Multimedia Reporting

Author: k.fremer

Pajama Program – Creating Good Nights in Not-So-Good Times

The Pajama Program, a nonprofit with reading center locations in New York and Atlanta, wants to provide children from all backgrounds with “Good Nights and Good Days” But how can you adapt a mission that typically requires in-person contact – including going to a reading at their center or at a shelter to receive one-on-one interaction, pajamas, and a new book – during a time in which physical contact is strictly limited? Senior Program Manager Chrissie Martinez and Program Coordinator Jyothi Nair let us in on how the program is raising funds, donating books, and engaging with children nationwide despite the “novel” coronavirus.

https://vimeo.com/418578621

Video-Reporting Pitches

  1. My first idea for the video-reporting pitch would be an adaptation of my radio pitch to chronicle the way that the volunteer organization Pajama Program is adapting to Coronavirus. They have gone ahead with hosting virtual reading parties, rather than in-person events, on their instagram and Facebook using influencers, regular volunteers, and program workers. These would make excellent sources of B-roll, and could be supplemented by zoom interviews with program workers and other volunteers, or broadened to include the actions taken by other volunteer organizations to adapt their work to our current situation.
  2. My second idea would be to speak to people currently hosting and participating in online concerts as musicians no longer have a source of income from gigging and in-person appearances. I know of a few who go live regularly, and many independent music sources are hosting “virtual gigs” with several people going online in succession. This would provide a variety of source videos, and potential zoom interviews.

Audioreporting: For Theatre Students, COVID-19 Prompts a Semester Without Applause

For Theatre Students, COVID-19 Prompts a Semester Without Applause

Kenneth Fremer

HOST: For students across the country, Coronavirus precautions have resulted in a shift towards online schoolwork. Homework assignments are moving online, and classes are being held through video conferencing services like Zoom as most states issue shelter-in-place notices to their residents. But what about students in the arts, who now find themselves cut off from their peers, essential materials, and mentors? Kenneth Fremer spoke to students at Arizona State University about adjusting their hands-on course of study during a time in which physical contact is essentially forbidden.

AMBI: Lucy’s backyard in Arizona. Wind chimes in the distant, and birds are heard in the distance

KENNY: Most students are having trouble living with their families every day while working and studying from home. Speaking to me through video chat from Arizona, Lucy Primiano has found refuge in her backyard from the commotion of her family indoors.

NAT: Wind chimes close-up. 

LUCY: “Working from home has been interesting, I can’t say it’s been the most productive. Not just because I’ve got eight cats and four dogs who also want to participate in all of my work. For instance in lighting design, we were supposed to go into the lighting lab and create these lighting cues for a podcast we were listening to. And so we had to shift to an online software called vectorworks, and we were able to create these lighting cues but it’s really no substitute for learning how to use the board and seeing how the lighting hits a person.”

KENNY: At Arizona State University, home of the state’s largest theater, the Gammage, theatrical productions have been completely halted and campus facilities shut down. Lucy has found herself without a job, and without access to the resources at ASU’s sprawling        campus, or the inspiration she receives from fellow creatives.

LUCY: “I’m limited in that I can’t actually apply any of these concepts, and a lot of it is muscle memory. And again, even if I’m not in a traditional classroom setting, I’m learning through my job. So right now, I mean every theater across the country is shut down. Not being able to continue that learning once the classroom setting is out of the question during the summer, with what we’re learning hands on through our jobs, that’s another element that’s up in the air right now.”

KENNY: As productions are cancelled, students are missing out on vital hands-on work and the satisfaction of seeing shows through to completion. The biggest disappointment for Lucy and her classmates came with the cancellation of the school’s production of the Crucible, which would have premiered on March 20th. 

LUCY: “We should have been going into tech week, and actually this past Friday would have been opening night. And so missing everything that is being learned as we all watch it come together, and then missing that celebratory mark of seeing the show open and everything we’ve done, and all the tech and design elements that we’ve combined, right now we can’t do that.”

KENNY: Phoebe Leisinger, another student who worked in Arizona State’s theater department on the cancelled Crucible production, has had to move back home because of an outbreak at her apartment building near campus. 

