Audio slideshows

We are not meeting Wednesday because that is our “24-hours in the Life of Winthrop” shoot. Everyone in this class is expected to participate.

IMPORTANT – Tomorrow at 11 a.m. is our orientation meeting for how we are going to accomplish this logistically difficult task. YOU MUST COME TO THIS MEETING TOMORROW AT 11 A.M. The meeting will be held in 101 Johnson (downstairs).

Most of you have completed your “Reporter’s Notebook” project, so now we’ll proceed to our first video assignment.

This will be a slideshow with natural sound.

You will conduct interview(s) and gather natural sound. While the Reporter’s Notebook focused on sound, this combines sound with still images. You should use Adobe Premiere to create this, as I want you to become familiar with editing on Premiere.

Go to a visually arresting event or location within the next week. Shoot video or stills – but video might be easier because it captures the sound. You can pull the stills off the video if you choose this method. Or, you could just shoot stills and capture the sound separately – with the hand-held mics, for example.

Make sure you get a variety of shots…. Closeups, wideshots, medium shots. Mix up the perspectives in your photos. Be creative; play with shadows and light. Don’t be boring and shoot all faces – shots of feet or fingers, etc., can be very effective. When you’re done you’ll choose 20-30 of the best shots and marry them to your audio. You can add music if you like to add drama and pace to the piece.

I’ll allow you to kill two birds with one stone for this assignment – if you wish, you may use the stills/video you shoot for the “24 hours in the life of Winthrop.” But if you take this approach, don’t forget that the sound is very important, so you’ll need interviews. Alternatively, you can do something different for this assignment…. Go to a basketball game, for example, or to the park just beginning to flower, or to a tennis match, or the Winthrop lake, etc.

Have your material (sound and images) ready to edit by next Monday’s class. I’ll give you time to edit these pieces and write your story.

I also want you to do a print story to go with your piece. See examples here: