Overcoming Problems with Group Projects

Now that the grueling 7-week project is out of the way, we have moved onto our final project. This projects draws on everything we learned during the 7-week project, but this time we have to work in groups and create a website for our topic.

So far, we have only pitched our ideas; My group is covering the Derby Dames, Columbia, Missouri’s roller derby team. As much as being in a group will make this project easier on us, it will also make things a bit harder.

Journalism students tend to be very independent, you can’t be very reliant if you plan on being a journalist. Therefore, working in a group setting is truly a challenge for all of us. I assume that is why BOTH my journalism class have group projects this semester, to get us to shed our pride and compromise. It’s a valuable lesson, especially for when we go into the field and have to answer our editors.

A 2011 J2150 Final Project’s Website found on Thursday, November 6, 2014. This final project was all about a national science camp that came to Columbia, Mo.

Though this challenge will make things difficult in the editing and publishing phase of our project, I am confident we can use each other’s skills to make the project the best it can be. We each have strengths and weaknesses that will compliment each other’s.

Being the broadcast major in my group, I will be in charge of the video. Though I’ve spent a decent amount of time in KOMU 8 News‘ newsroom, I know there are things I don’t see in my reporting. I’m sure Luke and Angeles will be able to help me spot problems I don’t see and vice versa.

Both the good and bad aspects of group projects will be at play for our final project, but I believe this will be a great learning experience for us. Whether we like it or not, we all have to work together out in the field and this project is giving us the types of skills we need for those situations.

Mobile Journalism: The Good, the Bad and the Quality

I knew the day would come. The day we talk about Mobile Journalism. It came on Monday in J2150.

Of course, it was inevitable, considering its prominence in today’s world. We are constantly on our phones; whether it be checking our email or avoiding awkward conversation with strangers in the elevator. I personally rely on my phone a lot and would probably have trouble surviving without it.

Members of the Little Sisters of the Pearls and Rubies service sorority play cards at their semi-formal on Friday October 10, 2014 in Columbia, Mo. Most everyone in the picture has their cards and water close by, Shannon Shaver has her phone.

I know I’m not alone. The world today is one in which most everyone has a cellular device and “smart phones” are becoming even more common. They’re used to contact other people, to keep track of your schedule, to wake you up in the morning, and most importantly (well, for Journalism anyway), to connect.

Because smart phones are so prominent in society nowadays, journalists can reach out to their audience in a matter of seconds at anytime, anywhere. All people have to do to receive your content is pull their phones out from their pockets.

Not only that, but if breaking news happens, you don’t have to run to get heavy equipment, you can just use your phone. Content like pictures, video, and text can all be created on that small device that we hold dear.

Though it’s an extremely useful tool in the journalism world, mobile journalism has some issues, as we learned in class. It’s quick and easy for journalists to use their phone but often quality is sacrificed in the process.

Kelly Ward and Shannon Shaver at an LSPR Bonfire on Friday October 10, 2014 in Columbia, Mo. The picture was taken with a phone and did not have the best quality.

Personally, I believe Mobile Journalism is a great thing, but it should be used sparingly. The best stories are going to come from a well executed plan and quality equipment. We should never stray too far away from the basics.

TV Style Video Proves Most Difficult of J2150 Project

This week I worked on the fifth and final piece of our J2150 seven week project, the TV Style Video. Though the end is near, this last project has been quite the sprint.

I decided to focus on one of the many programs CCUA has to offer, the Edible Landscaping program. Every Wednesday, Liberty Hunter, the Edible Landscaping Manager, works with a loyal group of volunteers at their community garden at Kilgore’s on Providence.

Edible Landscaping Manager Liberty Hunter explains her role at CCUA on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014 in Columbia, Mo. Hunter was joined by four volunteers at the Kilgore’s Community Garden on Providence.

It was a beautiful garden, however it was no where near level. This made it harder for me to work with a tripod. Of course, I hadn’t thought about it much, but leveling a tripod in a garden on a slope was one of the harder things I’ve had to do for this project.

Then there was the setting sun, making it extremely difficult to get shots without my shadow and to see the view finder during the interviews.

Not to mention having to jump over vegetables and kneeling in the dirt.

CCUA volunteers worked in the dirt at the Community Garden at Kilgore’s in Columbia, Mo on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014.

Though there were some hoops to jump through, it was exciting for me. I had to go straight to work after the shoot and was still running off an adrenaline rush a couple hours later.

It was a hard piece of our project, I’m still working to edit it, but it showed me that I’m choosing the right path. I liked photography and getting audio, but the video projects have been my true passion. I stay up late to edit, just because I want to.

Our TV Style video had me the most stressed but also the most excited I’ve been this semester. Overall, I felt like this project has been extremely helpful in showing me I’m on the right path.

Video Proves Journalists’ Perseverance

This past weekend I worked on the first video of our J2150 7-week project. Though I am more experienced in video than I am in photography or audio, there is clearly still a lot left to be learned.