AMBI: Phoebe’s room noise

PHOEBE: “And so, like I called my parents and was like ‘there’s an outbreak at my apartment’ and they were like, you have to come home and you have 24 hours to pack your stuff and get home now. I didn’t have time to pack everything, I could just grab the essentials and got out of there because it’s just not – it’s so close quarters, it’s not worth it.”

KENNY: Phoebe’s also hosting her roommate, Oliver, who won’t be able to drive back to his home in Kansas due to safety precautions

PHOEBE: “One of my roommates is at my parents’ house with me, ‘cause he needs to go back to Kansas because that’s where he’s from. But like, all the hotels are closed between here and there and he can’t do a two day drive in one go, and it’s below freezing at night so he can’t sleep in his car. And it’s just this situation where everyone is trapped and there’s nothing to do, y’know? It’s scary.”

KENNY: Phoebe isn’t sure what her work will look like after the Coronavirus pandemic. She’s graduating this semester, and won’t be able to find theater work this summer. Right now, theater students at ASU don’t have much of an idea of what their future will look like. Nobody knows for sure when students might be able to return to campus. When they do return, though, students will have lost an essential part of their college experience.

LUCY: “We’re gonna have to come I think first come together and acknowledge what we lost during these past few weeks, and however many months we have to come, and really rally around rebuilding our sense of community… we’re gonna have to let each other have our little dumb and forgetful moments, and then just remind each other that it’s all understandable, we just have to keep moving forward and pick up the pace.”

KENNY: For Baruch College, this is Kenneth Fremer from a basement in Staten Island, New York.

Practice Piece and Script

 

HOST:

The Coronavirus, which recently surpassed 100,000 cases worldwide and continues to infect new people daily, has required students at Baruch College to adjust their daily lives in order to remain unafflicted. Students have received a number of emails encouraging hand washing, to stay home if exhibiting flu-like symptoms, and to avoid the subway if possible. Reporter Kenneth Fremer              talked to Baruch students to get an idea of how they are coping with the virus.

AMBI1: Sound of students in Baruch

AMBI2: Room noise of office

TRACK: Joel Bautista, a student at Baruch, lamented losing the ability to hug his classmates when greeting them throughout the Coronavirus epidemic. Students have been encouraged to avoid handshakes, creating a sense of distance on-campus.

ACT1: “I usually hug people and they just want to elbow each other and that’s their way of saying hi… I’m like… I’m with that now, it’s not a big deal.”

TRACK: Students like Joel have begun to express concern over CUNY’s failure to close school facilities, as other campuses throughout New York City – which include Columbia University, New York University, and Fordham – have outlined a clear plan to shift towards hosting classes online. Petitions to close CUNY schools have garnered over 10,000 signatures within the past week.

ACT2: “They should definitely close it, ‘cause who knows? Maybe one student gets it and that spreads to a million, to the whole school. I wanna live, and I’m sure everyone else wants to, too. I think they should close it down.”

TRACK: On a broader scale, unclear government messaging and a lack of specific steps to be taken by city and state officials have left students without a strong sense of trust in public figures to fix the situation.

ACT3: “As long as they’re ordering strict things, so people don’t get any viruses y’know like cleaning and supplying hand sanitizer, that’s for the people, it’s their own people. Like take care of your own people. We want to live, so yeah.”

TRACK: As more cases of the Coronavirus spread throughout New York City, students are unsure of what the future may hold. Many professors at Baruch have started hosting classes online, but no official directive or outline has been given by CUNY regarding a timeline for a shift to online lessons. For Baruch College, this is Kenneth Fremer in New York City.

New Pitch – Kenny

My new pitch is to speak to students who are no longer able to work during the Coronavirus epidemic. I would be able to ask them how the epidemic is affecting their daily lives and feature stories that show how Gen Z & Millennial-aged students are impacted by the virus, even if death rates are lower in this age group.The loss in income may also highlight issues students face in their day to day lives as they attempt to pay rent, tuition, and various student fees. Students are also missing out on internship offers, as many programs throughout the country are being cancelled and is another part of the adjustment process.