Reporter’s Guide to Multimedia Proficiency

Okay, I admit I haven’t read this as a whole, but I read all of the pieces as Mindy McAdams, Flash Goddess, posted them over the last year or so. She’s now compiled a 42 page PDF of her advice on stepping up your online journalism game. Given the thoroughness and inventiveness of her past work, this is a Must Read.

And it’s FREE. Yes, all that knowledge, FOR FREE. Because she cares about journalism, that’s why.

WeeGee and Cartier-Bresson speak!

This is excellent – an out of print LP of photographers talking, and Ted Barron has made a pair of them available as mp3 files. And they are good ones – WeeGee, the infamous crime photographer, and Henri Cartier-Bresson. (Thanks to The Online Photographer for the link.)

NY Times Audio Slide Show on Layoffs

Nicole Bengiveno of the New York Times takes a look at the person who has to make the layoff decisions and notifications. While the shooting is clean, it’s the interview that gets to you. It has no natural sounds, but it works – solemn, serious. 

Juggling on Assignment

Adam Westbrook, a reporter for a British radio station, talks about balancing the needs of audio, stills and video while on assignment. (Thanks to Koci at Multimedia Shooter for the link.)

The Power of True Multimedia

This … this … this is what multimedia can do so well. 

The New York Times, the Gray Lady, has put together a nearly 14-minute long tour-de-force looking at the presidential campaign. It is a stunning combination of photos, videos, audio, graphics and narrations. 

It is a complete package. 

How complete? Pay attention to the “Related Links” box below the main screen It changes throughout, offering up links to other stories the Times has done. But look closely – you can click right now and away from the may piece, or you can save them for later and watch them AFTER you’re done with the main piece. 

And that is brilliant conceptual storytelling, the melding of the push and pull formats in journalism. 

"Homeless in Atlanta"

John Spink at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has published an audio slide show looking at a homeless woman who lives by the CSX train tracks. All told through her voice in just over two minutes, pay special note to the opening image and the signs in the background. 

I would kill to make an opening image like that …

THIS Changes Everything … Perhaps …

Canon has announced it’s replacement for the long-in-the-tooth 5D, the 5D Mark II. All of the goodness you’d expect are there – higher resolution (a whopping, card-massacring 21 megapixels), better autofocus, better shadow detail, better noise control at high ISO, etc., all with the pure joy of a full frame CMOS chip. 

As with Nikon’s D90, there’s now a video mode, as well, and it tromps the resolution of Big N’s camera –  1920 x 1080 pixel (1080p) resolution versus the D90’s 1280 x 720. But that’s not what has me tempted to call my Canon guy at 8 in the morning – it’s that the 5D has a microphone jack built into it. And that, as any video shooter knows, is the killer feature.

Every point and shoot camera, as well as the D90 has the ability to record ambient sound through a built in mic, but none (that I’m aware of) has the ability to choose the microphone and microphone placement that is optimal for the story you’re working on. Bad audio is something viewers just will not tolerate – shaky video is okay if they can hear what’s going on. 

With news shooters needing to do video and stills, this camera should allow them to do both with one kit. 

Of course, the price difference between the D90 (around $1,000) and the 5D Mark II (around $2,700) is substantial. But a high definition video camera is more than the difference between them in price. 

Update: Canon also revved their top of the line point and shoot, now called the G10. The big news is the lens goes wider (to a 35 mm/full frame equivalent of 28 mm), but they also crammed 14 megapixels onto a very small chip. I’d rather have the previous chip with this lens, but oh well … 

"Last Stop"

The New York Times has a neat multimedia feature up on the city’s subway system. But they’re done it with a little twist: Ever wonder where the train goes after you get off? The rode all of the lines to the end, and then did photos, audio slide shows or videos about the areas at the end of the lines.

(Thanks to Prof. Janice Hume for the link.)

A 14 Year Journey

Scott Strazzante and MediaStorm have published his story looking at the transition of a farm into a sub-division, as told through the farm’s family and one of the new home’s families.

It is awesome.

The story is great, it is well told and it is beautifully shot. Every time I tell my students to shoot more, I will now have an example of why: the pairing of images, similar in composition, from both sides of this story, are amazing.  

Bearing Witness: Five Years of the Iraq War

Reuters has put together a multimedia package looking at the first five years of the war in Iraq. The introduction piece is a nice summation of what Reuters has been doing to cover the war, specifically talking about using local journalists as opposed to parachuting in folks. (The intro runs just under five minutes, watch your audio – the video clips are jarring.)