From Seki Fadez to Snip City

Recently I was fortunate enough to meet Fetu. An aspiring law student who also gives unique haircuts from his home, called Seki Fadez.

I was lucky Fetu is a patient man because it took me awhile to navigate a tripod, camera, notepad and microphone in a space Fetu called “diminutive”.

I thought I had prepared myself quite well. I studied short films and broadcasts on barbers, had my sister as assistant, a list of questions, and toffee pops to soften up the talent.

However, I didn’t consider that my sister’s broken collar bone might affect her ability to carry the tripod, or that it’s hard to operate a camera, microphone and tripod and engage with your subject or that the toffee pops were left in the car.

My sister helps frame a shot while showing off her good arm.

Perhaps I should have remembered Colin Mulvany’s advice: “it’s important to master the technology. Your video camera needs to become your third eye. You should instinctively know how to operate it without a lot of fumbling.”

That might be second nature for Mulvany who is the multimedia producer at the Spokesman-Review in Washington, but I found it difficult to work sound and pictures and still engage my subject. The piece of machinery created a barrier between us and I think he would have flicked his eyes less suspiciously all over the place if I was able to step away from the camera to talk normally. Mulvany was right when he said you’ll be disadvantaged if you don’t know the settings and functions on your camera, but it’s difficult for one person to monitor everything.

He was also right when he talked about sequencing and pacing. Shot choice and their order along with the speed that they are shown are crucial to making an important video. Too fast and the viewer misses the information, too slow and you risk losing interest.

This video from b-roll.net entitled Snip City manages to link basketball and vasectomy into a humorous yet informative clip. Within the first 16 seconds the viewer is shown four close-up shots of a basketball and hoop that is then connected with a urologist. Apparently, the prime time to have a vasectomy (a word they say many men fear to utter) is during a basketball tournament.

Chiaroscuro- lit shots of suggestively placed basketballs on a surgery bed are intercut with shots of surgeon tools. This segment was clearly well thought out and the innuendo isn’t missed. It’s pacing is snappy – no shot lasts longer than 8sec are there are plenty more shots of two basketballs placed throughout to make sure the message gets across.

The placement of those balls isn’t fooling anyone.
Photographer: Dave Cohrac

Despite the overuse of dual basketballs, the segment shows how important a structure, good pictures and sound combine to create an interesting video visually and aurally. After attempting a couple of videos myself I can appreciate how difficult a slick video is to achieve.

Life, the newsroom and everything

I am an over thinker. The kind that can’t sleep because her brain works like a wikipedia page with endless links.

My brain when I’m trying to sleep
– XKCD.com

Just last night I had a conversation that went from the cost of a male alpaca* to the potential for goat trafficking in South Canterbury. The fascination with farm animals may have had something to do with a recent class trip to The Timaru Herald and their swanky newsroom.

Beautiful corporate chairs.

Six budding journo students and this terrified one followed the stone river patterned carpet up to Timaru’s information hub.  A whiteboard table dubbed Eileen, frosted glass, and contemporary conference room chairs suddenly threw deadlines and story pitches into a new category of serious.

I could really screw up here.

My wiki-links brain spends far more time considering syntax, word choice, and every possible writing structure than deadlines allow. The safety net of the uni newsroom disintegrated as the reality settled in: filing late in this newsroom had the potential to stuff up an entire newspaper.

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by”
– Douglas Adams.

In his book Excellence in Online Journalism: Exploring Current Practices in an Evolving Environment David Craig quoted NYtimes.com editor Carla Baranauckas on newsroom pressure. It accurately sums up how I felt entering this hive of hard news journalists.

 “It’s always a bit of a tug of war because you always feel the pressure to get something done quickly, but at the same time, you don’t want to publish anything you’re not sure of.”

That uni deadline of 1 weekly story was a luxurious memory when surrounded by newsroom pros who churned out stories daily. I quickly learned that there wasn’t any time to mull over whether the word ‘amalgamation’ was too pretentious – just get the story done.

Working to tight deadlines finally delivered that adrenaline rush I’d been told about particularly with radio.