For this video, I covered CCUA at the Columbia Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning, Oct. 11. Stalls of all colors and sizes lined a parking lot on Ash St. at 8 a.m. Though for me this was far too early to be doing anything but pressing the snooze button, stall owners were lively and waiting for the early crowd – and there was an early crowd.

At the end of the line of stalls, close to the live music tent, was the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture’s tent.

Carrie Hargrove, CCUA Farm Manager, and her assistant talk to other locals who own tents at the Columbia Farmer’s Market on Saturday Oct. 11, 2014. Hargrove set up the CCUA tent with a variety of vegetables from their two gardens.

Besides dealing with the loud music, the hardest part of filming the market was trying to use the tripod. I ended up having to switch to hand-held (though I know it’s against the project guidelines) because a tripod just didn’t fit in the tiny, 6 ft. x 6 ft. tent. This meant having to really concentrate on keeping my arms steady. This was harder than expected considering the sun hadn’t fully risen yet.

Editing was a bit easier, considering I do enjoy it quite a bit. However, during my interview the audio decided to not work. I had recorded the interview with my phone (just incase) and luckily I did not have to go without sound. Though I was lucky enough to have the interview, matching up separate video and audio proved to be significantly harder than one would think.

Shannon Shaver edits her first video project for J2150 using Premiere Elements on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014. The clips shown were narrowed down from over 20 shots.

Even with the ups and downs of filming and editing, I am not discouraged. If this class has taught me anything so far, it’s that a large part of Journalism is trouble-shooting. We have last minute cancelations, poor lighting, equipment problems, bad sources and we make mistakes. Even with all of that, journalists continue to persevere. And that’s what inspires me to keep pursuing my career.

“Writing for the Ear” Technique Gives Audience More

As we continue in this J2150, audio seems to become increasingly important. A couple weeks ago I talked about how our audio slideshow project showed me how audio is key in Journalism. Because I am steering toward Broadcast, I never paid much attention to audio as I was focused more on video. This week in lecture taught us that audio is a key part to Broadcast Journalism as well.

Shannon Shaver stares in awe at all the screens in the NBC control room in Chicago, IL on Friday, Nov. 30, 2012. Broadcast Journalism has been a passion of hers since her sophomore year of year school. Photo Credit: Caton Hacker. 

“Writing for the Ear,” or writing as if there is no script, is a technique used in Broadcast Journalism. Prof. Rice showed us Sarah Hill’s instructions regarding writing for the ear. Some of her tips included:

• Use Hyperlogging: This means watching your video and writing down every word that comes to mind. These are the words you will weave into your script.
• Use your voice as little as possible: People like ambient and natural sound. Try to tell the story through sound bites using your voice as a transition.
• Use Silence – Silence is the most dramatic natural sound and is very effective when used correctly.
• Use your best video first and your second best video last – this draws people into the story and leaves them with something to remember.
• Marry your video and your sound – you want your video and audio to match. This makes it easier for your audience to become really engaged.

All of Sarah’s stories that we were shown in lecture were intriguing. She let the audio do the storytelling which allowed the audience to fully immerse themselves into the story, so that they would not be thrown off or distracted by a reporters voice.

I was inspired by these techniques and plan to use these them in my own reporting in the future.

Missouri School of Journalism Answers Public’s Demand for Documentaries

Monday afternoon Stacey Woelfel came to J2150 to talk about the new Jonathan Murray Documentary Journalism Program, which he is the director of. He explained to the class what the application process will be for next fall and how the program will work.

I first heard about the new Documentary program during the Spring semester last year and found it very interesting that it would be tied to the Journalism school. Growing up, I had never thought of documentaries as a form of Journalism. However, Stacey cleared things up a bit. He showed the class different kinds of documentaries; some of which are more creative and some of which are more similar to news.

Regardless of what side of the spectrum a documentary lies, it will always contain certain aspects of Journalism and certain from Film. A blend of Journalism and Film courses will be required for the documentary program, making students of the program well rounded for when it comes time to go out into the field.

Personally, I believe this is a great addition to the Missouri School of Journalism. Documentaries have become extremely popular as more and more people begin to watch them at film festivals and on sites like Netflix. As this trend continues, there will be an increased demand for documentaries and the University of Missouri will be ready to supply the professionals needed to help fill that demand.

The Netflix homepage for the account of Shannon Shaver on Oct. 2, 2014. Documentaries were listed second only after “Top Picks.”

Once again, Missouri Journalism steps up its game.

Audio Adds an Important Element to Journalism

This week we started the Audio portion of our 7-week project for the class J2150. This part of the project required students to combine photos and audio. This is the first time I have had to really focus on multimedia during this project and it’s taught me a lot about audio specifically.

