09 22-16-audio slideshow assignments
- 2. Audio slideshow project • Audio slideshow storytelling is two tasks in one: a slideshow, and a news story. In this class, you will learn two skills: how to create an audio slideshow, and how to tell a story using visual narrative techniques. • Skill needed: 1. Taking & editing photos 2. Conduct interview 3. Editing sound and pace 4. Verbal narration
- 3. Why audio slideshow? • Slideshow is one of the oldest forms of multimedia reporting, dating back to 1800. • There are many reasons why journalists still use slideshow for storytelling. For example, video can be too obtrusive. • Best part may be that it tells story with pauses and time for reflection, letting ambient noise and images linger for emphasis. • Video can give you some of these results, but audio slideshows provide a further level of emphasis, detail and intimacy with the subject matter.
- 4. Requirement of your story assignment 1. Photos: Even 5 pictures make a story. Examples we saw were over 20. I ask you to do at least 7 photos. 2. Time: 1:30 to 2 minutes is the standard. 3. Audio: at least one interview other than yourself. More than 3 different types audio files. *Examples of audio: narration, interview, music, natural sound, sound track from other media. 4. Titles and captions. 5. Photos should have movements (pan & zoom). Do not distribute the same time for all pictures.
- 5. Other recommendations. • Audio recording is clear and noise-free. • Audio interview demonstrates interview techniques (open-ended questions, interviewee repeating questions, no closed-ended questions). • All photos are properly framed (composition, frame). • Has a proper mixture of shots to build a sequence (wide, medium, close-up, etc.).
- 7. Shaping stories: You may find ideas but they are not stories . • Structure: Stories are presented in narrative styles. Typically they have beginning –middle – end. • Set up: characters, location, time and other elements. -in a way that allows events to unfold so that audience wants to know more and more about it -tell how are your characters are affected -how they develop a solution (or not) and finally where they go from there. • Decide audience and tailor your story accordingly.
- 8. Narrative stories v. Reports (Pyramid) (Reverse pyramid) *Freytag’s Pyramid: originally developed to analyzed Greek and Roman plays. Exposition: Introduction to the characters, the conflict and basic setting. Rising action: More detail. Reveal the nature of the conflict. Climax: the moment of greatest tension. Turning point for better or worse. Falling action: heading to the conclusion. Sometimes continued tension. Denouement: where complications are resolved and the story comes to end. *Compare it with the reverse pyramid.
- 9. In our projects most stories will be shaped according to 3 act principle. Storytellers think of story structure as three act play (Means recommended by the instructor). Act 1. Introduce your characters. Let us meet them. Show location and time. Give a reason why we should care about them. Act 2. Reveal the complication. Usually the longest part of the story. Let the complication intensify. Act 3. Resolve the complication. And finish the story in a satisfying way. What choices were made in the crisis?
- 10. Point of view (POV) • First-person POV: e.g. Greys anatomy. Many of bio videos. • Second-person POV: Direct address by the actors to the audience. e.g. Think of on-spot TV anchors. • Third-person POV: Most common in storytelling. Audience are detached observers. • Character POV: One character is dominant in a series of stories. e.g. sit com Seinfeld. • Conflicting POV: Mixture of different point of view.
- 11. Exercise: identifying structure and POV • “Hungry: Living with the Prader-Willi Syndrome” Identify the three part acts. https://vimeo.com/5717103 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5BSpxvqL2A • Sofa by Wayne Richard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPrnDD51Y5s&list=PL7AC307C5 535EF045
- 13. Types of camera shots. To build a complete story, you have to capture different aspects of an object using a series of different shots – wide shot (WS), medium shot (MS), Close-up (CU), Reaction shot (RS), Point of view (POV), and others. Here are types of camera shots from mediacollege.com. Please understand and study each type. • http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/
- 14. 5 shot rule: This is an example of 5 sequence storytelling illustrated by Poynter institute. Shot 1. The scene setter • Use Wide shot or Extreme wide shot. • Where is your story taking place? • What does it look like? • What is the mood of the place? (Think of audio to go with it) https://www.youtube.com/watch?feat ure=player_embedded&v=N_3m52fz BV0
- 15. Shot 2: Connect the character • Use Medium shot • The spot of your action • The character connects with the setting. • The area of the building or town where your subjects are. • This shot narrows your story’s field of view and should bring you closer in
- 16. Shot 3: the portrait • Close up • Who is your main subject and what does he or she look like? • This can be a traditional head and shoulders shot or a wider shot that shows surroundings. • It’s always best to take a variety of portrait shots.
- 17. Shot 4. Capturing detail. • Extreme close up shot • Detail shots work especially well for transitions, but can have great storytelling potential all their own. • What are the pictures on someone’s desk? What books are they reading? What’s that post card they have tacked to the wall? • All of these things tell us a little bit about our subject.
- 18. Shot 5: capturing action • Medium close up, Over the shoulder, or point of view shot. • Action shots show your subject doing something — this shot may be your theme. • This is the shot some photographers spend an entire shoot trying to perfect, often amounting to the same shot being taken 30 times. • Photos of your subject in action are essential in your story.
- 19. Next step: plan the storytelling. • As a producer, once you have a concept, you need to find a way to finance its production. 1. determine the essential content and structure of the story and the best way to treat the story 2. determine the best audience/market for your story 3. develop a sales presentation for the story.
- 20. Narration & sound • Not too much narration. Its essence is conveying a sense of space, shifting time and place, and atmosphere. • A good audio slideshow makes extensive use of sound effects. Look around, see and hear the local circumstances. If the sounds are relevant, use them as a deliberate feature. In a forest, for example, you might use the sounds of moving through the trees. • When on location there will always be some background sound. This could be the hum of an office or a noisy street scene. Make sure you record plenty of this, even if you do not think you need it.
