Check out my first audio slideshow:

Tango Night

This first audio slideshow was a lot of fun. As long as I could be given the time and energy to go quality work, I think this is a discipline I could really warm to.

I need to work on thinking far enough ahead to the edited interview that I don’t forget to manipulate the conversation so I don’t miss crucial details. In this assignment, for example, I didn’t end up with the vital context I needed. Namely, the interviewee saying he was a UNT student who teaches tango. I think it is clear from the subtext, but it would have been better to have it up front.

As for the photographs, those could probably have been better as well, though I am pretty satisfied overall given the difficult lighting and fast movements of the dancers. I look forward to learning video, but I think I will still enjoy audio slideshows more because of the photographic element and the more nuanced storytelling.

I hope more to complete more assignements like this in the near future.

-Andrew McLemore

This guy was scary. I can understand that the business of journalism is changing radically, but to see the intense work ethic of Aaron Chimbel was enlightening, to say the least. The sheer quantity is enough to give pause to anyone considering this field. Add to that the quality of his work and the job of a mobile journalist becomes daunting indeed. I wonder if the excitement of such a job would wear off with the constant production and inevitable anxiety.

Or maybe not so inevitable? Chimbel seemed confident and jovial enough that it is difficult to imagine him strung out. Two or three multimedia stories a day? No way. Maybe there will come a time when I can pull such a stunt, but to do so consistently? For two years? No, that remains quite out of my reach at the moment. I was very impressed with Chimbel and I am not easily impressed.

Having said that, I don’t think I want Chimbel’s job.

I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not sour grapes. I’m sure his job is very rewarding, I just don’t think the jack-of-all-trades approach is one I am particularly interested in. I will become proficient in everything I need to, but I would prefer to instill copious blood, sweat and tears into a single story than spread myself thin to fulfill a quota.

I don’t want to sound haughty or elitist. I have the greatest respect for Chimbel’s work, but my passions are the written word and photography, and these are not his strengths. Perhaps they could be, but the quick turnarounds and high-volume output he works with prevent a real sense of finesse.

Chimbel’s talent lies in the package deal. He is wonderful at video editing and camera work, enunciation and on-the-spot storytelling, concision and the discovery of novelties amenable to it. Yet a pervasive haste dominates everything and it’s not just the understanding that he is always in a hurry. His work lacks the narrative undertow that gives a story depth and meaning.

Maybe I just don’t like broadcast journalism. Anyway, I will peruse his web page on WFAA’s site from now on. To see it, click here.

“The Fans Arrive in Phoenix”

OK, so I really don’t care about sports and I have never seen an entire Super Bowl. But I figure a video about fans arriving in Phoenix to see the Super Bowl and paying thousands of dollars to buy tickets qualifies as something people want to see.

Most of it takes place in the parking lot, but there is plenty of decadence to keep us interested. Highlights like barbeque raccoon, a parking lot hot tub in Giants colors, and giant racks of grilled meat were ample reason to watch the entire video. All the narrative were told by the fans themselves and in accents ranging from Southern drawl to Wisconsin enunciation.

The video is about four minutes long, but there are short fade-outs that separate the mini-narratives from one another. I thought this was an effective and creative video that attracts interest with a cliche topic, but provides enough color to make it enjoyable for anyone, even those who avoid sports like disease.

2. Investigations
“The Center for Public Interest: Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest” has a Web site with a somewhat archaic appearance. The first image of purple chess pieces and waves of neon green remind of special effects from ’80s movies.

But there are some interesting features, the most prominent of which is a search box that peruses an assembled database of FCC files and reveals what companies own the media in your neighborhood. It’s pretty nifty, though the visuals are somewhat soporific. The links are straightforward enough, but there is very little multimedia here, if any. A sidebar that breaks down the various media industries (entertainment, broadcast, newspapers, etc.) has links to graphs of annual revenues, a wonderful resource for professional investigative journalists.

The multimedia consists of lists to videos and broadcasts from various media sources. The video’s unifying theme seems to be anything that addresses evil government or evil corporations, inevitably “following the money” and exposing corruption (or sometimes just talking about the possibility of corruption).

But there are plenty of other resources here for the investigative journalist, including lists of important laws, sample open records request letters, and recent investigations.