The readings for our Sept. 27 class contained a lot of good info - some of which I still need to learn more about to fully understand.

Like the tip about recording in stereo to fill different speakers - I still need to make sure I know exactly how to do this. Also, the tip about watching out for mechanical noise from cameras, etc. was great. It’s probably not something a beginner like me would really think about until it’s too late - and a great interview or natural sot is ruined by annoying equipment noise.

The reading titled “Natural Sound Stories: A How-to Guide” also was helpful and expanded on some things I’ve been thinking about as I prep for the audio 2 assignment. Getting great audio of an interview really requires great interviewing skills - thinking ahead and planning to make sure you ask questions that will let the subject explain (in natural sounding, flowing dialogue) what is in the photos.

It’s also important to find a good balance between capturing background noise on its own, background noise during the interview and interview with as little background noise as possible. I think it will be challenging, for a while, to make sure I get all three of these elements - especially with limited equipment - but just like interviewing and writing, it will get easier with time as I know how to prepare and what snafus to avoid.

I LOVED the soundslide titled “Art of Listening”

from Jesse Seay at the Chicago Tribune. The technique of including lots of blank screen and a few pics to accompany the audio really made the viewer/listener focus on the sound. I was wondering, though, how Seay got the sound of the animals at the zoo and the sound of the traffic, both so clear, without the traffic overpowering the animals.

The NPR piece “Studying a Koala Mystery in Eastern Australia” (6 min., 32) was equally compelling, even without the visuals. I noted some neat techniques they used in putting the sound together.

Some of the background noise carried from one ’scene’ to another, adding continuity. The sound of walking and grass rustling, along with the difference in the sound of some of the voices (which told you they were farther away from the recorder than they had been before) conveyed movement. I also liked how the sound of koalas was absent from the beginning of the piece and the listener didn’t hear any of that until the people in the recording had found some koalas - it let the listener be somewhat ‘involved’ in the search for koalas and the experience of finding them. The end was great, with the surprising sounds of the male koalas finishing out the piece after the people stopped talking.

I hope to keep these ‘composition’ techniques in mind when editing audio in the future.