Assigned: Monday January 9, 2017
Your Story. What this semester is really all about.
The main goal of the class is to produce a body of diverse stories on a common theme. Each of you will work on your own project – though getting help from each other isn’t just ok, but encouraged. Ask for help in editing, or perhaps you’ll want a second camera on a shoot, or someone is a better writer or editor or coder. Collaboration is a good thing.
Each of you will produce a main story – you may write, photograph, shoot video, gather audio. IF your primary medium is text, you need to make sure you have strong visuals to accompany your story.
IN ADDITION Each of you need a second multimedia component. This should give the story some context or meaning. Your main story will likely be character driven. This second piece can be the facts behind the story. You can use graphs, charts, interactives, maps – as long as you use something to help engage and explain your story to our readers.
Due:
Monday, February 13, 2017 – Make Pitch in Class (100pts – if you change topics after this date you lose the points)
The pitch needs to be specific. You should have contacted subjects, found a character(s), have a sense of the direction of the story. Subjects should be on board. If you haven’t contacted experts yet, or done some basic research, you’re probably behind.
You should have a rough idea of a shooting/interview/reporting schedule
Monday, February 27, 2017 – look at first reporting in class (50pts – you must have solid work to show at this point. If you change ideas after this date you lose the points)
You MUST have some reporting to show at this point – It could be a collection of photos, or some video clips or some rough notes including quotes from your main subject. Â Still a long way to go, but you need to honing in on the story.
Can you answer the question What is your story about and why is it interesting in one sentence??
Monday, March 20, 2017 – The rough cut (50pts)
By this point you should show us the narrative. You should have a pretty solid idea of the story arc. We should hear or read at least a rough edit of some interviews, see some visuals or b-roll
By this date you should also have an idea of what your data will be and how it could be presented. How will you give your story context?
Monday, April 10, 2017 – one on one meetings (100pts)
I’ll meet with each of you to look at projects.
Wednesday, April 21, 2016 – Final version due (300pts)
This needs to include all content including your mainbar story – text, video, whatever plus your data in the form of a chart, graph, interactive, etc.
Find a compelling topic and subject that relates to our theme.
Look for:
Strong Character(s) – someone your audience can connect to on an emotional level
Present Tense – especially for video and photo, look for stories that are in-process, active, on-going
The Emotional Core – Find what is important, be willing to ask the hard questions
Facts (Data)Â – what makes this story relevant? Is it part of a trend? Why does it matter?
Depending on your story you’ll turn in exported video files, photos, text. Â Give yourself time to post your story properly to the website.