Category: Uncategorized

Pitch: This documentary follows a Muslim spiritual leader and their time in the US as a delegate for the UN during the month of Ramadan. This will cover about the recents events that are happening in Gaza and his home-place of Kashmir and the importance of making meaningful actions to support the amends for peace. This documentary will cover a week of his stay in New York and the various events he attends at the UN and at his Mureed’s (followers) homes. This video will cover the question, what is different about this Ramadan? And what should the youth do to step up and take the role towards unity through their spiritual background.

Characters: Pir Syed Muhammad Ali Raza Bukhari, Spiritual leader, CEO & Chairman of the Sufi Peace Forum & The Raza Foundation

Mohammad A., fellow mureed (follower) and coordinator of the Sufi Peace Forum & The Raza Foundation

Shooting Plan: 

Shoot shots at the UN, shoot at Iftar dinners at others homes, the airport, driving on the road, religious events, getting the subjects in view and following a 5 shot sequence to capture a calm and inspiring environment.

Shooting Timeline: 

Shooting is currently going, and will wrap shooting once the guest leaves back home soon.

Storytelling plan: 

Starting when he is picked up from the airport and then taken to a host house he spends his fasting time there, having iftar dinner and suhoor morning. Him doing the call to prayer. Trips to the UN, trips to homes of mureeds. The documentary will end with the guest leaving back home with an overlay of his mission for the future.

Theme: 

The themes of spirituality and its connection to the importance of humanitarian & social welfare work.

According to the website consumeraffairs.com, “Almost all Americans own and use a smartphone”. While there are several applications for smartphone use ranging from consuming content to conducting business, experts have raised concerns about its potential overuse. This is particularly interesting since smartphone use is almost second nature to most people. 

However, this widespread usage has brought with it several complications and challenges especially in a fast-paced and population dense city like New York where people seem to be engrossed in their phones while on sidewalks, subway stations, and in other public spaces. Though this behavior is commonplace and often overlooked by most, it is a hindrance to commuters and everyday travelers who see this phenomenon as an irritant that often impacts their lives directly or indirectly. According to a 2015 Pew Research survey, 77% of the population consider this behavior “Not Okay” especially while walking down the street. 

Do people use smartphones for mere communication/entertainment or does this public behavior have sociological and psychological precedent and implications? 

Join me as I intend to explore this behavior and get to the bottom of the issue by observing, investigating, and interviewing different stakeholders and experts about the topic. The tone of the doc will be mixed: while expert interviews will be serious to get to the bottom of the issue, interviews with students/general audience will be interactive and “fun.”

Main Characters: CUNY studentsDr. Elizabeth Miller (Sociology)Prof. Linda Kalfayan (Communications)Psychology professor (TBD)	Crew:Producer/Director: Anirudh Tekalkote
Filming Locations:Manhattan, NYWestchester, NY	Timeline:Weekends of April 5, 12, 19April 15th rough cut due.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bbqduCwarp0i9XOqmReOODkN_m5Xcq2JotVnPYGyGBw/edit?usp=sharing

Reminders and Upcoming Dates

Treatments for your 5-7 minute doc are due today.

No class on Monday, April 8 so that you can shoot your breaking news assignment, due by midnight the same night. You have the option of pitching me an alternative breaking news story (must be completed by the end of the semester). There’s a solar eclipse group viewing party at the BBG: check out the event here.

The rough cut of your 5-7 minute doc will be due Monday, April 15 so that you can get feedback before we break for spring recess.

Visual Poems

We’ll finish screening the last of the visual poems.

Treatments

Separate into groups of three and read each other’s doc treatments. We’ll take about 15 minutes during which you can give each other feedback, ask critical questions, offer suggestions, etc.

For Wednesday’s class:

We will be doing an audio exercise with your microphones on Wednesday, so please make sure to bring your cameras and tripods to class.