- 21. Audio is very important. Interviews and sounds lets you tell powerful stories. Example of story where natural sound is crucial. • Desperate journey http://kobreguide.com/video/?pare nt=7488&meta=22870 Example of story where music crucial. • The magic castle https://vimeo.com/13533092
- 22. Interviews • Limit the interviewees to three or four. And leave room for the ambient noise, sound effects and music. • In general, collect only about 40 minutes of material for four interviews, excluding ambient noise and sound effects. This should give plenty to choose from, leaving unused but interesting material for other features or as stand-alone interviews.
- 23. Exercise: Give response to following slideshows. • Local issue: Seattle art community evacuated by city project (U of Washington) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYsHLKqbPfo Student project 1. To make the story more interesting, what kind of sound would you use more? For example, interview, narration or natural sound? 2. What kind of photo shots would you use more? 3. What kind of information would you add to the story?
- 24. <Work flow> 1. Gather material and research 2. Write a script (check a sample file) 3 Choose your location 4 Gather natural sound + Take a wide shot photo 5 Prepare your subject • Take medium shot photo • Try delayed recording : some rehearsing needed. • Mark the best spots, find operative words for recording. 6 Get action shots 7 Add narration. Add music sound or photo 8 Edit with software (Adobe Premiere)
- 25. Editing 1. Overall structure of the story 2. Edit audio file first in most cases. 3. Movement and pace: Photo sequencing. Zoom and Pan. 4. Play around with the structure. Begin with the ending and end with the beginning.
- 26. Movement • We don’t want the slideshow to consist entirely of stills, but we don’t want it to be all moving pictures either. Use a few stills in a segment, followed by a segment of moving pictures, followed by another still segment, and this pattern repeats till the end. • Bad example https://youtu.be/ypMF0kmsKDI • Extreme case. No more than three or four photos (still or moving) in one group. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4MaGX mBKxBE
- 27. Links to example and free sources. • Good place to find professional audio slide http://journalists.org/2011/12/22/social-shares-top-audio-photo- slideshows-chosen-by-onas-community/ • Make use of free music sites. E.g., http://freemusicarchive.org/music • Collaborative work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkGIsjcc2N8
- 28. More student work examples • Introducing lifestyle https://9f3c6c519eb2c191f64d8d4f982b551fb528dda0 .googledrive.com/host/0B8_BOkL- 3AyFMGRzRVBPcmdIUTQ/index.html • Introducing an academic cause https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z34Xz- tmZrE&feature=youtu.be • Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvbXRAiPkTA • Introducing activism or movement With Love XOXO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn_237DauL0&fe ature=youtu.be • Share food https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn_237DauL0&fe ature=youtu.be
- 29. Tools for audio recording
- 30. Before recording interviews… • New York's wiretapping law is a "one-party consent" law. New York makes it a crime to record to record or eavesdrop on an in-person or telephone conversation unless one party to the conversation consents. N.Y. Penal Law §§ 250.00, 250.05. • If you operate in New York, you may record a conversation or phone call if you are a party to the conversation or you get permission from one party to the conversation in advance. If you intend to record conversations involving people located in more than one state, you should play it safe and get the consent of all parties. • Poynter institute guide. http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/70385/think-before-you- record
- 31. Digital recorder may be the first choice -Request a digital recorder that can easily transfer sound files (MP3 and/or WMA format) to a computer with a built-in USB slider. , -The department has Olympus recorder shown right. -If you are at an event, this equipment can record many people’s voice at one time.
- 32. Using smartphones as a portable audio recorder • Free recording apps: iTalk by Griffin Technology and Recorder Plus HD by Turbokey Studio (both available from the iTunes store; they also work on iPads). Android users can check out Easy Voice Recorder by Digipom and Sound Recorder by Needom Studio. • The apps turn smartphone into a recording device, useful when you are conducting in-person interviews. Dozens of other free and paid recording apps are available in the iTunes store and Google Play. • Be sure to change the settings to to Airplane Mode so you are not interrupted by phone calls and other notifications during your interview. • BBC’s tips • http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/journalism/article/art20130702112133 386
- 33. Using equipments for smartphones • An external mic can help improve sound quality of your recordings. If you are conducting an interview where there is a lot of competing noise, an external mic will help. Many microphones are geared for musicians and may be overkill for your purposes. • Although most smartphones have a 3.5mm jack, it really doesn’t limit the microphones you can use. A Pearstone OLM-10 Omnidirectional Lavalier Microphone with a 1/8″ (3.5mm) Stereo Mini Plug is widely in use by journalists. under $25). • It good to have an external charger available. Mophie Juice Pack has the rechargeable external battery housed in a protective case for the phone.
- 34. Using Smartphone to record a phone interview • iPhone and other smartphones with applications fully record an outgoing call and an incoming call. • Examples of apps. Iiphone: TAPEACALL, Call Recorder, Call Recording, and CallRec.me. Android: Record My Call: Call Recorder that you can find on Google Play. • https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/5-apps-for-journalists-to- record-phone-interviews/s2/a565782
- 35. Skype • Skype is probably the most affordable and well-known video calling service. Also, there are apps that integrate into Skype that let you record incoming and outgoing calls. Call Recorder for Skype (Mac only) There are dozens of similar apps available from Skype’s website. • Skype is really good all-around service, but, before using it for phone or video interviews, understand that some call quality issues that may flare up occasionally.
- 36. Google Voice • Google Voice is a free voice-over Internet protocol that works on most smartphones, landlines or cellphones. • Best of all for us, Google Voice makes it possible to record interviews with any phone, and promptly delivers .mp3 files into your in-box, which can be downloaded, emailed, and more. • The .mp3 files produced by Google Voice can then be imported into Adobe Audition and many other editing programs.