Blog Final: Reflection & Suggestions for Future J2150ers

(Believe it or not, I am creating this blog on the mobile device for the first time & and right before the plane takes off!)

Intro to Multimedia Journalism was a not an exciting course for me at all, for I was fully aware of all the tasks that I have to finish before it started. However, this seemingly uninteresting course helps me make the final decision of what to do for the rest of the summer back in China: a one-month internship at International Channel Shanghai. (It’s actually a hard decision for me, for I have to shorten the time of staying with my family who have been away from me for almost a year. Fortunately, they support me to do what I think is valuable!)

Do not ever think of just “getting by” without dedication as long as you still have the passion for journalism, even if you don’t expect a career in journalism. There is a lot you can learn from this class, such as video shooting and audio editing, but you have to devote yourself to it to make it your own best; otherwise, you have no clear difference from a trainee who learns the basics of the skills in two days and just “manufacture” a multimedia piece rather than “create” a compelling story. For me, I know all the techniques before this class, but only for this time that I started to make it alive and make eight updated version. It worths staying over night improving since you have to experience it before you become an expert.

Follow the journalism “common sense” to create something unusal or unseen by most. B’roll, clean cut, faded out music…. the rules are not enforced by “journalism law“ but are created by the audience over the genrations. What we want to create is a video clip that satisfy both the viewers and ourselves. Even if we can rarely cater to the majoriy as a neophyte, we know the destination and e are approaching it step bystep. For me, I almost ruined thevideo because of the dim light of the room I was shooting, which turned out to be blurred and lack for adequete color balance. The good part, however, is that I realize more about the importance of the color balance and leanr more techniques to adjust it during post-production than people who did it well without my problems. In addition, I finally learned more about the “good” after I watched my own  3-minutr video for ovr 100 times.

Value the advices from peers and the instructor, for you are still very “young.” Multimedia journalists want to create the piece for almost everyone who has a glimpse of your work, co-workers and editors included. I was at first very shy to show my work to the instructor, but I tried to show to everyone around me at the end of the course. The reason for this is that your piece cannot be called satisfactory if people around you are dtill not giving you full marks, let alone tens of thousands of audience who will see it afterwards. It’. not a simple question of probability, but you can learn about it every time you show to one additional person.

Never say goodbye to J2150. I HATE TO HEAR “GET RID OF“ when people finish all the tasks of this course. No matter what sequence you are pursuing for the next year, basic storytelling skills are useful and valuable thorouhout your career. For me, an international student from another country who learned the equivalent course in China one year ago, J2150 makes me realize there is “better“ and “worse“ for a journalism work, even if different people have dissimilar viewpoints. But journalism is not completely art, though some elements similar, and it is always trying to serve the public, for profit or not.

Sifan Ouyang
Waiting for the flight to Shanghai….

Arthur Du & His Tai Chi Students

Columbia residents learn to practice Xing Yi Quan from Arthur Du

Arthur Du teaches one of the starting poses during the first class of Xing Yi Quan

Xing Yi Quan (形意拳)

Tai Chi Quan (太极拳)

Arthur Du, right, teaches Daniel Kramer, left, how to adjust the pose of xing yi stick

Xing Yi Stick (形意棍)

 

 

Arthur Du and His Student Daniel Kramer Talk About the Philosophy of Tai Chi

 

Blog Five: MediaStorm Post-Production Blog

I “re-create” my video after watching the Media Storm tutorial on post-production, for several changes are made because of the advices given in the tutorial and from the instructor.

First of all, I review all my transitions according to the most important tip, to use transition effects sparingly and always with an intent. Though a big fan of zooming, I finally decided to only use once when the qi gong student is talking about his concentration, because I do think this zooming effect can help the audience actually “feel” his concentration and calmness when practicing qi gong. Also, this image helps transition two different ideas as I move on  from the student’s testimonial to the instructor’s expectation.

Second, I decide to use background music even if the default choice is not to use additional music. The reason that I use music is that most of the qi gong practice is accompanied by the music, which can help students calm their stress and pressure. Also, the qi gong music turns out to provide a sedate and mysterious atmosphere to the narrative. And I think this is the “feeling” of qi gong after I observe qi gong for a couple of times.

Third, once I decided to use background music, I have to consider the relationship between the music and the cuts. According to the Media Storm tutorial, we can’t cut up a word into two different scenes, and we also do not usually cut off one “music sentence” if we are still talking about the same thing. For my video, I try to avoid the cuts within a sentence, both for music and narrative. Also, I lower the level of the music when my subject is talking, but I did keep some background sound because the overall idea is about the class and the instructor.

In addition, I think the fundamental rule will be using stills and motions to “help” the narrator tell the story. It is pretty hard to actually match the sentence with the scenes but things turn out well at last because the power of the visuals is much bigger than only sound.

However, the greatest pity is that I don’t have the good skills to capture photos and video in the dim light even if I tried two times. But I do think the storytelling techniques and editing skills are much more meaningful than just an assignment.

Blog Four: Two-paragraph Summary

Our story for group project is going to include multiple elements about leading a healthy lifestyle in Columbia. Each of us has chosen a certain aspect of healthy living to cover. Maggie will cover the Track Club of Columbia on their morning runs. Catalina is featuring a yoga instructor and looking into how yoga helps with physical and mental health. Carly will feature a story about main Squeeze, an organic restaurant downtown. Stefan will cover the art of Tai Chi and its mental and physical challenge. Samantha will be talking to a nutritionist about meal plans and healthy cooking ideas. Finally, Mitchell is going to Clover’s market to but an experience organic shopping.

We chose to cover this topic because we love Columbia and to provide local residents with ways to stay healthy. Eating right and exercising are key to a healthy lifestyle, but we want to localize those tips and make it easily accessible for residents. We hope our website can provide easy ways to stay fit for multiple different types of people. By searching out stories, we hope to find people that are making a difference in our green and global community.

Finding Tai Chi

 
Arthur Du and his tai chi student Daniel Kramer talks about the magnificence of tai chi
 

 
Check out the map here to see the closest location for  you to get tai chi classes in Columbia, Mo.!
 

 

Blog Three: “The Journalist’s Creed” with Maggie Angst

Maggie Angst, journalism student of the University of Missouri, talks about her passion for convergence journalsim and her understanding of The Journalist Creed.

She talks about David Carr, culture reporter of The Times & Page One: Inside The New York Times.