Video 3: Every Vote Counts

We are told time and time again that voting is important and that every vote counts. But how true is that? When watching contest shows like American Idol they announce over 100 million votes were submitted. In presidential elections the results are decided by the electoral college. How do our votes really count?

On a campus like WSUV, where there are only about 3000 students every vote really does count. Last year's election was decided by 10 votes and this year's was only decided by 1.

I interviewed 8 people for this video but only ended up including 4 of them. The interviews were from the current two figures that were elected for ASWSUV President and Vice President and then the two ASWSUV Senators that ran agains't them. 

I found the wind to be a challenge with the sound of my interviews and other sounds on campus to be sometimes distracting but I wanted to do my interviews outside because of the weather and the different background/angle options. 

My query letter was addressed to The Columbian about a different event. If I were to redo my query letter I would readdress it to the Vancougar because it is specific to our campus and students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcI2Op_b8Yc&feature=youtu.be

Video Assignment 1

Since I work with children, I have always had a place in my heart for them. Through babysitting, I have become very close to two young sisters that were recently taken from their parents due to physical abuse. I have been able to witness the struggles they have faced through having to uproot their entire lives and move into a new house, with complete strangers and switch daycares. This change would be dramatic for anyone but the unfortunate part is that the people having to face this adversity are young children. Although the family they are with provide them with everything they need and treat them as if they were born into the family, the question of what will be the two children's future resinates. Where will they end up? 

This connection made me want to further research the foster care system, although this piece was only a minute I think it is a relevant topic and something that my church is doing a series on as well. I did not want to feature the girls in many of the pictures because of their personal circumstances so I decided to go more abstract by taking pictures of their toys, shoes, etc. The singing at the end of the clip is the two year old singing 10,000 Reasons, a worship song that her current foster parents sing to her before bed. 

Video 1 Assignment

Audio Assignment 3

Link

http://soundcloud.com/comjour333-1/madison-watsonaudio-3



Script 

HELPING TRANSFER STUDENTS TRANSITION

Watson

2-25-14

:120

HERE AT WSU VANCOUVER WE AIM TO MAKE OUR INCOMING FRESHMAN FEEL AT HOME BUT ARE OUR RESOURCES TO HELP CONNECT OUR TRANSFER STUDENTS LACKING? WE ASKED TRANSFER STUDENT ALCIA RUTERIDGE ABOUT HER TRANSFERRING EXPERIENCE.

            IN: I THINK THE HARDEST THING…

            RUNS: 31

            OUT: SOMEONE TO MEET PEOPLE WITH.”

I TALKED TO HANNA MORRIS-PINSON AND GOT HER THOUGHTS ON HOW TO BETTER THE TRANSITION FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS.

            IN: MY NAME IS HANNA MORRIS-PINSON…

            RUNS: 73

            OUT:… WOULD BE REALLY BENEFICIAL.”

MADISON WATSON KOUG RADIO

Reflection

Why did I choose this topic?

                    I decided to do this topic because I started off as an incoming freshman at WSUV and then after a year I transferred to Clark College and then once I received my AA I transferred back to WSUV. Having that unique experience gave me the opportunity to see where our school’s strengths and weaknesses were when welcoming freshman versus Transfers. As a freshman you are assigned a Student Ambassador and are paired in a group of other freshman that share similar interests and you form bonds with. However, as a transfer student you can attend a non-mandatory orientation where you are given the option to take a campus tour. It seems that since a large majority of WSUV is made up of transfer students that it would be beneficial provide them with similar if not the same networking opportunities that freshman have.

            I interviewed several freshman and some transfer students to hear about their experience with coming to college and what they found to be helpful and where they saw improvements necessary. I also talked with Hanna Morris-Pinson. Hanna is a junior and is a current Student Ambassador who just submitted her application to be next year’s Lead Ambassador. Hanna described the orientation for freshman a place to connect where she said Transfer orientation is more about the “nuts and bolts” of WSUV. She suggested that it may be beneficial for both freshman and Transfers if they shared an orientation. This would provide Transfers with more connections and freshman with more opportunities to hear what college is like.

Interesting aspects of the production process:

I think that the biggest struggle was learning the program and getting it to work. It has been difficult learning new program but even harder because there always seemed to be something that would not work on the computers. To try and help this I have been coming to class 1 to 2 hours before our class and trying to get a head start. Just last week I had finally uploaded all my clips and started editing and something went wrong with the computer causing me to lose all my completed work. It has been fun getting to know a new program simply because I think that watching a story form and then hearing the end result is rewarding.

I made sure that I followed the structure in our text by including an intro and a conclusion as well as a couple of interview clips and natural sound. One thing that was interesting was watching my story grow and change throughout the process. I at first was interviewing only freshman about their transition from high school to college and then I interviewed some transfer students and heard their take on transferring. That’s when the topic started to grow and change. It started as a broad topic with perhaps no concrete story and turned into a focused story that is relevant here on campus.

3 Audio Clips

Audio Clip Number 1

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13938923

This audio clip is known as the sound clip of the day. Jim Culp is introduced and talks about the hummingbird sound. While he is describing and comparing the sound the clip features an actual hummingbird buzz in the background. The sounds at first is played with no voice over and then fades out into the background while cult talks about it. One thing that I really enjoyed about the audio clip was the fact that it was presented in the form of the story. The language provided a visual of what to visualize while the actual sound played in the background. Another thing that I enjoyed about this piece is the tone of voice that was used. It can take a lot of work to talk with a voice that properly projects and is easy to listen to. Both people talking on the clip talked clearly and slowly so that their delivery was easy to follow. The final thing that I enjoyed about this clip was the concluding line.  The final few seconds recapped the name of the featured person and what they were talking about. This follows the same premise that writing does, introducing the topic, the actual story and then a recapping conclusion. I feel that doing this not only helps listeners but also provides a clear ending to the audio story.