While editing my interview I realized how intricate audio editing can be. I filmed a lot of short films in high school and I currently work for KOMU 8 News cutting video for their noon show on Wednesdays, so I am accustomed to editing video. When you edit video there is a visual aspect of video that distracts your audience from little bumps in audio, bumps like “um” that must be edited out when there is no video with the audio.

The audio track of an interview with CCUA’s Public Outreach Coordinator Adam Saunders in Audacity on Thursday Sept. 25, 2014. Adam talked about what CCUA is and how it was started.

As part of this audio project, we were required to have both ambient and natural sound. While I was adding these in I realized how important audio can be to a story. Of course visuals are extremely important, but sounds create a more realistic environment for the audience in my opinion. When it comes to photos and video, the audience has to look through a screen or paper and they may not be able to imagine the environment. Audio is almost straight from the source; if you closed your eyes you could imagine the setting.

The produce shed and greenhouse at the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture’s Urban farm in Columbia, Mo on Sept. 19, 2014. Though the picture gives the audience a good visual, they may not feel as connected to the environment as they would with audio.

It adds a whole new, authentic level to your reporting and I plan to continue to use this multimedia tool in my career going forward.

Social Media in the Professional World: a Blessing and a Curse

“You are what you Tweet.” These were the first words I saw on the screen during the J2150 lecture this past Monday. I personally completely agree with this statement and since the beginning of my Journalism career, I have been told over and over to keep my social media pages professional.

Recent tweets from Shannon Shaver’s twitter page concern recent national news stories and Mizzou football on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. A majority of her tweets are for J2150 and KOMU 8 News.

Why keep them professional? Because future employers look at them during their application process. In our lecture, we learned employers have turned away candidates because of inappropriate photos and comments, poor communication skills, and lying about qualifications on social media sites.

This means the hiring process nowadays is a whole lot different than it was 20 years ago. People that were hired by a company 20 years ago may not have gotten the same job today due to social media.

However, you can’t ignore it. You can’t hide by keeping off Twitter and Facebook because employers will also hire candidates based on their talents shown on social media. This lecture showed me that getting in a job in today’s world has become a lot more complicated and competitive than in years past.

And it’s all thanks to social media.

Ferguson Serves as a Lesson to Us All

Ferguson, Mo. was the topic of discussion in J2150 Lecture on Monday. It was extremely interesting to see the many different ways journalists covered Ferguson. We looked at video, print, social media, first-person student coverage and even Comedy Central.

I was working at KOMU 8 News while the unrest in Ferguson was happening and worked on quite a few online stories regarding the subject.

A screenshot of a KOMU 8 News web story regarding Gov. Jay Nixon and one of his visits to Ferguson, Mo. on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014. This was one of many web stories about Ferguson, Mo that day.

After looking through all of these types of media and being in the middle of the coverage at an NBC affiliate, there is something I believe all of J2150 should take with them into their field of choice, one thing Prof. Rice emphasized: Journalists should be colorblind. As journalists, it is our job to talk to as many different people as possible in order to shape a story in the most truthful way we can.

One of the questions Prof. Rice asked during lecture was “Do you believe TV news rushed to judge a situation?” I answered this question with a yes. I do believe TV news rushed to judge the Ferguson situation, however it was a very fast-moving event and TV news had to stay on top of it. I believe it is extremely hard to find a balance between getting the whole truth and getting it as quickly as possible. But finding that balance is our job and Ferguson is a lesson for us all to consider in the future.

“Seeing Red” has Students Finding New Focus

Journalism is a career in which you never stop learning; this is one of the many reasons I have a passion for the field. Whether you’re learning new medical terms for your beat or a new social media site to use for reporting, it’s an integral part of the job. Our J2150 assignment “Seeing Red” was a new learning experience for me, and I loved it.

Throughout high school, I wrote for my school paper and never had to worry about getting the perfect picture. I had a fantastic photographer and close friend, by the name of Brian Quintos, whom I could always rely on. I never bothered to ask him to teach me how to shoot photos, though now I wish I had.

The front page of Plymouth High School’s newspaper, featuring Jayden Gohl and his father, from May 17, 2013. Brian Quintos took the featured photo.

When I started “Seeing Red” it was rough to say the least. I flipped through my notes and tried to focus on everything we talked about in class: rule of thirds, leading lines, framing, aperture, depth of field and shutter speed. Within 20 minutes I had a headache. I switched my strategy and focused on one at a time. When I tried to focus on everything we talked about in class it got me nowhere. Focusing on one aspect at a time helped me get the job done and get it done to my liking.

A house in East Campus shows the aftermath of a late night party on Sept. 5, 2014. The red Solo cup stood out from the dull colors of the neighborhood.

“Seeing Red” taught me much more than how to hold a camera and what setting to take pictures with; it taught me something about Journalism. Trying to focus on too many things at one time can lead to a messy, stressful story. Focusing on one thing at a time can make a much clearer, more interesting story.

Who knew?