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Hi, I’m Darragh Worland and I teach multimedia journalism for mediabistro.
What do we mean when we say “multimedia journalism” or “multiplatform storytelling”?
Well, rather than telling a story with text and maybe a photo or two, we make use of all
kinds of audio-visual elements to tell a more interactive and engaging story. The
Internet is an audio-visual medium after all (much like TV), so it makes sense to take
advantage of that, right? But it’s not just a matter of telling the same story over and
over. The different parts of the story all complement one another.
Say we were going to do a story on a food pantry. One of my students recently pitched
this idea. We might include all kinds of background information and statistics – a lot of
facts – in a brief text story. Then we could do an audio slideshow profiling a
middle class family, which has fallen on hard times in this economy and who’s going to
the pantry. We’d include photos of the family’s life before and after, and combine that with
audio of the parents and maybe even the kids talking about life then and now. Then we could
do a video of a typical day at the pantry, focusing on the people who volunteer there.
Finally, we could create a graph of food pantry use over a ten years span, say, or a
map showing where demand is highest across the country. See how each medium tells
a different aspect of the story most suited to the medium in question?
In my course you’ll pick a story you want to tell – any story that grabs you. You’ll
learn what aspects of that story are best told using
text, audio, photos and video. I’ll walk you
through the process and offer detailed feedback and suggestions. Then you’ll get
advice on where to get low-cost and even free equipment and software. You’ll try your
hand at gathering audio, video and photos for your story. And then you’ll put them
together in audio slideshows and short videos that you’ll post on your own blog.
And don’t think this class is just for journalists. If you’re in the non-profit world, or you’re
involved in marketing or PR and you need to get your message out, you can also
benefit from this class and adapt it for your needs. I’ll help you do that.
See you in class