Month: November 2019

For my video project, my topic is about tutors who work in language acquisition n department in LAGCC. I was preparing to do this project for a long time. I would like to interview language tutors during their work and catch some good moments then edit them into my video. My questions for them will focus on what did they learn about teaching in a lab; what is the most value they have got since they became a tutor; do they enjoy teaching and what the experience affaces their future job? I would like to collect six or eight tutors to talk in the video but the length is limit in three minutes so I will distill a nice quote of each tutor in one question. I will put three parts in my video. First, a part is saying hello in their languages, try to catch the audiences’ eyes. The second part is the interview includes sequence plots. In the end, I would like to highlight a good environment of this department and express the value of the study center not only for learning a foreign language but also good to know the country’s culture.

For the video project, I would like to do a feature on Ashley Fox, pole dance performer and co-owner of Foxy Fitness Pole.  She is both the owner and one of the instructors in her studio. Fox also constantly competes in pole championships, and she has an intense training schedule. She is the  American Pole League 2019 Champion and PoleSportOrg U.S. National Champion 2018.

I think I can get good visuals from her practices, and focus the interview questions on her path to starting this profession and opening her own studio, as well as her ambition and preparation before competitions.

 

A focus on the rise and circumstances around the MTA Fare and how this affects college students. In recent events, there has been a rise in fare evasion enforcement, but as well as violent tactics being used by NYPD Officers. My video would focus on how college students not having metro fare covered can be a hardship that can stop them from coming to school. I plan to focus on the stories of baruch students in particular and explain why CUNY students should get metrocards paid for, and show how this can affect the future. I plan to Interview a police officer, Interview local gov official, Baruch students, and Interview Baruch administration for comments. But this is mostly on a psa type style to show how a change needs to be made.

Alexis Wanzell 

Video Story Pitch 

 

For my video story, I plan on focusing on the Grand Bazaar Venue on the Upper West Side like I did for my radio story. Though this time around, I want to cover the venue from a different angle. For my radio story, I spoke to Marc, the event coordinator, in order to get the nitty-gritty details on their amazing dynamic with the community. For clarification, the Grand Bazaar is a market on the Upper West Side open to the public every Sunday 10am-5:30pm that brings in local artists, artisans, inventors, and food entrepreneurs in order to showcase their items. Along with the exposure it gives artists, 100% of their proceeds fund 4 local public schools so the venue simultaneously helps both communities. Though this time around, I felt it would be cool to take a more human interest-y angle and follow one of the artists through their artistic process, their routines at the Grand Bazaar Market, and even some shots in their home or more personal space/time. I felt the need to continue reporting on the Bazaar because I felt there was more to capture from the event than merely an audio story. The venue space is full of artists and one-of-a-kind inventions, crafts, and items that are being authentically made specifically for every Sunday market. I would like to visit the market again this Sunday in order to choose a specific artist in person that I feel would be willing to let me into their process to do this story and also an artist that has a story to tell and wants to tell it. 

Following in the theme of my radio project, I hope to highlight an event titled “Thanks But No Thanksgiving” that is going to be held on Friday, November 22nd at Union Hall in Brooklyn. The event is hosted by indigenous Americans and hosts a variety of performances, from stand-up comedy to games with interaction from audience members. The event is held in opposition to the mainstream narrative of the holiday, described by the organizers as an “antidote to the settler nonsense that is Thanksgiving.” I hope that my reporting can serve as contrast to all the news surrounding the Thanksgiving parade, and highlight actual celebrations organized by indigenous people. It is supposed to be a lighthearted gathering while also showcasing the work of young indigenous people. I reached out to the three hosts of the event and they are all open to being interviewed as well as me attending and filming the event.  

https://www.unionhallny.com/e/thanks-but-no-thanksgiving-75973152745/ 

https://jlc.exposure.co/la-warren

Upcoming Dates

Video pitches will be due this Wednesday, Nov. 13. Your final project will be a reported multimedia project consisting of a 2-3 minute video, a written story of about 500 words, and at least one still photo as lead image.

Rough cuts of your videos will be due on Monday, Dec. 2. The final project will be due on Dec. 11, our last day of class.

Here’s an example of a story with multimedia elements:

Islamic exorcisms used as a ‘cure’ for homosexuality in Indonesia: ‘If I am Muslim, I can’t be gay’

Intro to Video Journalism

With video, we build on the compositional techniques of photography and the structural, storytelling aspects of audio with one obvious additional element: Motion.

