Month: November 2020

I would like to do my video project on immigrant families. My family immigrated here from Portugal and I think it would be interesting to interview some of my family members, older and younger, to receive their insight on the process, the cultural difference, the language, etc. If possible, I would also like to include my experience as well.

Hello My video that I want to pitch would be centerpiece on the temp scanners working at Fordham University. I have a job here as a temp scanner and I think the story would be very interesting to see and here from my coworkers. Asked them what it’s like having 12 hour shift and what there work day consist of.

2 idea is to shine light on my sisters dance company that she’s in called Lasa. She’s loves dance and I think it would be a interesting concept to she her program completely. I think that would make a great video.

I would like my video story to involve a selection of interviews from various different individuals, of different age groups, about their reactions to the recent election. I feel I can round up a good, diverse group of people to gather opinions from, as well as include various videos of other people in public reacting to the election. I believe that this may be a good pitch because this past election was arguably the most important one in America’s history, and with the diverse group of young adults I can find who voted for the first time this past year, I could get some great quotes and dialogue to group into one video. Whether they support Joe Biden or Donald Trump, reactions will definitely bring together a good story following such a tense couple of weeks in our nation.

For my video story I would like to report on the Indian festival “Diwali” also called the festival of lights. This festival happens once a year around October/November and this year it will take place on November 14^th. My previous subject for the radio story, Sakshee Sharmaa, comes from India and celebrates her culture here in the USA. My idea is to document her dressing up and getting ready for this festival that mostly takes place in one’s home. I believe visuals from her traditional outfits and makeup would be nice to see, and the narration would be more focused on what Diwali represents and its history.

I am thinking of focusing my video news project on the various ways that people have been coping with the pandemic, specifically with solitary hobbies. I think it would be interesting to explore the different ways that the people close to me have been spending their time, considering the restrictions in all of our social lives. From home exercises to baking to learning a new language, solitary activities have become the new norm.

TRACK: The recent presidential debates have proved that the election this year is very different. Besides the candidates, this race is unique because it’s Gen Z’s first opportunity to vote, which means that they were a huge target for politicians. Christi Thomas spoke with some members of the generation in New York about their opinions and concerns.

AMBI: Trevor Noah Reaction to debate. 

TRACK:  On Twitter and other social media sites Gen Z was buzzing with reactions like Trevor Noah’s after the final presidential debate on October 22nd. With over 8 million subscribers on YouTube and hundreds of thousands of views, Noah is increasingly popular with Gen Z and Millenials. His open mindedness and quick wits are definitely helping his case. One of the people I spoke to was Julia Varrichio, a member of Noah’s audience. She expressed that the debates didn’t really ease her anxieties about the upcoming election.

ACT: JULIA: I’m feeling uneasy about the election. Personally I don’t think either candidate is a worthy presidential choice, so I’m voting for the person that aligns more with my political stances. This has made it a little rough not with choosing who I’m voting for but more like my anxiety about what will come after the election.

TRACK: I also spoke with Jordan Eugene, who said that this country needs a leader, and that  the pandemic hasn’t really affected his decision.

ACT: JORDAN E: This country is in need of a leader in these times especially in this coronavirus pandemic. This being my first time voting has not affected my decision. I felt the same way for the past four years about who is in office. The pandemic has also opened my eyes to see what people’s

priorities are and what they want for this country and how we treat other Americans.

TRACK: Michelle Zinger, who voted previously in local elections, said that even though social media didn’t impact her decision, it still played an important role during the presidential race.

ACT: MICHELLE: For the country I feel like social media is really important when it comes to elections, because most people tend to rely on social media to make their minds up. That’s how my mom does it, she’s not registered, she’s not gonna vote but she’ll go off of what people tell her to do so I feel like that’s the case with most people.

TRACK: Julia, on the other hand mentioned that she was using social media to keep up with the debates and said that it helped bring attention to a lot of important issues.

