I’m very thankful for my mentor Tom for his guidance throughout the week, Michelle Baker who worked very closely with me for the visuals, and PJ and Selena for their magical audio edit and coaching.
I learned to get more productive and follow the workflow. Producing a multimedia story and collaborating with others in the newsroom requires a lot of discipline and pre-planning. And there is an order and logic during the process of building the story. Collaborating is so much fun, you get to work with people who have a different range of skills, and it has been a great learning experience to see how they focus on small details and different elements of the story. I learned to multitask, working with audio, photo, video(stand up). Each part coordinates with others in its unique way, and together they enrich the story and add textures and dimensions. Visuals are a critical part of audio that helps the listener be personally on the scene and better understand the story of the source. Preparing for a Zoom interview and recording high quality audio for the audio story. I have a new understanding and experience with the word “deadline.”
I wish I could shorten the interview time down to around 30 minutes, I should cut out follow up questions that are not related to the story location – Oregon. I remember asking the questions about what’s going on in Europe. Although it’s related to the work of the source, it’s not related to his story. And after 30 minutes, everyone is tired. I also wish to visit the location for a standup interview beforehand. Make sure the area is quiet, no cars or people passing by. Strong natural light, no artificial light. Practice the script as much as I can beforehand. So that the stand-up can be done quickly.
Next week, I’m interested in pitching a story on Permaculture to local news organizations, and collaborating with UO alumni to produce a multimedia story. I will bring the skills I learned from making the audio story with me in the future.