In a radio team of 6 my classmates and I threw news pieces together for live broadcasts within hours. Writing to strict time pressures taught me one major lesson: Take snacks because you will not have time to eat a proper lunch.

My super awesome radio team pulling a news bulletin together with ease – May 2013

The second lesson I learnt was that the most pressure didn’t come from my team or superiors but from me.

I wanted to get it right. Not just the facts but the delivery as well because I had talked to the people who were quoted and I knew they would read or listen to what I produced. Their trust was placed in me to fairly represent what they said and that made me nervous.

Balancing this responsibility with the time demand for quick, accurate news is a pressure Craig notes:

“The standard of excellence for breaking news that emerges from interviews doesn’t stop with strict attention to accuracy. It also means pressing beyond factual accuracy to thoroughness and context.”

This was a skill I noticed in Timaru. At the intimidating morning meeting around Eileen’s glossy surface, story ideas triumphed or sunk embarrassingly, but one reporter remarked she really had to finish her feature that day because she knew her interviewees were waiting to read it and she wanted “to do it right”.

Journalists don’t just have to write to deadlines; they have to do it responsibly.

*Some investigative journalism reveals that you can get a North Canterbury male show alpaca for only $20,000. I’ll have two.

such great hair.
via twistedsifter

Hearing voices

Several times a day my mind drifts off to its own world and flicks around  between topics like the crazy way pineapples grow, to looming deadlines, to who’s campaigning for mayor. For radio to capture my attention it has to be more interesting than spiky fruit bushes. So when I hear a broadcast that makes me focus it will likely have these two elements: captivating opening-audio and interesting voices.

I always thought pineapples grew in bunches like bananas.
Image courtesy of Exsodus / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Beginning.

The start of a story is crucial to engaging listeners. Jonathan Kern, author of Sound Reporting: The NPR Guide to Audio Journalism and Production said:

On radio you get one chance to tell the listeners your story, and then there’s no going back.

A dramatic statement but true nonetheless. Radio is often a background noise to other tasks. To get those listeners tuning in means the broadcast must use some tricks to lure an audience.

Let’s use Radio New Zealand’s programme Insight as an example. In May 2012, Tonga – The Future, was broadcast. Instead of an introduction from a reporter the story opens with a lone voice singing in Tongan. The listener must stay tuned in to find out that it is a kava drinking ceremony for the new King of Tonga. Rather than a reporter saying “a man sang while the new King drank kava”, the sound itself tells the story and rouses the curiosity of the listener. As Kern says:

The right sound… can substitute for dozens or hundreds of words, and can be as descriptive and evocative as a photograph.

A variety of sound is important to keep the attention of the listener and compete with other distractions like TV, the internet, and weird fruit bushes.

Did you know cashews grow on an apple type fruit.? The shell is poisonous and will give you a rash. Don’t eat it.
via topfoodfacts.com

The voice talent

An enthusiastic voice is more relatable and interesting for the listener than a monotone. Think back to that high school teacher who droned facts at you like the “anyone? Anyone?” teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  Sound has the ability to engage your emotions and alter mood and Kern sums up its capacity to grab attention:

Radio’s greatest strengths remain the power of sound to tell a story, the expressiveness of the human voice, and the intimacy of the medium.

Unfortunately the Tonga report, while informative, lacked the intimacy Kern mentioned because the serious nature of the topic inspired a sombre tone in the reporter and interviewees.

However, another Radio New Zealand broadcast from 2008 was full of enthusiastic, charismatic voices and exemplified “the power of sound to tell a story”. The documentary piece, Bowie’s Waiata, was broadcast in November of 2008; 25 years after David Bowie visited the Takapūwāhia Marae in Porirua in 1983.

The absence of a reporter’s voice is a noticeable difference. The intimacy that was lacking in the Tonga report is found here because the story is told by those that lived it and not by a bodiless voice. Relaxed voices combined with sound clips of Maori music and Bowie songs are permitted to tell the story. As Kern explains

during a radio interview we can often hear for ourselves that a politician is dismissive, or that a protester is angry… we don’t need a reporter to characterise them for us.

