Assignment for Feb. 20

Reading from Sound Reporting handout; and from Journalism Next, Pages 177-205

In class, you were divided into teams of two. This week you are going to produce your own audio projects.

The story: People who make the campus work. What are some of the things that make a great interview? Offbeat, talkative, interesting, emotional, etc. First, you need to find your subject.
I want you to begin work together on a sound story on the subject of “The unsung folks who make UNH work.”

This week you and your partner will identify and  interview and even photograph someone on campus who helps make the place work. Using all the means at your disposal -- your mouth, your eyes, your ears, Facebook, Twitter, etc…find someone whom you and your partner will interview. He or she may be a custodian, a firefighter, a food worker, a ditch digger – whatever. The more obscure, the better. No high-profile positions, such as RAs or profs. This is all about obscurity. The more interesting the work the, better. The more talkative and interesting the person, the better (usually). More visually interesting even better. There are many, many people on this campus who remain under the radar but are essential to day-to-day operations. Look for the unusual, the unique, the surprising. Avoid dull like the plague.

Schedule an interview with this person. Bring your camera and recording equipment.  Interview this person as a team. Record. At least one of you use headphones and be sure the recorder is recording. Take a few photos. This is primarily an audio story, but since it will be posted on your blogs we'll want to see what this person looks like. Remember when you are shooting to move around a lot, shoot in different perspectives (sometimes catching the whole scene for context, sometimes a detail, etc.), get close to your subjects. Think about storytelling. Be creative.

Next, write a script for your story. How do you want to tell it? Do you need a narrator? Will it be told in scenes? Now give us the 500-word version of the story in print. That's right, write it as a traditional, very short feature story, using quotes from your interview.

Next we will talk about editing your interviews in Audacity and publishing them to your blogs. As the final part of your project, you should study the tutorials at Audacity and get an account at Podbean. Heck, if you feel like it you could even download a free copy of Audacity and try some editing.