Video reporting

In my convergence journalism class, we put together our first broadcast stories in video package form. Multimedia reporting was a lot more difficult for me than I ever could have expected, because you can't redo events if what you filmed isn't exactly what you want for the video package. My first package portrayed the impact of children's theater in Columbia, with interviews from a theater dance teacher and two students who have acted in many local musicals.

The biggest thing I've learned and will do differently in the future when compiling TV stories is referencing. Referencing is when the verbal narration of a piece is aligned with what visually appears on the screen. This is especially important in broadcast journalism because it is common for TV viewers to look at the screen but not fully listen to what's being explained. When they do choose to tune in, the narration must match the visuals so viewers understand the news and digest it accordingly.

One way to counteract the issue of referencing is to acquire as much "b-roll" film as possible, with a variety of shots. Then, you can set the scene with a good variety of shots and reference each one. Therefore, in my future video projects, I will set the goal of getting as many shots as possible so I can reference what's going on when I put together the package.

What do you call members of society?

In my qualitative research class, we are currently discussing when to use certain labels for the audience. The audience refers to people in a society, but the way they are depicted has a huge impact on how we envision who they are.

Is it an audience or consumers? Consumers or media users? Audience or "the public"? The public or the masses? Citizens or people? Readers and viewers and listeners, or users?

All of these conscious labeling decisions are important for semiotics and word selection in writing. Each term carries implications and definitions of who the term incorporates. While some choices might be easier than others, it's rare that one is wrong--but vital that the word you choose is most accurate and representative of who you want to portray.

The simplest choices are describing an audience as readers, viewers or listeners because those refer to the manner in which something is consumed. But deciding whether an audience is a consumer or a user becomes tricky. I encourage you to think about how you reference people in your writing, especially in media, and how it influences the holistic meaning of the piece!

Journalistic video: A crowded Mexico City prison

On Time.com's video stories, I came across a news video story titled Inside Mexico's Overcrowded Prisons. After learning about good qualities of journalistic video stories in my convergence coursework this week, I paid attention to the video's attributes to analyze if the correct types of shots were retrieved, how the interviews are framed and if using multimedia for the story contributes something new to the stories that photo, text or radio cannot add alone.

I think this video is a good example of TV journalism because it takes the viewer on a journey through the jail. The reporter takes viewers through the largest penitentiary in Latin America in Mexico City, discussing how its 12,000 inmates are crowding the property. Video reporting allows various parts of the story to be told and portrayed- such as the overall atmosphere, exercise therapy, and the different programs and recovery classes that the Mexico City prison has. A variety of wide, medium and tight shots are used wisely and work together to portray the story of an inmate's daily life inside this packed prison. While a photo slideshow would also be powerful, the background sound as we observe the prison and interviews contribute to the significance of this prison and its newsworthiness.

There are more than three interviews, and the interview shot framing does a good job of focusing on the sources. The interviews showcased are not just thrown into the story, they add detail and personal stories to the package by discussing the inmates' situations, explaining how one man has not seen his son in years.

One way I observed that the video could have improved upon was using a tripod to film shots. Some of the film was bouncy - meaning someone carried the camera around instead of keeping it still on a stand - and it diminished the story's credibility.

Check it out yourself:

Lessons from graduate school: be careful how you write

This year, I am completing my Master’s degree in convergence journalism at Mizzou this semester through May. In the next few weeks, I’ll be publishing a series of posts of some of my most interesting observations from graduate school.

One of the biggest realizations made is how many different writing styles I have learned and read throughout my education. The nature of being in journalism grad school, studying strategic communication and learning research methods to write a thesis exposes me to different writing methods each day. Let’s review three distinct types of writing:

• Writing for business: This is how creative briefs and points of view are written in the advertising industry. Business language and fancy words are acceptable, and each sentence must be clear, crisp and concise. A lot of bullet points and rationales are used here, but each individual word chosen matters.

• Writing hard news stories: News is written in the inverted pyramid style, providing the most important facts at the top and moving down from there. Hard news is very factual, with information given and quotations from reputable sources used to support or exemplify it. The story is written with language you would use conversationally; for example, I would write "he said" and not "he exclaimed" as in literature. One of my professors describes news writing with the goal of describing what has happened, what the implications are and if it could happen again. 

• Writing about research: This one baffles me the most because the writing style is full of jargon, obvious transition phrases and often in first person. For my qualitative research and mass media seminar courses, I read articles that fit this description every day. They begin with an abstract, which usually states something like “In this paper, I will review the eight ways you can accomplish these three goals in journalism. The theory I propose implies that there is a relationship between x and y, and we will look at 5 interviews showing how.” Writing is pretty much an outline with subheads, descriptions and a lot of foreshadowing. Overall, writing for research is explaining a method for research, providing your findings and analyzing the implications from your perspective.

My favorite part about reading writing for research is the amount of words that authors and researchers make up. Interactionism, operationalize, cathection…none of those are in the dictionary. The amount of times I have to switch between both reading and writing styles on a daily basis is absurd. I will write a paper on interviews as qualitative research one hour, write a news story for Missouri Business Alert the next and then review Mojo Ad's creative briefs for this semester's campaigns. 

