The Big One

It’s hard to believe, but we’re already almost a quarter of the way through the semester. Classes are in full swing, getting busier every week, and the first string of projects, papers, and exams are upon us. Some classes are even introducing the final project already.

In my journalism class, we were presented with our final project last week already. The director of “Neighborhood News Service Milwaukee,” a multimedia website that reports on local issues in five Milwaukee neighborhoods, came and spoke to the class about our final projects. Her proposal, that the class produce multimedia feature pieces to be published on the “Neighborhood News Source” website.

This is an extraordinary opportunity, but at the same time, an extraordinary challenge. A challenge I am willing to take.  In order to produce a final project worthy of publishing, we will have to utilize all the multimedia skills we learn throughout the course of the semester as well as put our reporting and writing skills to the test.

In today’s class, we were placed into groups and decided our topics as well as developed some potential story ideas. It is very important to note the difference between a topic and a story. A topic is a general idea or theme, where as a story is specific and has a definite focus.

My group chose the topic of immigration. We also brainstormed potential story ideas. The three prospective story ideas we came up with concerning immigration were, a feature piece profiling an individual going through the neutralization process, a feature piece profiling a child of immigrants, and a feature piece about government sponsored education for immigrant children.

As we are only in the beginning stages of the project, our group has yet to do a lot of research. In the upcoming weeks, we hope to select one of the five Milwaukee neighborhoods served by the “Neighborhood News Source” and really learn more about that neighborhood and the people who live there.

I look forward to keeping you updated, as we progress through this project and I cannot wait to share the final result! 

News Reporter's Workshop

While many high tail it to Madison to see Wisconsin Badger games, I recently made the trek for an entirely different reason. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a news reporter’s workshop in Madison. And let me tell you the hour and half car ride, seated in the back middle seat was well worth it! I learned so many valuable storytelling techniques and skills. I could not wait to share them all with you!  

The event was sponsored by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and featured two highly accredited speakers, Valerie Geller and Al Tomkins. Valerie Geller is the President of Geller Media, international broadcast consultant, and author. Al Tomkins is a senior faculty member for the reputable Broadcast and Online Poynter Institute.

The morning of the workshop, a relatively small group of about fifty, professionals and students alike, convened in a conference room at the Sheraton Hotel in Madison. Despite the early hour, nine o’clock on a Saturday, the energy in the room was electric as everyone was eager to learn what they could from the days events.

The workshop was broken up into three distinct sessions.

The first session, was all about critical thinking. It focused on how essential it is for journalists to constantly question sources and information.

For the second session, our small group was divided into two subgroups based on discipline. Radio went with Valerie Geller. Her lecture concentrated on writing powerful radio copy.  Television went with Al Tompkins whose lecture centered around becoming a stronger storyteller.

Squished into an even tinier room than before, all of us television folks gathered to hear what pearls of wisdom Mr. Tomkins had to offer. His first lesson was about story shape and how it affects storytelling. He described the differences between the inverted pyramid style of writing, used primarily for breaking news, and the hourglass style of writing, used for narratives or feature stories.  The second lesson he taught us was to limit the use of subjective adjectives. In his third lesson, Tomkins introduced, what he calls, the “ladder of abstraction.” He explained that every story has to begin either with a  “wide shot,” emphasizing the story’s general implications, or a “close up,” focusing on one person or thing affected by the story.  Regardless of where you choose to begin, however, he added that it is important to move the story up and down this ladder. Otherwise, your story will either lack emotion or it will fail to communicate the whole idea. Tomkins fourth lesson was on the five general motivators: money, family, health, safety and community. A general motivator answers the question, why should the audience care about this story. A journalist should use these motivators in their stories to attract and maintain audience interest. The final lesson Tomkins taught the group was how to more effectively structure sentences in broadcast copy. The method he suggested is to begin a sentence with the tension or conflict. Then follow the tension or conflict with context. Finally, place the power word, the most powerful word in the sentence, at the end. By following this formula, Tomkins insured us, out copy would be more powerful.