ACT: JULIA: I think social media played a huge role in the election as well as see a lot of social injustice and the parts of the presidential debate on my social media feed. I think it has caused a lot of tension between the two parties and politicized things that shouldn’t be politicized, like human rights. But it also sparked some change that needed to happen. 

TRACK: Despite the rising concerns that social media may be a hotbed for misinformation, Jordan Brammer has accepted it for its importance and convenience.

 ACT: JORDAN B: Social media is kind of my main news source, which is scary but also I’ve got to acknowledge that I’m a full-time college student. I intern part-time. I just don’t have time to fit news into my schedule when I can just catch it on Twitter. 

TRACK: While voter suppression was another national concern online Jordan Brammer, Jordan Eugene and Julia Varrichio managed to vote in their own way without any issues.

ACT: JORDAN E: I voted actually two days ago in person and I do not know anyone who has faced any difficulties voting.

TRACK: Because of the pandemic, getting people their absentee ballots turned out to be a challenge for crowded places like New York City. Michelle Zinger in Brooklyn was of the many folks who dealt with such inconveniences.

ACT: Michelle: I’m voting by dropping off my absentee ballot on November 3 at my election day site. I didn’t really have difficulties well I haven’t voted yet but I did get sent the wrong ballot at first but that was when like half of Brooklyn got sent the wrong ballots. Because it was such a big mistake I didn’t have to do anything; they just re-sent it to me. None of my friends really had trouble, they just had to wait a really long time on the line which isn’t like a bad thing necessarily because that means more people are going out to vote. Those are really the only difficulties I’ve had. 

TRACK: The members of Gen Z that  I interviewed prioritized voting, in safe and legitimate ways. In the middle of a high-stakes election and a pandemic it’s important for the government to make that possible for its citizens. Hopefully next election season, ballots will be more efficient and early voting sites will be more accessible. For Baruch College, this is Christi Thomas in New York City.

 

Intro: Brett Loving is an Artist, a business owner and entrepreneur, an action sports athlete, and all-around earth experiencer. Brett Loving is 32 years old. He was born in San Diego, California, and grew up in Montana. His background started in motorcycle racing professionally. And from there, he went into racing cars and fasted forwards. He can use his creativity and work to create art while successfully proving that Art and life work can work together.   

AMBI: Room tone 

TRACK: I’m here in Bridgehampton with local artist Brett Loving, who creates his art using a very unusual tool.      

ACT: BRETT: I fabricate all of my pieces, paintbrushes, and squeegees to go on to a 40000 pound Volvo excavator. So I push and pull the paint across the canvas using acrylic paints, also oils.  

Track: It’s an unconventional way to paint, but for him, that’s the point.  

ACT: BRETT: I like the idea of painting using modern machinery. I like the conversation of the bridge between machine and man.  

Track: While we were talking about the conversation between machine and man. We drove deeper to find out what the juxtaposition was.  

AMBI: Excavators sounds 

ACT: BRETT: I believe that we are a dying breed, the last of an operator, the one to meld with the machine, and to be able to operate. Soon things will be AI, and we will no longer be needed. I like to focus on form and movement, and light. I also like the idea that we can manipulate our realities unless you are paralleling to them. 

Track: How does your art make you feel?  

ACT: BRETT: I’m not sure anything can make me feel anything. It’s all how I choose to feel. It’s how I choose to react. I began to realize that art imitates life in mysterious ways. So, yeah, my life has changed inevitably because of art, because of using colors. I started to realize that I appreciated colors like fall in spring and the developing seasons.  

AMBI: Brushstrokes 

 ACT: BRETT: It started to occur to me that the brushstrokes, the layering of the paint on the canvas were like life and that oftentimes we start to reflect on the layers that we’ve become and the density of beings that we have. Subsequently become yes, I want people to stop and reflect on their lives, I want them to be immersed into a dimension of something different, not their obscure normal. I think we’re all living in the past, present and the future, and in cycles we go up and down and across the board from all.  