My biggest tips for managing different reading and writing styles on a regular basis as a graduate student are getting in the zone and considering your audience. Remember what the assignment is and which type of writing is best. The mindset needed to read research is a lot different than reading a news story. Be prepared to write to your audience: whether it's undergraduate students, other master's students, adjunct professors or professors with doctoral degrees. Each will ask different questions about what they read; some want the rationale clear and specified, others want it grounded in your writing. 

I've also noticed that my email writing sometimes incorporates all three of these unintentionally.  Technically, email should be categorized as writing for business, but sometimes I'll write my emails in outline for if I have just read some research stories. But then you have to remember- emails are supposed to be brief and get the point across, not become an outlined paper! Therefore, if you're going to be a grad student, be aware that each of these writing styles requires a different mindset to comprehend and express yourself.   

A different kind of listening: being open to suggestions

One weakness many humans have is the ability to sit back and listen. We want to be heard and in control so much that we sometimes become so picky that we don’t take the time to ask others what they think—even when they’re experts. A comical area where this close-mindedness comes to life everyday that we should rethink is food preferences. You’re probably laughing, thinking, Katie- I want to eat what I want to eat. Where does listening fit in with food?

When I was younger, I ordered the same couple of meal items over and over again. Plain hamburgers, chicken pastas, the list goes on. But after studying abroad last year, I learned the value of trying new foods and asking restaurant employees to recommend something from their menus. They spend the most time around the place they serve food—and if they’re not eating it, they’re observing what everyone who comes in is ordering. Asking friends and wait staff for meal suggestions has opened me up to a whole new world of food: hummus, different ice cream flavors and even some seafood. Listening to the server recommendations provides the replenishing lesson that hired employees really are experts on their workplace—and even if we think we are smarter than them in some capacity, we’re probably not.

Asking waiters and waitresses what they recommend has gotten me to try a variety of new items throughout the years. Just yesterday, I entered Starbucks with a free drink coupon and told the barista that I wanted something fun that most people don’t order. She told me—“Order the salty caramel mocha.” On the surface, it sounds disgusting. I just started liking coffee less than a few months ago and suddenly, I want to drink it with salt and caramel? Ick. But I took a chance, tried the concoction and it was just as amazing as the barista said—like a chocolate-covered-pretzel flavored coffee. And it was amazing.

This has happened countless times in the past few years when I’m trying any new restaurant. Server suggestions have led me to the incredible inventions of the black bean hamburger, great steak sauces and a personal favorite—cotton candy ice cream and oreo cookies blended together. The variety of dishes and suggestions given showcase a server’s personality, and reflect what is both good and relatable.

So why did I waste your time talking about food? Because it’s one small reminder of how asking the right questions and listening from there on out is incredibly important in life. Just because we think we have an idea of what we want doesn’t mean we have to block out all of the  other forces that could somehow change that. Sometimes, there are experts right in front of your face and we blatantly ignore them out of superiority. Take advantage of others’ recommendations, don’t be afraid to ask for them and listen, and listen to what the people surrounding you say in everyday life so you don’t get lost in your own thoughts and miss what’s right in front of you. 

Convergence: Improving radio reporting

After an intense few weeks of photography, my convergence course has moved onto audio reporting and learned how to use Zoom recorders to capture interviews and natural sound. Our first assignment was to compile soundbites, but next we were challenged to put together an NPR-style story with natural soundbites and two interviews.

I've been reporting on the musical Annie held in Columbia, Mo. as a co-production between Performing Arts in Children's Education (PACE) and Columbia Entertainment Company (CEC). For my story, I interviewed Liz, the 12-year-old actress who plays Annie, and Angela, the show's director. Both interviews went well and I had a good experience putting the piece together by teaching myself to storyboard it out, decide which story I wanted to tell and cut and edit the audio sound after.

In the future, the biggest improvement I want to make is writing my questions in a manner that elicits the sources to tell stories. This will make the story more interesting, connect the dots and let me as the narrator write good transitions that build up to a good overall piece. I'll continue to put effort into storyboarding out what I want to tell, and writing good narration. Last class, the most powerful advice we received was that the end of an audio story is just as important as the lede of a print story. I will incorporate these best practices and look forward to combining audio and visual skills this next week with video reporting and learning FinalCutPro!

Seeing the world through a different lens

After completing just a few photography assignments, I'm already starting to look at moments from a different perspective after attempting to capture them on camera. Manually taking photos has really made me gain an appreciation for still moments in time. I have been challenged to find decisive moments, facial reactions and interactions--and realizing how difficult they were to capture reminded me how special they truly are. I can enjoy the physical appearance of a friend's laughter, a memorable exchange between a group of people or the details of a scene...and sometimes even wish I had a camera with me.

Because of that, photo work has taught me the importance of context in everything humans do. We are constantly curious, and expect to see see the full scope of what is happening around us. We are not satisfied with just one facet of an atmosphere and demand additional information because it is so easily accessible. Therefore, photography has affected my worldview because it reminds me to take note of context, place scenarios with accurate background information and appreciate the moments going on right in front of your face--rather than trying too hard to find moments that won't arise.