The Woodhaven Business Improvement District and Woodhaven Block Association
From the outside, a BID seems to only contribute to recognizing local businesses but on the inside, the BID plans, organizes and executes initiatives that helps these local businesses shine. The Woodhaven BID organizes events to show communities the importance of buying from local businesses. They care about the minorities within the neighborhood and look for ways to bring the community together. For holiday events, while Rockefeller center hosted their own Christmas tree lighting, the Woodhaven BID hosted their own local version. Through learning about the BID, I also spoke to community members and understood how different residents fought for what they cared about the most.
In 2016, The Woodhaven Block Association protested against the implementation of the Q52 and Q53 Select Bus Service. This protest and frustration continued for many years — members were annoyed that the DOT and MTA failed to listen to their concerns. After speaking to some members, and even community residents, I realized how much activism was present. Members from this association wanted to fight for change.
Debrief on our visit to the Bronx. Was it useful? Did it spark any ideas?
Breaking news in video
Most of the work we’ll be doing this semester is slower-paced video where you’ll have the ability to take your time to put together a thoughtful, carefully edited final product. But you might one day find yourself in a spot news or breaking news situation where you’re filing material throughout the day as you get it.
If you are working or stringing for a wire service, they will have a system for filing footage. You’ll need to file something called a dopesheet along with your video material. The dopesheet is basically a summary of what you’re sending them so they can see it all at a glance.
Here is an actual dopesheet I filed on a breaking news assignment; feel free to use it as a template. The trick with dopesheets is not only to transcribe your sound bites accurately; it’s to distill the main takeaway of the story, because the news outlets that subscribe to your wire need to know at a glance what the point of it is, why they should care, and why it’s worth them deciding to run it. So it does come back down to good writing. Think about what your nut graph would be.
The actual video file you’ll send them (I usually use WeTransfer, although some places may have another system in place, often via FTP) will be minimally edited, but the trick is that you have to work fast. You pull out soundbites, transcribe them, and cut together a sequence of your best B-roll. Then you put it all in one video project (sound bites first, then B-roll), export, and send. It will look something like this:
Discuss: What are some of the practical considerations you might want to keep in mind when covering a breaking news event?
Assignment:
At any point between now and March 18, you will cover a spot/breaking news story. You will file a video with at least three sound bites (from at least two different interviews) and 45 seconds of sequenced B-roll (3-5 seconds per shot) with accompanying dopesheet. The trick is that you must file it within 24 hours of wrapping your filming.
It’s up to you what you want to cover: one option is the Queens St. Patrick’s Day Parade which takes place on the first Saturday of March (I highly recommend this one over the big official parade in Manhattan; I covered that parade once and it was possibly my least favorite assignment of all time. I don’t want to be responsible for any of you quitting journalism).
In addition to the material you film with the school cameras, you will cover the story on social media. I’ve set up an Instagram account for our class where you will post at least one photo to the grid and three Stories updates before you leave the scene. Password: studioh160
Brainstorm: Breaking news stories/events in the next few weeks.
Rough cuts of your visual poems will be due by class time on Tuesday, March 3.
Reminder: Bring your footage to class this coming Tuesday! We will be devoting both classes next week to in-class editing/production. You should be just about done with your rough cut by the end of Thursday’s class. However, if you would like to hold off on posting it to the blog because you plan to make additional changes to your video outside of class, you may post or update it at any time before class the following Monday, when we will screen and workshop them together.
Final cuts of your visual poems will be due on Tuesday, March 10.
This annual Roz Bernstein Reporting Day will take place next week (Tuesday, Feb. 18) in the Bronx. Our class will be meeting either at the usual time here at Baruch or at 10am at The Point CDC the Bronx, and we’ll be having a guest speaker. You have the option of attending the entire day of reporting in the Bronx if your schedule permits. (Includes 9:05 or 10am at location TDB, followed by Bronx Defenders at 11:30, 1pm lunch at Xochimilco, and 3pm visit to the Bronx Documentary Center.) Please let me know by the end of the day if you’d like to RSVP to any additional part of this itinerary.
Screenings
We’ll take a look at your 10-Shot Sequences together. Did any questions or challenges arise in the process of shooting and editing these?
Discussion
Things to keep in mind on shooting days:
Get comfortable with the settings and equipment before you go out, especially your tripods since those can be a little tricky.
Bring snacks/water! Filming is physically demanding work.
Fully charge your spare battery (as well as the one in the camera) and bring it with you.
