Assignment – Election Day

100 points

Assigned: Thursday, October 16, 2018

Due: Monday October 22 by 11:59pm – email me your idea, and roughly when you plan to shoot and post.
Due: Tuesday, November 6, 2018 (or earlier if you do an advance story)

Goal: To cover a news event, using 360 Video

Election Day is always exciting. But this year is especially important. This is where democracy happens. As visual journalists we can show how people exercise their rights, how the process plays out. We can capture the excitement, frustration, drudgery, importance of this day. 360 video allows us to put people in a place,experience a scene, in a way traditional video can’t. It is well suited to Election Day.

In 2018 this is a national story. Control of the U.S. Congress is in play, and there are many Pennsylvania elections that are a crucial part of the national story.

You have two choices for covering the Election:

  1. An advance story about the election::  this could be poll workers getting ready, candidates campaigning, activists working to get out the vote, etc. Up to four of you can choose this option. These stories should be shot and produced in one day if possible, but certainly posted as quickly as you can.
  2. Election Day:: Capture the feel of what happens on the 6th. This could be voters at the polls, or again, candidates out campaigning, or coverage of election night parties – big or small as people watch the results.

Your stories should include:

  • Multiple shots (roughly 3-6, though whatever works best)
    interviews
    Natural Sound
    Spatial Audio
    Titles, etc
    Text story – this should be a couple of paragraphs that includes some reporting – it should include details not in the actual 360. DO NOT write a, “this is what my video is about piece,” rather write a short news story to accompany your video.

Try to keep the finished piece to between 1-2 minutes. Longer isn’t necessarily better – make us care. Make it fun and interesting!

Links:

** Photographing in polling places. In Pennsylvania, permission to photograph happens at the polling place. Some places may say no. You can never show someone actually voting in a way that would reveal who they voted for. Be polite and flexible. If they say no, you’ll have to move on.**

DEADLINE: The goal is to turn in your work as quickly as possible. We will post the work live on a running website

NAME ON ASSIGNMENT SHOOTING TIME EDITING TIME
Tommy Butler Mike’s Appliance Election Day morning 3-4pm
Katie DeFiore Voting booths tba tba
Kaitlyn Aguiles Get Out the Vote tba tba
Erin Kim Soc 119 Election Party, and voting throughout Election Day late Tuesday
Morgan Campbell Voters for Governor Election Day tba
Sarah Price Dauphin county voting tba tba
Upload your finished Video and text story to the WordPress Blog

POSTING TO WORDPRESS

  1. You should have gotten an email with username and password, please save that!
  2. First, post your video to YouTube – you’ll need a free account, and the video will need to be public.
  3. Copy the URL for the video
  4. Log into WordPress
  5. Click Post>Add New (on the left-hand side of the page)

  6. Select the appropriate category.
  7. Give your post a title – this should be your name and the assignment.
  8. Type in a description and paste the URL for the video on its own line. Make sure to have a space before and after.
  9. Click Publish
  10. Your post should be viewable on the class blog

** Please remember the software can be slow, depending on the speed of your computer. Give yourself enough time to get this done by the deadline**