The workshop finale was a session all about cool new tools available to journalists. Some of my favorite tools included a smart phone application named Dragon Dictation that records interviews and then transcribes them right on the phone. Another tool I have found to be really useful is 1stheadines.com. This is a news-aggregating site that allows you to organize current headlines based on topic, state, or major city. The final tool I thought was really cool is Storify. Storify is a site that allows you to build a story from Tweets and it is great for turning breaking news stories into narratives.

Even though I had to give up a Saturday to attend this workshop, the lessons and skills I learned made the sacrifice more than worth it. As I continue on my journey to becoming a better reporter, I am excited to employee these new skills and continue to learn more, both in the field and at other workshops like this one. 

Final Cut Pro X: Friend or Foe?

I’m afraid of technology. But despite this fear, I made a promise to myself to become as technologically literate and savvy as possible this year. This involves learning a variety of new software used by print and broadcast journalists alike.

Today, I took a class on the new Apple editing software, Final Cut Pro X. As I walked into the class, I felt pretty confident. I had conquered my fear of non-linear editing systems a while ago. In fact, for the last two years I have religiously been practicing and using both Final Cut Pro 7, Final Cut Pro X’s predecessor, and Avid, another editing software.  But as soon as Final Cut Pro X opened on my computer, my confidence turned once again into fear.

Final Cut Pro X looked totally different than Final Cut Pro 7. Tools were located in different places. There was one preview screen instead of two. The timeline did not separate the video track from the audio track. The list goes on. As I sat there, terrified, I tried to absorb all the changes. Then the instructor began to talk.

She compared editing with Final Cut Pro X to editing using iMovie, saying that if you can use iMovie you can use Final Cut Pro X. Her words brought me little comfort as I have never used or even looked at iMovie before.

By the time she actually began the workshop, I was felt completely incompetent as an editor. Her promise to walk us through everything was the only thing that kept me from loosing it. As I watched her point out the new features on the large projector screen, I began to recognize that in many ways Apple did simplify the software, making it more consumer friendly. You can easily preview all your clips and select in and out points in the “Events” menu. The time code is prominently displayed. And many of the tools I frequently use while editing, such as the blade and trim tools, were much easier to find and access.

After playing around with it for a while, however, I’m still not sold on Final Cut Pro X. I do not like how the timeline does not separate the video and audio tracks and how you cannot clearly see where you are placing your clips on the timeline.

The film and broadcast industry also have qualms about this new software.  Many professionals are denouncing Final Cut Pro X, saying Apple sold out. This controversy has left some editors reverting back to Avid. Only time will tell how successful Final Cut Pro X will be the industry. 

In the meantime, I will continue learning Final Cut Pro X and probably wanting to pull my hair out.

Not an Artist

I am not an artist. I can’t paint, I don’t sculpt and I know next to nothing about photography. But who cares? I’m a journalist not an artist, right? Wrong.  Today’s multimedia journalists are required to be both reporters and photographers making it essential for them to know the basic principles of composition.

Understanding the challenge facing journalists, my professor decided to teach our class the basic principles of composition.

At first, it was intimidating having to think about things like contrast, framing, lighting and exposure. I quickly learned, however, that photography is all about experimentation and practice. There are nor hard and fast rules.

To my surprise, most of the photos I took actually turned out half decent. I decided, however, that some of them could use a little tweaking. This involved using Photoshop.

Until today, I had only used Photoshop a handful of times, usually unsuccessfully.  There are so many options and tools that I never knew what tool to use or how to use it. I usually wound up making the same changes to all of my pictures. The end result, a collection of photos that looked strikingly similar.

This time, as I edited my photos, I tried to apply some of the principles of composition. I separated the foreground from the background and created a focus using the blur tool. I tried to fill the frame and obey the rule of thirds by cropping. And I played with color hue and saturation.