How does video storytelling for the web and mobile differ from TV and film?

• Need to be CLOSER to your subject. Web videos are smaller and more compressed.
• 20 percent of online viewers bail on a video within 10 seconds. So you don’t have a lot of time to grab your viewers and make sure they stick around.

How important is audio?

• Good audio is of paramount importance. If you have low-quality video and good audio, the video will still be watchable. If you have gorgeous visuals but terrible audio, it will not.

When is narration necessary?

Sometimes, you can let the subjects of your video tell the story all on their own — as long as you edit with care, presenting what they’ve told you in a way that makes narrative sense. One benefit of non-narrated videos is that they can feel more organic. There’s no disembodied voice stepping in to tell the story, which keeps the focus on the characters in the story.

But sometimes, for clarity’s sake or for stylistic reasons, narration is necessary, or text.

Narrated videos

https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000002073002/treasures-from-the-sky.html?

https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/100000005277141/the-last-taushiro.html?”>https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/americas/100000005277141/the-last-taushiro.html?

Text-Narrated videos

These are more and more popular thanks to social media distribution because they automatically start playing as you scroll through your feed and they can be watched without sound.

Non-Narrated videos

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000001846077/bronx-obama.html”>https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000001846077/bronx-obama.html

Shooting Your Video

There are two main components to any video: your interviews and your B-roll. The rules of composition we learned for photography (thirds, colors, patterns, symmetry, etc.) all apply here, but you also need to keep an eye out for motion. Tracking shots involve following the action with your camera, while static shots involve keeping your camera still, but that doesn’t mean there’s no motion involved; you might just be letting the action go in and out of the frame.

What is B-roll? And what difference does it make?

A big difference.

Things to keep in mind while you’re shooting B-roll:

1. Shoot more than you think you’ll need.
2. Get a variety of shots. Close-up, medium, wide, detail shots, static shots, tracking shots.
3. Use a tripod whenever possible. If you don’t have one or you’re shooting in a mobile, chaotic situation, be resourceful about stabilizing your shots.
4. Think about your interviews and let them inform your B-roll shooting decisions. Look for shots that illustrate what the person is talking about.
5. Hold your shot longer than you think you need to. A good rule of thumb is to hold it for at least 10 seconds (AFTER it’s already steady).

Things to keep in mind when you’re shooting your interviews:

1. Frame the shot with your subject on one of the thirds, angled so that they’re looking slightly INTO the frame. Have them look at you, not at the camera, so be mindful of where you are sitting. It’s a bit intense when someone looks directly into the camera.

2.  If you’re working with a translator, be mindful that the subject will want to look at them, so make sure they are positioned in the ideal place to draw the person’s gaze.
3.  Prioritize good audio.
4.  Make sure their face is lit, but not too harshly.
5. Think about composing the shot in a way that allows for some negative space where the Lower Third will eventually go.

The Five-Shot Sequence

When it comes to B-roll, your job is to use these visuals to tell a story in a way that is very clear and keeps the viewer not just interested but oriented: clear on what’s happening. Cutting together a sequence is often an effective way of doing this.

The classic sequence that every budding videographer learns when starting out is the five-shot sequence.

1. Close-up on the hands.
2. Close-up on the face.
3. Medium shot.
4. Over the shoulder shot.
5. One additional creative angle.

You won’t always edit things in this exact way when you do a sequence in the real world; sometimes it’ll only be three shots, or it might be ten, and they might be in a different order. But the five-shot sequence is a useful framework for thinking about depicting an activity clearly and engagingly with video.

Next week, you’ll get your hands on the cameras. We’ll practice shooting and editing a five-shot sequence.

Announcement

I’m teaching an Advanced Multimedia Reporting course next semester, which is really an advanced video class if any of you are interested in developing your video skills further. We had so much quality video work come out of that class in the spring that we launched a whole new section on Dollars & Sense called D&Sdocs to feature them.

Wanna to be a successful public speaker? Toastmaster International Club may achieve your goal.

