Saturday, December 5, 2009

Reflections on Classmates' Projects

The first batch of projects were great; here are my comments on each (not including my own)..

Sylvia's project about the college love story was great because I didn't know what to expect after her first draft. She had some cute pictures and OK audio, but the story didn't really go anywhere in the rough draft. When she showed the final draft though, I thought her transitions were cleaner, I thought the pictures she had were much better and more interesting, I thought the audio was better to listen to and she even had a couple video clips. I thought some of her text slides had too many words to comfortably read in the time they were on screen, but other than that I thought the story came together very well and she did a great job.

With Mike's project, I had no idea what to expect because we didn't see any of his rough draft and I was never in groups with him so I didn't even know what his topic was. I was pleasantly surprised though, since his project was very cool and well put together. The best aspect of his project was definitely the video clips, in my opinion. They were great quality and looked like something you'd see on MTV, rather than something a college student had filmed. His photos were also very eye-catching in terms of color and substance. I wasn't sure what to make of the fact that we never really knew who was talking, but Mike's explanation worked for me: that the project was about the band itself and not about the members specifically. A great piece for any arts section looking for a little substantive video, I'd say.

AJ's presentation about the greeters at Pease Air Force Base was both tightly edited and an important piece of journalism. She had great segments of video, some excellent b-roll behind the soldiers walking in and plenty of good photos. The one photo that stuck out in my mind was the old lady sitting in her wheelchair with emptiness all around her; that's not an easy photo to get. I liked the way the story was introduced and moved all the way through the soldiers' arrival and finally closing with the building sign outside the base. The way AJ used lower thirds and a few well-placed text slides added a bit more substance to the project, since we didn't always know who was talking or how often these greeters would show up to see soldiers arriving. Overall, it was an impressive journalistic endeavor.

Finally came Danielle's slideshow of black and white images of the man with muscular dystrophy. She did a great job getting new pictures to throw in that included different, interesting angles of this poor guy who is basically trapped in his house. The couple photos that were almost entirely black with a bright computer screen or window to make a silhouette were amazing. Her audio was powerful, directed to a journalistic point and worked well with the photos. The really incredible aspect of her project is just how she found this guy and the courage it took to see him and spend so much time with him. I'm sure it was awkward and uncomfortable most of the time, but Danielle's project shows how much an effort like that can pay off.

I'm excited for Wednesday's presenters, although I don't have any idea how we'll have time to finish all 11 that are supposed to go. We'll need to cruise right through 'em.

1 comment:

  1. You're right -- we'll have to motor tomorrow. I'm going to be really pissed off if this storm interrupts anything. Thanks for your comments on the stories last week. The images that stick are interesting...the one you mentioned from AJ's show of the old lady particularly sticks out. I'm glad you commented on the journalistic value of the stories as well. And of course I hope you are flattered by the comments others are making about your story.

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