I still have far more to learn about photography and Photoshop, but I feel like I have made progress and that my work from now on will be better as a result of what I have learned.  

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying the extended weekend. I sure know I am!

As this weekend is meant to be a welcome break from the daily grind, I figure I will take a break from my usual blog topic of my life as a student journalist and share with you something exciting I did this Labor Day weekend.

As you know, I am currently studying at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. Milwaukee is a beautiful city located directly on the shore of Lake Michigan. The lake is not, however, Milwaukee’s only water feature. The Milwaukee River also runs through the heart of this historic city. These features combine to form a picturesque city both on and off the water. Typically, I only get to enjoy the city from the vantage point of a land dweller. But this weekend, I got the opportunity to change my perspective and enjoy the city by boat.

My best friend recently bought a small motorboat, which he wanted to take out one final time before it gets too cold. This is Milwaukee after all. Labor Day weekend was the perfect excuse.

We launched the boat in Port Washington, a small town about 30 miles north of Milwaukee. Then traveled along the coast to the Milwaukee Harbor. The trip took about an hour, twice the amount of time it takes by car, but scenery was more than worth it.

The Milwaukee skyline was breathtaking from the harbor. To see Milwaukee landmarks such as the Calatrava, Discovery World, and the US Bank Building from the water was incredible.  

The Calatrava 

After cruising around the harbor, my friend and I decided to boat along the Milwaukee River and have lunch.

The minute the boat entered the mouth of the river, the turbulent waves stopped and the water calmly propelled the boat along the river.

One of the many neat things about the Milwaukee River is the plethora of restaurants located along its shore. Each restaurant has a dock, making it easy for boaters to enjoy their favorite cuisine along the river.

The mouth to the Milwaukee River

After a wonderful lunch at the Rock Bottom Brewery, my friend and I took the boat back to the harbor.

The breakwater 

As we left the calm waters of the breakwater, we braced ourselves for a rough ride home on the open waters of Lake Michigan.

We made it back to Port Washington just in time for the rain to begin to fall. This made pulling the boat out difficult and wet. After close to eleven tries, we finally got the boat on the trailer signaling the official end to our day on the water.   

Wet or not, the experience is like nothing else. 

Introductions

Hello all.

My name is Elizabeth Schilder and I am college senior residing in Milwaukee, WI. I am a broadcasting major at Marquette University and plan to graduate this May. My passion is news and I hope someday to report or anchor on a national level. My dream job is to eventually someday work at the Today Show. But for now I am focused on graduating from college and getting a job as a reporter. I recently finished a news internship at a local Milwaukee station and am currently serving as the news director of Marquette's student run television station, MUTV. 

My reason for starting this blog is twofold. First, I want to use it as a way to chronicle my journey through my senior year, specifically focusing on the development of my skills as a journalist. Second, because the landscape of journalism is constantly evolving and journalists are expected to utilize social media outlets more and more, I wanted to learn how to blog. 

I will be blogging about the many lessons I learn and experiences I have while I grow as a multimedia journalist. The good, bad, and the ugly. Because this blog is meant, in part, to follow my progress as a journalist, I will frequently talk about my journalism and broadcasting classes. I will also post updates on my battle with the beast we know as technology. 

This week, so far, I have learned how different print media and broadcast media truly are as I struggle to keep up in my journalism class. Today in class, the professor asked us to interview a classmate then write a story about an experience that classmate had had. Let me tell you, I had no problem with the interview part, but when it came to writing a story meant for print, I just sat there and stared at the computer. I had no idea what or how to write. It was terrifying. I felt like a total idiot! Ask me to create a news package, write broadcast copy, or post a news story to the web, no problem. But ask me to write something for print and I have no idea what to do. For this reason, I am going to make learning how to write for print a goal for this year. 

I look forward to sharing my journey to becoming a better journalist and look forward to your tips and comments on my progress. 

Until next time.