Tom Snyder

I thought last Thursday's class went pretty well. Tom is very funny, the audio clip about death row and weight watchers is hilarious. And I thought the exercise of editing his legal story was very helpful.
Window's movie maker is easy to use. It makes moving and editing audio fairly simple, which it should be.

Then I started to edit my audio...

And it was a disaster. What else is new right?

The audio clips do not sound good. I was at a coffee shop and you can hear the buzzing of people talking and the occasional truck roaring by, all from a crappy little recorder which I didn't think was even capable of recording our voices. I tried to edit these sounds out using audacity but it made the background noises sound like alien beeping. Improvement? Maybe... I haven't decided.

So there's that problem and then I thought, screw it I'll just edit the audio down to 5 minutes anyways, but for whatever reason Windows Movie Maker refuses to show the little audio squiggles, even though the sound is playing. What the hell!?!?!?!?

No more time for blogging... I have some serious audio issues to tackle.

Tired of using Technology

I hate technology. I have no patience for it. I want everything to work all of the time. It was taking all of my energy not to totally freak out in class last Thursday.

That said, we really don't have much of a choice. This is how journalism is approached now and I'm sure many journalists are also struggling with the problems programs and electronics present. I think when I feel more comfortable with some of these programs the problems will be easier too solve. Hopefully...

Right out Straight

Success! On Tuesday afternoon I finally got to meet the man whom I've been talking on the phone with for a few weeks. His name is John Borden. We were supposed to meet on Sunday afternoon but as he explained to me on the phone, "I was working on the boat till noon and then I was right out straight." That's a Maine expression - for those of you who don't know. It means really busy.

John has been in the fishing business since he was 14 years old. In 1987 he bought his own small, wooden, lobster boat. Since then his primary business has been in lobster and scallops.

The scalloping industry was recently dealt a huge blow. A formerly under-regulated business, scalloping has recently come under severe government tampering. A control date of 2000 to 2004 was selected and basically what happened was scalloping permits were only given to people who scalloped in between those years, this act restricted 2000 fishermen from scalloping.

John knows another man, Tommy Eaton, who was a life long scalloper. Tommy took a break to fish other sea life and then wanted to recently return to the business. Tommy purchased a new scalloping boat...and then found out he was unable to get a permit.

My interview with John went very well. He is very chatty, very invested in the subject obviously, and is a passionate fisherman. He works in a very difficult business; fuel prices have risen, seafood prices have fallen and it is the most highly regulated industry in the US.
When I asked him why he was still involved in such a difficult business he just laughed, shook his head and said, "I don't know."

He is also allowing me to be very involved. Soon I am going to go take photos of him putting a new rudder on his boat the Intrepid. When the Intrepid is ready he is going to let me go out on the boat for a typical day of fishing. This typical day starts at 2 a.m. You read that correctly... 2 a.m. When I first asked about when the boat leaves I said, "So when would I meet you? Like... 6... or 5 in the morning...?" Yea, I was a little off.

When we met for coffee John had been painting his boat. He was covered in maroon paint and I took a picture of him after the interview but since it was outside of Breaking New Grounds, it doesn't look very good. He also brought pictures with him, which is great! He has photos from many of his expeditions and they are really good. There are pictures from good days, where the boat looks ready to sink under the weight of scallops, and pictures from bad days where all he hauled up was starfish and sand dollars.

It's an interesting story - and important. I can't believe it isn't getting more press. I am just worried I am not experienced enough to do it justice...

My Little Narrative

I'd like to start off saying that I found Don Himsel's advice very useful. He really gave me a better idea of what it is like, behind the scenes, when making a multimedia piece. Up until this point I knew what a multimedia story was supposed to look like - I just had no idea how to approach it.

Now it seems clear to me - of course I should do an interview with my subject before sticking a camera and recorder in their face! But I was honestly confused by that before. And actually, I have good news about my big project.

Yay!

On Friday I am supposed to be meeting with a few fishermen at the harbor, who heard about what I am doing and are willing to cooperate. I'm really excited, and nervous, but it will definitely put me in a better place as far as the story is concerned. It needs a focus.

The entire 2-6 minute multimedia story should be able to be described by one sentence. It should be taut, and focused, and captivating. When I get to talk to these fishermen on Friday I'll be able to better find my specific angle.

I also thought what Don said about using music was interesting. Now that I think about it... using music is manipulative. Different music evokes different emotions - separate from what it is being paired with. If sad music is played to a story that seeks sympathy, it is manipulating the viewer to feel sad. That's not fair.

For my project this week I chose to just document myself... baking muffins.

I swear I am not a narcissistic jerk who just wanted to photograph and record myself! Really!

The reason I chose to create such a simple story that I played such a big part in, is because I really wanted quality material. I wanted better photographs and better audio than I've been getting. I wanted quality material because I want to focus, right now, on actually putting together a piece. I think that will help me a lot.

I didn't want to cover an event, have one shot, and then go back to my apartment just to find everything I shot and recorded is crap (this has already happened to me).

With this assignment I was less concerned with the story, and more concerned with the technical aspects of putting together a complete piece. I guess we will see how that goes tomorrow...

Let me Explain...

I deleted my last post. And the photo slide show that went along with it.
Let me explain...
My last post was really cranky. I am not a cranky person but I happened to be horribly sleep deprived and frustrated with the assignment for the week. I didn't know what to cover for a story and I assumed every photo I took and every video I shot would look awesome.
I was dead wrong.
They are horrible pictures and horrible footage, to embarrassing to leave up on the web really. They just had to go.

I'll admit, I'm struggling with the idea of multimedia. I don't think I take terribly good photos and I am very nervous about sticking a microphone in someone's face, which I've yet to do.

It seems like you need the skillz of being a movie maker more than of being a journalist in this field. And I've tried my hand at making movies. My debut, directorial and acting, was called the Alien Menace. It was... not menacing... or plausible...
After that came a string of slasher/monster films. I was always the bad guy, my sister was always the good guy, and everyone always died - every time.

Point is I haven't figured out how to make a multimedia piece yet.

Actually, the point was supposed to be that I deleted my work from last week because it was most heinous.

I'll try harder next time. Promise.