 

Host Intro:  Dia de los Muertos is a holiday that is celebrated in the central and southern regions of Mexico and is meant for remembering family members and friends who have passed away. This year it us a bit more powerful for those who celebrate the holiday because of COVID-19. Anna Lopez has more on the story from Mexico City.

AMBI: *Cards shuffling*

Act: Stefany: Now you are going to repeat after me, I and your full name, ask humanly to the oracle to reveal me my past, my present, and my future. And everything and anything that is good for me to know.

TRACK: This is Stefany Rocha from Wáay Wáay, an online tarot reading business that started in the midst of the pandemic so her customers could stay socially distanced. As someone who believes in the supernatural, el Dia de Los Muertos is an especially important day for her.

Act: Stefany: Dia de los Muertos for me is the opportunity to connect with people that have departed the physical world. Even though I believe that you do have a connection with them throughout the whole year, though el Dia de los Muertos is their special day, but overall I think it gives and brings hope to the Mexican culture.

Track: Stefany says that as much as the government may intervene, in small towns people will still do what they have to do and even in cities as big as Mexico City, affectionately known as CDMX, COVID won’t affect any celebrations because they already are used to celebrating and setting up the altars in their house. There have been a total of 93,228 deaths in Mexico and 11,824 deaths have been just in Mexico City.

Act: Stefany: A lot of people in Mexico have been affected, most population of Mexicans they live all together in big families and like three or four or five people died from that family just within two weeks, so I think that I really like Mexicans that we laugh about death, though I think it will have a bittersweet flavor this year like it’s different to celebrate Dia de los Muertos for your 90 year old grandma who died because she was viejita. For those families who have lost a lot of family members, it will be intense for them but in a bittersweet situation .

Track: She thinks that this tradition is so important to many Mexicans that COVID-19 won’t stop them from celebrating together.

Act: Stefany: If I’m really honest I don’t think Mexican people they care about Covid. Obviously the government they  have to set up rules or like cancelling the parade that’s like the government doing, but if I’m really really honest I don’t think that’s enough of a reason for Mexicans not to celebrate. And I bet you in the pueblitos they’re still going to go to the cemetery and they’re still going to do everything because it is a Mexican thing and we don’t care.

Track: Stefany says that Mexicans laugh at death because for them it doesn’t mean the end given that everyone has to die and when they do it just means that they will get together in the afterlife and party with their families. For Baruch College, I’m Anna Lopez.

 

Reminders and Upcoming Dates

Radio stories due today.

Video pitches are due next class, Friday, Nov. 13.

Video rough cuts are due Friday, Dec. 4.

Final videos are due Friday, Dec. 11, our last class.

 

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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

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

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

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.

Obviously, you will be a bit limited in the types of video stories you are able to do at the moment. So here are some suggestions:

• ​Aim to find stories you can report at home or close to home. Interview people you are already in close contact with. There are also a ton of internet/social media stories right now because so much human interaction and creativity is unfolding virtually, so consider finding ways to report on this visually via screen recording tools.
•  Ask your sources to record video on their phones and send it to you. Make sure they orient their phones horizontally. This can include interviews you conduct over the phone or B-roll/video diaries done in the moment while your source is handing out free lunches at an NYC public school, teaching their child from home while struggling to work full-time from home, working a hospital shift, etc.
• Use the Screen Recording feature on your phones to record video from your phone screen, or select “New Screen Recording” in Quicktime to record video off your laptop screen. Use KeepVid to grab videos off of YouTube, if relevant to your story. (Make sure to attribute any videos you grab this way and make sure you only use short clips to stay on the right side of Fair Use.)
• Go out and film only if it’s filming you can do outside by going for a solitary walk or bike ride and from a distance of greater than six feet. Don’t use your wired lav mics to interview people in these situations. Under the circumstances, it’s okay if the audio isn’t perfect. Ask the person to speak up.

Asynchronous Video Assignment

Film a five-shot sequence

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

• Close-up on the hands.
• Close-up on the face.
• Medium shot.
• Over the shoulder shot.
• 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.