By Tao Zhang

Toastmasters International, the famous leadership and public speaking nonprofit organization, claims over 350,000 members in 143 countries. Most of these people are just trying to get better at public speaking. But in a place as diverse and full of immigrants as the borough of Queens in New York City, regulars at the “Queens Best Toastmasters Club,” have found it to be a great, free resource for improving their spoken English. Tao Zhang went to their weekly Saturday morning meetup in Elmhurst to get the story.

I’m at Elmurst Hospital for the weekly meetup of the local Toastmasters club, and Amelia Abad is in front of everyone delivering a monologue about how she met her husband.

He was also shy and timid, not talk too much. Moreover, is very providential. We were live in the same resident hotel. So we studied together. Some of the courses we had to take in management. And we went to together because we live in the same resident hotel. So you can guess what happened. We live well and we decided to get married.
Toastmaster Ciaran Donohue presides over the club meeting as usual. Six people are on the schedule to speak today, including club president Jesse Cassell. Here’s Jesse.

Good morning for the members and most for coming the guests. Sometimes, challenges are actually blessing in disguise. This man is named Valentine. Mr. Valentine, he was a real gangster, a real criminal. One day, he got a conflict with police officer, a several police officers. And he made his mind, you can’t get me campus, bang! Ah…he laid down but he woke up the other side. Who is agree with him was very well dressed man…”
The various speakers are all competing to see who will be voted best of the week.

To make you committed, that much stronger. And your success that much for accessible. It willing must to try you best. And fail make you committed and much stronger. And you success that much for accessible. Thanks.
Please take one minute to evaluate Jesse’s speech.

That’s Ciaran, longtime member and today’s Toastmaster. He also goes to other meeting in different week. He is an airline account executive. Since he joined toastmaster club, he got more knowledge of speaking. Good for his work and better to promote sales. Now he become a toastmaster to manage the whole meeting in each week. He can see many people fill confidence and logical to covey context on the best way.

For each meeting, there is different toastmasters. We like to, one of supposes that we are very on rule. So this week I have to be a toastmaster. I have been this club for many many years. Probably if add all years come to the club relevant to ten, but I dropped out for couple of years and come back. I have been long time of this club.

What is the motivation that you join to the toastmaster club?
Basically, the motivation I think certainly for most of people I think is self-development. That is underlining motivation. But really practical sense to develop your communication skills. And being able to stand, give presentation, give a speech to the audiences.

Toastmaster international is to make people who come here that obtain the most benefits of public speaking skills, leadership, personal growth, career advancement and confidence. When you join in the club and listen to once, you will realize that speech is another way to know the world.

That’s important for me in my work, important for a lots of us for life. For to giving it, that’s the public speaking motivation.

Do you think join this club effects your work and life?
Absolutely. I think it’s all especially work. In my work I have to get presentations, I have to do sales presentations, I have to do cheer meeting sometimes. So all of that required public speaking. It is not only public speaking, it is also leadership, expect clubs. We take on rules, we give to the projects. So there is other upper speaking club to help self-development. So turns into packaging your life, yes, it does effecting my life.

During one speech, the speaker, Mark Lavergne, notices my recorder and gives me a shout-out.

People are afraid of public speaking. Here is another statistic. We have reporter here. Eight-five percent is percentage of toastmasters in the metropolitan New York area belong to clubs is not exist 20 years ago. Everyone in the room is the part of eight-five percent. This club is not exist 20 years ago.

One of the things they teach here is that humor and wit can be important in connecting with audiences. If you want people more interested in your speech, be funny. Otherwise, people will tune you out like a stereotypical lecturer at a conference.

Every meeting runs four segments. First one is “Project Speech”, including six or seven speeches by different members. Four levels mark on the sheet of the day of schedule which are “Ice breaker”, “Introduction to toastmaster mentoring”, “Connect with storytelling” and “Communicate change”. Each speech follows one evaluator to estimate their speech. The toastmaster will give them one minutes to leave notes then go on the next.
I assume we are taking time out to a minute to time mark speech. Please pass all evaluations to the back. Evaluation is all finish. It is my pleasure to invite to table topic toastmaster evaluator Milton Freitas. [APPLUS] Fellow toastmaster, good morning…

Find another way to end this. It sounds too much like you’re promoting the club. Maybe tell us who was voted the winner and then sign off.
For Baruch College, this is Tao Zhang in Queens, New York.

Chai Time with Ani Sanyal 

By Yasmine Mohamed 

LOWER EAST SIDE — Natural entrepreneur. For many first-generation Americans, entrepreneurship is thought of to be a fate that is reserved for those with the money-making gene. But is that really the case?    