Dress warm! Keep your spare battery in a pocket where it won’t get cold; battery power and camera equipment in general don’t do well in extreme cold or heat.
These are large kits and you won’t need all the gear in them for this video, so anyone who would like to leave the bag in my office is welcome to.
Consider what kind of light you’ll be working with ahead of time and plan accordingly; if it’s likely to be a low light situation, you may want to check out a lens with a lower f-stop.
In video recording settings, Movie Servo AF is the setting which, if enabled, will automatically cause the lens to focus on a subject as it moves. In some situations, you may want this enabled, but remember that it takes control out of your hands so in many situations you may want to disable it.
Settings Cheat Sheet
Movie rec. size: 1920×1080 and 30fps
Shutter speed: 1/60 (or multiples of 30, ie if it’s very low light you can go down to 1/30 or if it’s very bright you can go higher)
ISO: Remember that if you go much higher than 800 or 1600, the image will start to get grainy. Sometimes this can’t be avoided, but avoid it if you can.
Aperture: The lower the f-stop, the more light you’re letting in, and the more dramatic the depth of field.
White balance: You can use Auto White Balance (AWB) if you expect to be changing light temperatures mid-shot (following someone outdoors, for instance). Otherwise it’s best to set it manually.
Movie Servo AF: Disable if you want to be able to control focus manually, and set the button on the lens itself to Manual Focus (MF).
We’ll wrap up a little early today so everyone can check out cameras.
My visual poem is going to be a codependent poem of sound and motion for everyday life. The goal is to be able to use candid, found, moments in NYC and show inherent rhythm in it.
I plan on going to lesser known areas of New York to reveal the beauty in these places. It would consist of random little things like graffiti on walls, couples on Valentine’s Day, little messages on street poles, friends having a good time, etc. each visual would first start with a closeup and then I’ll zoom out. I will write a poem to pair it with the visuals, the theme would be the beauty of life. The music would be dreamy, or sentimental. I want it to convey the importance in finding beauty in everything, even things that are destroyed or worn out. Not just the things that are already known to be beautiful.
I want my visual poem to capture brownstones in Harlem and Brooklyn. Brownstones are historic houses that have been popular in NEW YORK city for years.
I want my video start with me capturing the sun rising in HARLEM with birds chirping and ambi sounds of the neighborhood in the background. I want to record different shots of nice Harlem Brownstone. I will include visuals and sounds of cars driving by, as well as other sounds that reflect the neighborhood.
I would like include a bit of visuals of a TRAIN RIDE TO BROOKLYN with the sounds of the subway as a transition into Brooklyn. Next, I want to capture Brooklyn’s Brownstones houses and the visual and audio vibes from the neighborhood.
I want my video to end with a beautiful sunset on the water in BROOKLYN HEIGHTS (with sounds of water.) I want to include music that gives me NYC in the 50s-60s vibes, a hip-hop sounding track for the subway ride & then upbeat music for the Brooklyn brownstones. I want peaceful music towards the end for the sunset shot.
I would like my visual poem to convey the beauty of these historical buildings in the “best city” in the world.
wanted to shoot a video of the daily hustle and bustle of life. the waking up early, school, work, all the things that we have to do that take up our time from being able to do the things we want to do. wanted to record those things, in a dreary way, and on the positive side show things we do to enjoy ourselves, going to the gym, partying, eating, drinking etc. Basically showing the balance of life. How i plan to shoot this is, in different locations related to those moments. music in the background would reflect the actions in the videos.
Mostly, the hardest part when a loved one passed away is to deal with reminders of that person coming up in everything that surrounds you. And sometimes, those reminders can be places or simple, minimal things that for others are imperceptible. So, my idea for the visual poem is conveying those moments of everyday grief right after the loss of a loved one. I want to do that by shooting someone walking through several places in the city while he stops every time, he sees something that reminds him of that person that is no longer with him. Also, to make those little elements more attractive and perceptible, I want to use color blue, since it is usually associated with bad times.
In terms of structure, I plan to highlight not only the person’s facial expressions but also, the blue elements. So, in some sequences, I’d like to change the focus between the person and the background or the blue element he is looking at. And in others, I just want to combine close-ups to the legs of the person while walking, and then, wide shots to the entire place. In terms of the audio, I’ll combine natural sounds but also, I want a kind of mystic sound or sad melody for most of the video.
My visual poem would weave a narrative about the busy natural world within the city. Visuals would include land, water, trees, and animals. The focus would be about how city life encroaches on the day to day existence of nature. I would film in parks and around neighborhoods. Natural sounds as well as music would be included.