Audio Clip Number 2

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/02/04/271117790/wanna-smoke-it-could-cost-you-a-tooth-the-fda-warns-teens

This audio clip was particularly interesting because it focused on a commercial from the FDA but was able to describe the news story and the commercial all through audio. The clip starts off by introducing two announcers and the name of the segment, it then transitions to the voiceover from the reporter and clips from an FDA commissioner interview. The audio is pieced together in a manner that is easy to follow and delivers the newsworthy point effectively.  The audio of the commercial that the story is centered around is played throughout different portions of the story and is just as informative and powerful as if it were being watched on television. Rob Stein with NPR actively describes the commercial while the audio is played creating a narration for listeners. I enjoyed the different voices of the interview that were featured in the clip because it gave the story more dimension rather than having Rob Stein just quote the commissioner. This to me drives home the importance of having other people in an audio feature rather than having the reporter doing all the talking.

Audio Clip Number 3

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/01/28/267853620/whats-good-for-baby-camels-coul-be-good-for-human-skin

The audio clip starts off with an introduction that focuses on the usage of camel’s milk in parts of the Middle East and then narrows her topic by introducing the spread of usage to Missouri (hourglass). The announcer then introduces Kristofor Husted who reports on the story.  While the Husted is reporting he provides the listeners with ample background information and insight into why camel milk is used his reporting features interviews with a Jordanian woman that has brought camel milk for skin products to the United States. The story keeps the interest of listeners because the topic is something new and interesting but it also features sound clips of an actual person that is involved in bringing this oddity to America. This is another clip that shows how important other people’s voices are when it comes to journalism, especially in audio form.

Who is a Journalist and what is Journalism?

We have talked a lot in class about what makes someone a journalist and what something needs to be considered journalism. I think through discussion my ideas on what defines these terms has changed. A Journalist is someone who reports the news through television, radio, print and other forms of media. Merriam-Webster defines journalism as “The activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio.” Although this seems accurate, I think that the medium used to show journalism can be very different. Journalism in my opinion is the action of sharing something that is newsworthy with the public. The way that this information is shared can differ. In class we saw examples of song, Prezi slides and images. I would not have originally considered these mediums as journalism but why? I think that in my mind is had a preconceived idea of the definition of journalism. I imagined radio and television broadcasters and the newspaper when I was asked to define journalism. My view has now changed, the idea that a picture or song is journalism seems reasonable to me. If it shares accurate, newsworthy information with the public then that is to say that the method in which it is shared is correct or incorrect. After all, a picture is worth a 1000 words.

            At first I was certain that the image I created in Photoshop was NOT journalism but now for sake of discussion I am going to argue that it is journalism. My image contains no text but simply images that chronologically display the key happenings in the story. I think because the images are placed in the order of occurrence and share the story with the public it is considered journalism. However, the lines do get blurred when the ability to comprehend what is being said is addressed. The images do show what happened in the event but without background knowledge on the actual event it may difficult to fully understand the timeline of images.

Journalism or not..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOsqkQytHOs

The video Can Video Games make you Smarter? By Asap Science was published to YouTube on January 19, 2014. It provides facts and statistics on how video games can be intellectually stimulating oppose to the counter popular belief. The video illustrates its facts though active illustrations and narration. The video is journalism because it provides facts that support the overall focus of the topic. Although the film may not fit into what some consider traditional journalism, it still provides facts on a popular topic that can be debated. The visuals correspond to the information being presented and bridge an audience gap by making the facts easier to understand by a younger audience. The video includes interactive activities to further their point and shares information from different studies. The narrator addresses opposing viewpoints and acknowledges them as valid opinions but continues use facts to strengthen their argument. Even though the video does not feature a well-known reporter out on the scene interviewing and investigating whether video games are beneficial or not does not mean it is not journalism. The narrator has his facts on the topic and is reporting to an audience to pass on the information. Does this make the narrator a journalist or just a narrator? Whether the voice on the video was given the facts or researched them himself does not entirely matter. He is the person reporting the information and delivering it to the public which would make him the journalist of the video. A film that interactively teaches facts about the positives of playing video games can be journalism because it is presenting facts about a topic that is relevant and easily debated.

The video Can Video Games make you Smarter? By Asap Science was published to YouTube on January 19, 2014. Although it provides facts and statistics that playing video games can actually make you smarter and increase brain activity it is not journalism. To be journalism something must be newsworthy. This topic, although interesting and popular in many debates is not newsworthy. It is not providing any breaking news facts that have never been shared with the public before. The topic of whether video games are intellectually stimulating or contribute to lazy youth and unproductive brain stimulation is one that has been debated for a while. The question is, is it actually journalism? The video is addressing a side to a popular debate and although acknowledges the opposing view, sticks with the one side and provides information to strengthen the case. This is almost a bias which is not really journalism but more of a very well argued stance on a debate topic. The fact that the video uses illustrations rather than real people and uses a narrator rather than a reporter does not make it any less newsworthy. The video engages the audience and the voice provides well researched facts in a clear manner. However, the real question stems from whether the topic of the positives of video games is one that can accurately be labeled as journalism.