The Business Journals recorded more than 11 million minority-owned businesses in operation nationwide, nearly double the number of 10 years ago. However, although minority-owned businesses are on the rise, most minority entrepreneurs still face challenges that their white counterparts are able to avoid. Including lack of representation, confidence and investor support.

At Kolkata Chai Co., cultural differences are used as a strength instead of a weakness.

Ani Sanyal is the founder of the new cafe, Kolkata Chai Co., located in Manhattan’s East Village. The grand opening of Kolkata Chai Co. took place on September 18th, the turnout was unexpected; the line wrapped around the block. 

Ani and his brother Ayan Sanyal aim to transport his customers to the streets of Kolkata, India with authentic spiced tea. 

“My background is kind of crazy” Ani says. “I am the product of two immigrant parents from India. And for me, I just knew from a young age that I couldn’t really work for somebody else. I saw my dad got laid off a lot growing up and it was just this thing where I was like, it doesn’t make sense for someone else control your financial family’s future.”

So Ani started his own business, scratch that — businesses. From music to marketing, Ani and his brother do it all. He manages an artist named Anik Khan, runs a creative agency, and started a real estate investment group.   

“My brother and I have been running a creative agency for the past five years and, our business was like super busy and like as a way to kind of get away from always being behind a computer my brother just started to experiment with Chai.” Ani says. “We had been to, you know, India, our whole childhood kind of back and forth and so Chai was a big part of our lives, but he just started like cooking it up in his room in his in his apartment started, you know, giving it to friends and family and kind of letting them taste it and then kind of like, just kept rolling from there”

Chai is a way of life in India. you’ll find chaiwallahs on almost every corner. They are vendors who specifically sell the sweet, spicy, milky beverage. 

In America, “chai” has become known as a flavor of tea with predominantly cinnamon or cardamom elements. Ani and his brother Ayan noticed that there is a lack of authentic chai in New York, so… they decided to do something about it. 

“Some of the most beautiful things in the world we found in Kolkata. And some of the most heartbreaking things in the world we found in Kolkata.” Ani says. “So when it came to like creating a space in New York City, it was like what better way to shed light on a place that’s meant so much to us that a lot of people don’t know about. just reclaiming that narrative of what our culture and what our food and what our people actually are like.”

Ani is motivated by the sacrifices his family has made to come to America, he also wants young people to know that it’s possible to live life on your own terms.

“For me especially, I grew up as like a brown kid in the 90s and it wasn’t cool to like own your culture. I was like “wow” you know, our food smells crazy, or like my mom was like, just like making me dress in all these like crazy outfits and I was like damn ma, this is not it.” Ani says. 

“And I just remember being like, never been like super proud of like being where we’re where we were from. It took me like trips back home and just like spending time with my culture to understand how beautiful it really was.” 

Ani sounds determined to challenge white-dominated spaces so that the next generation of kids like him don’t feel unwelcome.

“If we don’t start changing the conversation and changing what spaces look like. And take that responsibility ourselves, then things are not going to change, and every space or every venue or every all the infrastructure in this country is going to remain the same.” Ani says. “It’s going to be white-owned it’s going to be a space that we don’t have the ability to influence. Like you go to every co-working space around the country. It all looks the same.” 

Another chai place called the Chai Spot opened last year (confirm) in lower manhattan, but Ani he doesn’t see competition. The Chai Spot, another chai place in lower manhattan is one that also sells a similar product; Ani explains why Kolkata Chai stands out from its competitors. 

“I don’t think there’s competition.” Ani says, “We created a new category, how I see it, you have coffee shops you have all these things, but you don’t have places that serve authentic Chai exclusively that understands young millennial diasporic culture, there’s no place doing that.”

Noran Omar, a customer at Kolkata Chai, sits nearby writing a paper. I ask her what she thinks of the place.

To be honest, this place gives me such brown vibes, and I love it. Do you know what I mean? I mean the music, the scents, the ambiance it just takes me back to my cultural roots which I miss very much. 

The brothers are anticipating future investments through content and collaborations. While mostly based in the Greater New York City area, Kolkata Chai Co. is anticipating expanding with pop-ups in L.A. and other markets in an effort to use chai as a means of connecting people across different generations and cultures.