Pitch: Street skiing is a lesser-known snow sport category that, similar to skateboarding, uses cityscapes (railings, curbs, stairs, roof slopes) as tools for executing tricks and flips, stunts if you will. Being that it is not an Olympic sport, these skiers source their livelihoods through brand deals/sponsorships. It is a niche section of skiing that takes the skier out of ski resorts, into the streets, using built up surfaces to cushion their skies to then launching off buildings. Absolutely exhilarating and dangerous. Aside from the talent it takes to do street skiing, there is a street-ski culture that is ever-evolving and adapted by skiers to make a name for themselves. Due to the ‘non-officiality’ of the sport, it is eminent that skiers create a personal brand that is telling of their personal style (skiing style and fashion). For this story, the narrative will focus on Liam Baxter, a street-skier, with a self-brand (lemur ski) that he has built up over the years to make a name for himself in the industry. Liam travels nonstop for 7/12 months of the year, chasing the snow and emerging street scenes across the world to film for brands like Line Skis and Jiberish. For this documentary it will narrate his journey while illustrating the mental and physical toll that being a professional athlete has on individuals.

Characters: The main character will be Liam Baxter who is a professional skier that does park skiing/street skiing. Skiing is his livelihood, yet it is a physically and mentally exhausting sport. He depends on brand deals/sponsorships to finance his skiing. He has been skiing since he was very young and has overcome many challenges (injuries, mental illness) yet loves the sport way to much and plans to go until his body cannot keep up.

Shooting Plan: I already have some shots, all of which are of him skiing at a park within a ski resort, that I took while in Colorado/Utah with Liam. Furthermore, I will be with him for a couple days in Canada where he will skiing street. Visually, I think that the piece will cover a variety of shots to really set the scene and show the process of this unique sport. I will get shots of the natural surrounding so that I give my audience an idea of where something like this takes place. Then, most of my visuals will be of Liam- him skiing, scouting out spots, getting ready.  The visual style that I want to create will have notes of thrill with threads of seriousness (this is his lively hood and can be very dangerous- would like to do a flashback to when he sliced open his leg with his own ski), but also triumph to really show the passion, love, and community that these extreme-sport athletes have.

Shooting Timeline: I have already begun shooting. I skied with him at the beginning of February so I have some footage that I can use already. I am planning on going for a portion of his upcoming trip to Canada so I will get the majority of my filming then. Additionally, I can squeeze in some time at the end of April (Spring Break) to meet up with him in Utah and get more video if I need too.

Storytelling Plan: The structure will be a collection of ‘action-eske’ shots, starting with him ‘practicing’ at the park to then skiing the streets. I want to sequence the film according to the process of street skiing. The initial stages of scouting out potential spots to hit, to then preparing the spot- building up a jump, landing, lead way, etc., and then the actual skiing/hitting of that spot. It is an exhausting process so I will reveal that through the ‘buildup’ and initial stages that take place before any skiing takes place. Then, to capture the physical/mental pain and strength, that will come with the actual skiing- the nonstop trial and errors of making a landing or perfecting a trick. This will ultimately come through as they will hit one spot for an entire day, 12+ hours (i.e. trying to hit and perfect a single section of a rail over and over and over again). The end will be him successfully hitting a tricky spot (maybe a rail or jump) so that the story ends on a good note, but shows that their hard work pays off once they get the clip they need- a ton of work for a shot that lasts a couple seconds.

Theme: The larger truth is, one, the physical toll that this sport has on the body, but, two, the mental toll that being a professional athlete, especially in a more extreme/niche sport like street skiing, has on an individual. I want to relay the passion and die-hard love somebody must have to be successful in this industry.

https://youtu.be/NTJzDmhBgCQ

Portfolio Websites and Reels

If you want to make headway in this industry when you leave Baruch, the single most useful thing you can have is a professional-looking portfolio website. Editors aren’t going to ask to see your transcript or your resume—they’ll want to see your work, and the most efficient way of doing that is to send them a link. It’ll show that you take yourself seriously

Discussion: Making a great portfolio website

What medium (or media) are you going to be featuring prominently? Keep that in mind when choosing a template.

A portfolio website is basically an online resume. You’re selling yourself, so make sure you’re putting your best foot forward. Link to your various social media profiles, Vimeo/YouTube accounts, etc. You can post your resume on there if you like. Write a good bio for your About page, and ideally include some sort of headshot photo.

Some people choose to adopt a more formal tone, while others let a bit of their personality show through. Think about how you want to brand yourself.

Requirements for Final Portfolio and Reel

You’ll need at least three main pages on your site: a Video or Home page where we can view your projects, a Reel page, and an About page where you describe yourself and your work (names/sections can vary, but that’s the general idea). Some people put their contact info on this page, while others choose to have an entirely separate Contact page. Those of you who have work you’d like to showcase from other classes or personal projects are welcome to create a Photography or Audio page… or organize it entirely differently if there’s another system that works for you.

You’ll want a nice professional-looking headshot taken for your bio page, or a shot of you in action reporting. I recommend taking advantage of having your school cameras to do this. And please make sure you proofread. I want to see a sentence or short paragraph introducing each of your projects, on the portfolio site if the template allows space for it as well as on the Vimeo page where the video is hosted.

It is recommended but not required for you to link the website to your own domain name, because I don’t want to require any of you to pay a website subscription. Most of the site builders listed below have basic options that will allow you to host your site for free if you have a ____.wordpress.com or a ____.weebly.com address; often your site will show up with advertisements unless you upgrade (the monthly fee varies). It’s up to you whether or not it’s worth it at this stage to pay for the more polished, professional-looking website that a personalized domain will give you. A domain name will usually run you about $12-$15 a year and it’s fairly simple to link your portfolio site to it by going into the settings and making a few changes. Let me know if you run into any difficulty here and I’ll be happy to help you.

Bearing in mind that since most of you don’t have a huge amount of material yet to work with, your reel doesn’t need to be very long. One minute long is plenty, and you should keep it under two minutes—basically you’re just taking your absolute best shots from everything you’ve ever filmed and cutting them together with music. Feel free to use this as an opportunity to showcase clips from old projects from past semesters as well.

Deadline: This assignment will be due on the very last day of class.

Some examples of multimedia journalist websites:

https://marianahenninger.com/

http://www.amandamustard.com/

http://www.edouphoto.com/

http://www.esthermbabazi.com/

https://www.keithlanephotography.com/

https://emilyjreports.com/

https://www.amralfiky.com/

http://www.neilbrandvold.com/

Documentary Photographer

A few popular website builder options:

WordPress

Adobe Portfolio (free if you subscribe to an Adobe programs)

Wix

Squarespace (does not have a free version)

Buying a website domain:

Domain.com

GoDaddy.com

Even if you don’t want to pay to subscribe to a site builder, it might be worth buying your preferred domain name sooner rather than later just to lock it down. (Depends on how common your name is.) Years ago it was somewhat more common to have some kind of creative website name, but that’s rare these days. I recommend using some version of your own name dot com because it will look the cleanest and most professional.

The process of linking a domain to a website varies slightly based on which ones you’re using, but if you are planning on doing this and having trouble following the instructions most sites provide on this, let me know and I can help walk you through it.

For my short documentary I will be compiling a five year anniversary video from when I got trapped in the luggage compartment of a moving bus. 

It was a rainy Saturday night in Israel and I was traveling between cousins after spending the sabbath in the city of Ranana. I placed my luggage underneath the 947 express bus en route to the Ben Gurion Airport area and the ride was uneventful. 

When I got to my stop I walked down the steps and moved to the luggage compartment to get my duffel bag but there was a problem. Other passengers bags pushed my luggage all the way to the back forcing me to climb almost entirely inside to get my bag. The driver with the remote by his seat began closing the door on me and to save my legs from injury I touched them inside the bus, hoping a sensor would alert the driver to my wearabouts. The door closed, the lock engaged and the driver began to drive away. 

While under the bus I had several phone calls with relatives and the Police and was rescued after 30. Minutes. The story went viral accross the country and round the world and I was known as being the boy who gut such under the bus. 

Today as a broadcast news reporter, I will discuss how this event impacted me and how I do my work. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SUesHWeRKUQj5xUULcsqvryk3F3ee3YSuAf4SmXLu7g/edit