The relaxed voices in the broadcast speak honestly and humorously about the preparation and behaviour for Bowie’s visit and in doing so, educate the listener on Powhiri protocol. Stories are told of Bowie exchanging customary speeches and songs; giving a “pointy sharp nose hongi”; and tasting all of the food put before him by waitresses at the Hākari (feast) who purposely bumped his arms so they could say they’d touched him.

Intelligent decisions were made in the editing process to piece it together. The result is an entertaining and educational piece of radio journalism that lets sound tell the story and has me listening to the Labyrinth soundtrack.

Dance magic dance…
Image courtesy of EmilyinChains714

News Snaps

Pictures have long been said to be worth a thousands words and even though it’s a dirty cliche there is an element of truth to the saying that is worth considering.

Christchurch Polyfest 2013

Pictures grab people’s attention. It’s not so much that pictures say more than words but more to do with their ability to communicate information quickly and stir curiosity.

This is important when competing with other news outlets  for an audience. Technological advancements in access to the internet (e.g. smartphones, tablets, and netbooks) mean there are heaps of places to access news that weren’t a threat before. This demands that news be advertised and sold to the reader/customer and eye catching photography helps do this. Photos draw the reader in by appealing to their nosy nature.

A decent photo will conjure questions about what is happening and entice the audience to read the article. Nikon-Walkely finalist Dan Himbrecht’s  photo of  Malcolm John Nadem, uses deep focus to show the Australian former fugitive behind a line of police officers. Interestingly this picture doesn’t show faces but shows a chained and jump-suited Nadem with bowed head. By framing Nadem behind and between officers Himbrecht separates an intimidating threat to society from the general public/viewer with the protective figures of police. Nadem is conveyed as dangerous and the viewer must read the article to figure out why.

An artist waxes the frame for one of his prints

Creating a visually interesting picture is thus crucial to capturing the reader’s interest. In his book Photo Journalism: A Professional’s Approach Kenneth Kobre discusses visual variety and the function of different shots. Kobre encourages the use of different angles to show something the eye doesn’t normally see. Technical proficiency and composition are important to getting a good shot but good photojournalism requires something more from photographers.

Kobre said “most dramatic news photographs result not from city desk assignments but from vigilant photographers who monitor scanner radios to learn about breaking news situations”. Being constantly in tune with what is happening and developing good listening skills are key to knowing when it’s worth running out the door with a camera before being told by the news agency.

Simply put: the best way to get good photos is to get amongst it.

A lonely blog is no fun.

Blogging for the first time is an intimidating task. The safety of a streamlined news report is no longer in place to conceal more personal views. Instead, a blog invites personal opinion to be expressed not only from the blogger but from the readers as well.

The most common trait of successful blogs that I have seen is an engagement with the readers that asks for their thoughts and comments on the topic discussed. Journalist Charlie Gates’ blog The Picture Palace consistently asks readers to comment on his thoughts and they are not shy to do so. The New Zealand Herald film blogger Dominic Corry also invites discussion in his blog Adventures in Celluloid and makes an effort to reply to comments publicly. Both these bloggers exemplify that it is not enough to just share your view in a blog; you also have to respond to those who follow you and respond quickly. The use of the internet provides a quicker and more collaborative type of news than print that demands active participation from the blogger.

Collaboration is not just between a single blogger and their readers. Websites like Film School Rejects  have a team of writers contributing to the impressive collection of film reviews, discussion and extra information to sate a film junkie’s appetite. With clever blog names like Blog of Thrones and Commentary Commentary this website of mass blogging illustrates how having a niche topic can boost your online presence. Commentary Commentary makes lists of things learned from listening to the film commentary on special edition releases. Even though it has a specific aim it remains easily accessible to a wide range of people by discussing a variety of films from The Wizard of Oz to Casino Royale. Even Breaking Dawn gets a turn.

These blogs all indicate the importance of involving the reader in your writing by inviting them to respond and making the effort to respond back. A blog can create a more friendly atmosphere of exchange over a topic and lead onto to discovering new information or a different view that wasn’t considered before. It is clear to see that a beginning journalist must make the effort to join into discussion with the blogosphere and maintain this discussion regularly.