Multimedia Reporting Fall 2017

http://www.jr-art.net/projects/face-2-face

http://www.streetartbio.com/jr

JR is a street artist who started off as, you guessed it, a graffer (graffiti artist); who went by the name of “Face 3,” according to his street art biography. He found a camera on a Paris train back in 2001 and developed more of a creative curiousness that propelled him to be the artists known as JR.

Face to Face is a 2007 joint project between JR and Marco, the “biggest illegal street exhibition ever,” according to JRs official webside.

What’s fascinating is what he did on both sides of the Israel and Palestine boarder wall. He took photos of both Israelis and Palestinians, and attached them to both sides of the wall. As he explained in Ted Talks, at first the citizens from each side enjoyed looking at the photos, but when it was revealed that they were looking at a photo of someone from opposite the wall; they grew upset. Which brings the lesson he’s trying. “After a week, we had the exact same conclusion: these people look the same; they speak almost the same language, like twin brothers raised in different families…We must put them face to face. They will realize.”

Reminders

No class on Monday because it’s Columbus Day.

In class on Wednesday next week, we’ll be doing a script-writing exercise. Scripts for the radio piece will be due Wednesday, October 18.

Final produced radio story will be due Monday, October 30.

Fundamentals of Audio Reporting

Here are some basics you’ll want to keep in mind as you set out to collect sound:

Choose your environment wisely. Be aware of your surroundings. If you interview someone under a subway track, your recording will be impossible to understand. Pick a relatively quiet space. A little background noise is fine and adds atmosphere – except for music. Music makes editing difficult, so avoid it if possible.

Check your batteries beforehand. It’s a real bummer when you start interviewing someone and realize you only have ten minutes of life left on your recorder or phone.

Cell phones off. Yours and theirs. If you’re using your phone to record, make sure it’s set to silent.

Don’t forget your nats. Natural sound is a crucial element of any audio piece. Think about what sounds will most effectively place your listener in the scene. Footsteps, dishes clinking, phones ringing. Don’t be afraid to get in there and get close. Music is fine to use as a nat sound.

Ask open-ended questions. Yes or no questions won’t give you good long responses filled with usable quotes.

Get close, but not too close. Putting a mic right up against someone’s mouth can result in popping and crackling sounds on the recording. Make sure to test your equipment so you know roughly where to hold your recorder for optimal sound quality.

Ask your question, then shut up. Active listening is a fantastic skill for a journalist to have, but if you keep murmuring “Uh-huh,” “Yeah,” and “Sure,” while they’re answering your questions, you won’t be able to use the material. Stick with smiling and nodding.

Using a Zoom. Set it to XY. Bring backup AA batteries if you’re not conducting the interview in a place where you can plug it in. Hold it 1-2 feet from the interviewee’s mouth. Don’t let them hold it. Use the handle to reduce handling noise. Highly recommended to you use your own headphones to monitor sound levels while you’re recording. Please format the card before you return it. MENU –> SD CARD –> FORMAT

Pitch Workshop

I have a few different ideas floating around.

My initial idea: Some animal shelters out in the Hamptons took in about 60 abandoned animals from Texas after Harvey. With all the focus shifting to Puerto Rico and Vegas, I thought it might be a good reminder to people that Texas is still suffering.
I exchanged a few e-mails with someone from the shelter, and I could most likely do this, but I’m waiting for confirmation. I was trying to see if they still had some animals from Texas that have yet to find home. If not, then this obviously isn’t much of a story.

My next idea that I think I’m most likely going to go with has to do with the ecosystem on Long Island and the things that are effecting it. I work in a state park and the guys who work on the farm know a lot about this. They do everything they can to reduce their carbon footprint. I think the sounds on the farm would be good to record, too. (They have chickens)

My back up idea revolves around a hot dog truck in my neighborhood, Charlie’s Hot Dogs. Years ago, it was a hot dog truck parked in a family driveway and people came from all over for their hot dogs. They shut it down a few years back (I believe Charlie himself died), and now they’ve reopened in a local parking lot and loads of people are excited.

For this assignment I had a couple ideas:

The first is to interview a subway or street performer and find out their story – whether they spend their time performing because they enjoy doing so or whether they perform to pay the bills, what sort of reactions they get, and so on.

The second is to cover gentrification in my neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn – the pros and cons from long-time residents and how it has affected them personally.

The third is to cover L.E.S. Pickle Day on October 15th, which from what I’ve read is basically a street fair where you can sample pickles from different places around the world.

I live in East/Spanish Harlem, and I wanted to do a piece on how people from my neighborhood feel about gentrification. There’s been a large spike in the number of high rises and stores that are being built in Harlem, and in turn they are increasing apartment rents in the neighborhood. Many of these high rises or lofts/condominiums are going for over 100 thousand dollars, and a majority of their buyers are white. Of course Harlem is historically and today majority Black, and many see this surge of new white tenants as threat to their neighborhoods. So I hope to talk to some people from my block to see what their opinions are about how their neighborhood is rapidly changing.

Minorities represent more than 60% of asthma patients with uncontrollable asthma. A lot of these asthma patients unfortunately spend a lot of time in the hospital and even loose their lives. Colombia University has started a clinical trial for minorities over 18 with uncontrollable asthma to undergo breathe therapy. I feel this therapy that given to these patients is a new and alternative way to help them cope with their asthma. If this clinical is successful it will benefit a lot of people in the community.  My story will be focusing on how the clinical trial works and how the therapy process goes by speaking with the principal investigator.

I’m hoping to do a sit down with the CFO of the The Inn, in New Hyde Park. It’s a sought after banquet hall, that provides weddings, exclusive parties, fundraisers, etc. Sometimes all of these events are going in at the same time in the event hall. I would like to sit down, with management during these hectic days, and get an idea of the scale of operations. I’m just waiting on confirmation.

With the media coverage on DACA and deportations people who don’t understand it tend to say that people should just apply for residency and citizenship. During Trump’s campaign and election the number of citizenship applications increased dramatically. The problem is it is not a simple process and definitely not a short one. Obtaining residency can take years and citizenship even longer. I would like to document this experience by speaking with people who have become a permanent resident and people who have become citizens. I also want to include the challenges they face during the process as well as their experience before it.

I have two pitches.

1. I was thinking about doing a podcast about individual and small business efforts to help Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. I will say, this may be tough for me being that it would probably lean a certain direction due to the current administrations lack of effort and view of the Puerto Rican people. I may not be able to stay objective so this may not be a go for me.
2. I want to do a podcast on the older generation of students attending college, Baruch and others. I want to know how they feel about attending school with those that can be half their ages, the pros and the cons and any experiences they would like to share. (I would also like to write an article with the same concept)