Pitches are also due next week for your video assignment: a 2-3 minute,  video news story. This video can be narrated if you are interested in broadcast video and want on-air clips for your portfolio; if not, the video can be non-narrated: doc-style and character-driven.

Title: The Untraditional Route to Success

Host intro: In this day and age, many people believe the only way to success is going to college. But that is not necessarily the case. Two 22 year old, freelance creatives, decided to take her dreams into her own hands. Daisy Fagundes has the story.

*Vacation Manor song Playing*

I am with Ali Fitzgerald in her bedroom in Bushwick, a Brooklyn neighborhood known for being home to many young artists and creative types. Ali’s love for music shines through her extensive record collection. Her pink record player sits right by her bed with a massive Vanilla candle. Every night Ali throws a record on and lights her candle, giving her room a very calm aesthetic.  Music has always been a driving force in her life, and it is the reason she got into concert photography.

ACT (Ali): I went to a concert for one of my favorite musicians and I met his photographer, who was a super cool guy, and I was like wow this guy’s got a really cool gig going for him.

TRACK: When Ali discovered her love for photography, she immediately asked her mother for her camera. This led directly to her first photography job.

ACT (Ali): I was able to shoot the day after my mom gave me the camera. There was a small independent band called Vacation Manor and they were playing a free show at a local bowling alley in my hometown.

TRACK: The stars definitely aligned in Ali’s favor. This shoot was the first of very many shoes that she would shoot in her career.

ACT (Ali): Freelance itself, in the meaning of the term is kind of you are doing your own thing and creating your own schedule and essentially working for yourself. So, being a freelance photographer kind of means that you’re not tied down to any particular job or any particular artist you kind of just do what you want when you want to do it. If that is just a hobby that is the same freelance if you were making a whole career out of it. It is just kind of on your own.

TRACK: Freelance is becoming more and more popular, especially in the United States. Over 57 million Americans do freelance work and in 2019 freelance workers contributed over 1 billion dollars to the US economy. When in need only 25% of freelance workers said they can find work within a day. Therefore, freelance work may instill a fear of sometimes not being able to pay your bills.

ACT (Ali): For some, it does. For me personally, I am still working on growing myself and growing my brand, and I am working several minimum wage jobs to pay my bills now while I try to create a life for myself where I can freelance full time.

TRACK: COVID has greatly impacted artists and their source of income. A lot of artists have had to think on their feet and figure out new ways to use their trade to make money.

ACT (Ali): Everybody is really focused on social distancing obviously and doing distant shoots, you cannot really get the same amount of intimacy with your clients that we like to have. For me personally, definitely not being able to go to concerts has kind of really made me flip what I do upside down and approach my whole photography career from a completely different angle.

TRACK: Ali is one of many people trying to make the most of the pandemic. My boyfriend Dylan has been using this time to explore his career options and has decided to take a creative path doing some wood working.

*insert saw sound*

ACT (Dylan): When I was in high school, me and my friend built a foot pedal lathe in my shed. We would make candle sticks and rolling pins for our moms and people in the neighborhood and thats what really got me into wood working.

TRACK: The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects an eight percent employment growth for carpenters between 2018 and 2028.

ACT (Dylan): I decided that taking a career path in something more hands on and something I’m more passionate about was the right path for me.

TRACK: Society breads children to believe they must go to college to make it in life. Dylan was no exception. He was put on a fast track to college and a desk job.

ACT (Dylan): When I was learning things like how to build a foundation of a house and restore old houses and things that I think are interesting. I know can do those things on my own property or somebody else’s and I am able to make money off the skills that I have.

TRACK: The pandemic has had us all feeling very uneasy and unmotivated. Today we were lucky enough to speak to two creatives that kept their mind on the right track to their goals.

ACT (Dylan): My main goal is to have my own business where I will use the skills I learned in a creative way.

ACT (Ali): Long term, my goal would be to get booked to go on a tour.

OUTRO: A big thank you to Ali and Dylan for partaking in this interview. Let this serve as a message to all that there is not only one path to success.