When we first were assigned Snow Fall I assumed the article was about Global Warming. Quickly I learned this was a story about the dangers of avalanches, and how one has to be so careful where and when you ski or snowboard. You could be the best free-skier in the world and there is nothing you can do once you get caught in the avalanche’s path.

John Branch is a multimedia king. The interactive face on this article is something that I had never seen before. Besides his beautiful way with worlds, as he he takes you through this journey with great detail. He perfectly placed pictures, audio, video, maps  exactly in the right places to keep you engaged in the story.

Fist and foremost, when introducing each person in the article, you can read their name, and than scroll your mouse over it to see a picture of who he is talking about. This happened throughout the entire article. I think this is ingenious.

Branch kept his video clips under a minute and places them perfectly where they fit in the story. He gives you a map of the mountain so you could see exactly where these 16 people started there journey. He shows the path of where every skier/snowboarder road,  right before this horrific event took place. At the same time as you’re reading the article the path  is moving with each persons name your reading about. As well as, when you get to the end of the story, and he re enacts the actually avalanche, so we can see how huge it was.

I really appreciated hearing from an expert meteorologist who focuses specifically on the danger levels of avalanches. The video clip of the meteorologist explaining exactly how avalanches are caused, and then Branch putting a picture of the layers of snow, so that we can visually see what the meteorologist is explaining.

I really can’t say anything negative about this multimedia piece. Branch did an amazing job with the visuals, it was very emotional because you become invested in these 16 people’s lives. Hoping for the best outcome possible. Even though it was a long article. I wasn’t thinking about when it was going to be over. He kept you wanted more. I kept thinking to myself what other cool interactive tool is he going to use next to keep me engaged.