Announcements
Next up is Roz Day. I will offer extra credit to any student who participates in this field reporting day. If your schedule will only permit you to attend the morning part OR the afternoon part of the itinerary, that’s fine, you’ll still get credit for going—just let me know. Please RSVP to Prof. Haller by Tuesday the 19th and copy me. Details below:
Journalism students,
We would like to invite you to join us for our Roslyn Bernstein Reporting Day on Tues., March 26. We will be covering the East Village in Manhattan, exploring how the neighborhood is responding two major international stories playing out in its midst.
The morning will focus on the Russia-Ukraine war, while the afternoon will be devoted to the current migrant situation.
The goals of these field trips are to help you develop story ideas for different classes, expose you to an area of the city you might not know a lot about, and also allow you to spend a day with other Baruch students.
Please find the itinerary below. You are welcome to join us for some, or all of it.
If you plan on coming, please email Prof. Vera Haller at [email protected] by Tues., March 19. (Lunch is Baruch’s treat) Please indicate in your email which portions of the itinerary you will be joining.
East Village trip itinerary
11am-12:15pm
St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic School
30 East 7th St., NY, NY 10003 (between Second and Third avenues)
Interviews with the principal and Ukrainian students who have fled the war to continue their education in New York City. The school says it has 70 Ukrainian students who are attending on special visas because of the war.
12:30-1pm
Razom for Ukraine
140 Second Ave., NY NY 10003 (corner of East 11th Street)
Briefing with representatives of this non-profit which organizes aid for Ukraine.
1-2 pm
Lunch at Veselka
144 Second Ave., NY, NY 10003 (corner of East 11th Street)
This longtime neighborhood restaurant is the heart of the East Village’s Ukrainian community. Join us to try some Ukrainian cuisine (pierogis, potato pancakes and more)
2-2:30pm
Walk through Tompkins Square Park to the former St. Brigid School, now a city-run “re-ticketing center” for recently arrived migrants.
Starting at Veselka and walking to Avenue B and East 7th Street.
2:30-3:15pm
East Village Loves NYC
Sixth Street Community Center
638 East 6th St. NY, NY 10009 (Between Avenues B and C)
Briefing with representatives of this non-profit, mutual aid organization that has been organizing meals and clothing donations for migrants gathered near the city office at the former St. Brigid school
Upcoming Dates
Final cuts of your visual poems are due next class, on Monday March 18th. Please have them posted to the site by class time.
Your treatments for your short docs will be due Wednesday March 20.
Your breaking news assignments will take place on Monday, April 8.
Rough cuts for your short docs will be due Monday, April 15.
Documentary Treatments
(The reporters who pitched this ended up going in a different direction and doing a multimedia piece rather than a documentary.)
You can refer back to this sample as a sort of template for your own treatments. But let’s break down what each one ought to include:
Pitch: What’s the story, and why is it news?
Characters: Who are they? Why should we care about them? Why is this person the right subject to convey this story?
Shooting Plan: Where will you shoot? What will you shoot? What visuals/scenes do you aim to capture? What is the visual style you’re going for?
Shooting Timeline: When will you begin shooting? When will you wrap shooting? What specific events do you plan to be present for?
Storytelling plan: What is the structure of the story? What is the beginning, middle and end?
Theme: Is there a larger truth or point this story aims to convey? If so, what?
The Art of Text and Typeface in Video
What are some things to consider when using text in videos?
Timing
Does your title come at the beginning of the film? Or dramatically at the end, as a sort of reveal? Perhaps it’s inserted after an opening scene for emphasis, essentially breaking the story up into sections?
Composition
It’s often helpful to think about what your title shot might be when out shooting, so that you can leave some negative space for the words. Likewise with your talking head/interview shots, you might consider leaving some contrast down where the lower third will go.
Tone
What sort of story are you telling in your video? Is it somber or playful? Does it have to do with history, news, or technology? All of these things might drive whether you reach for a handwriting font, a clean and modern font, or a more classic serif font.
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/text-graphics-in-video/#Text-graphics-Definitions-and-applications
A Baruch doc (published on D&S) that uses typeface in an interesting way: