This post is part of an exercise to practice editing video in a way that presents a good story and demonstrates “hit and run” editing. In this video, Suzi Perret tells of her experience creating art out of hot glass.
Information Graphics: Planning and Reviewing
Upon reading and analyzing the story “Heart Device May Be Useless for Women” for the first time, I ruled out a few different types of interactive graphics. I do not think that a map of any sort would be appropriate for this story, because it doesn’t mention any geographic locations other than in reference to where the quoted sources were from. I also ruled out simulations, instructive, and journalistic games, because this story doesn’t explain any processes. So, with the options I was left with, I decided that this article could benefit from a pie chart and a passive diagram.
I would use the pie chart to display the number of men and women who were tested in the clinical trial that the article is referring to. The article wants the audience to believe that the trial may not have given an accurate representation as to how the ICD device works for women. This pie chart will give the viewers a visualization of how many more men were tested than women. I crunched the numbers and found that 80.3% of those in the trial were men, while 19.7% were women. This color-coded chart will show the numbers in an easy-to-understand way. It will display the percentages, and when the user rolls over the section, the exact number will appear.
The passive diagram will be a comparison of men and women’s hearts. This is based on the quote from the article, “’While unquestionably a woman’s heart is different than a man’s, nevertheless I would expect a heart in ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation to respond to appropriate therapy from an ICD regardless of sex,’ Zipes said when queried by MedPage Today and ABC News” (p. 3). It will show a side-by-side view of drawings of a man’s heart and a woman’s heart. It will have insets that point out the differences. In the introductory paragraph, it will talk about the aforementioned quote and explain that the purpose is to show the differences between male and female hearts so the viewer can understand why people would be concerned about the lack of women in the clinical trial. The drawings will be colorful and easy to understand, while still being anatomically correct. Users can click on parts of the hearts to get further information about them.
Leads Exercise
Blind lead: One Manteno man is set to graduate college 34 years after finishing high school.
Umbrella lead: Dan Debord is graduating college 34 years after high school in order to pursue his passion of working in radio.
Identification of impact lead: Anyone can change their life and pursue their passion, according to Dan DeBord, who is graduating from college 34 years after high school.
Anecdotal lead: 34 years. That is the time between Dan DeBord graduating high school, and finishing college with his bachelor’s degree.
Descriptive lead: If you tune into Olivet Nazarene University’s student-run radio station, you may just hear Dan DeBord, who is pursuing his passion in radio after taking a 30-year break from school.
Quotation lead: “I am fascinated that my voice and encouragement can help a total stranger with something as simple as a vocal hug.”
Preparing and Adding Photos Exercise
This is for a class assignment to learn how to process photos and display them.
The Big Buddha statue in Hong Kong welcomes visitors. 
The ornate doors of the Po Lin Monastery stand closed. 
This sign hangs above the street in Hong Kong. 
The streets of Hong Kong are alive with people. 
Filipina maids gather in Central Hong Kong near the International Finance Center. According to Filipino law, Filipinas working abroad are required o take Sundays off.
Mini Multimedia Story Reflection
This assignment was definitely a learning experience, in good and not-so-good ways. This assignment reminded me once again of the importance of a team. I appreciate my group members, and I think that we all communicate and work well with each other. Our group made a point to meet once a week to work on the project, so we were able to spread the work out and we didn’t have to shove it all into the last week. This was very beneficial, because this project involved us producing a video with a professor, and sending out questionnaires to all of the Spark student directors. I also learned that creating detailed wireframes and navigation plans helps significantly when planning a website. Our group worked together to design our wireframes, and that made the construction of the website way easier. Something that I learned about WordPress is that multiple people can work on the same website at the same time, thought that did pose some problems for us.
Though our group did have plenty of time to construct our website, if I had to do this project over again, I would leave even more time for us to work with WordPress. WordPress just has so many tools, and it is hard to remember how to get to all of them. I know that it will be easier to navigate the more that I work with it, but that portion of the project was a little difficult. Also, we found that sometimes WordPress gets overwhelmed when multiple people are on the same page at the same time, and it kicks people off. We had one issue where one of us was working on a page, another person got on that page, and the first person got kicked off without saving their work. Oh, technology.
Overall, I’d say that this project went very well. I think that our group will benefit from meeting weekly for our large Multimedia Story, so I hope that we will make that happen. For the next project, I think that we should also make sure that more than one group member is available to help when producing videos or other original media. Having someone to conduct interviews while another person monitors the video and audio would be helpful.
The Strengths and Weaknesses of a Multimedia Story Package
The Des Moines Register’s multimedia story package, “Harvest of Change: Iowa farm towns graying, shrinking” from September 4, 2014 includes many different types of media, that allow users to better understand the information they wish to present. It presented a topic that not everyone would be interested in, in a way that engages readers.
Some of the strengths of this package are that it had a very easy navigational structure—scrolling; there were no weird buttons or pages that I had to try to find. However, because it is strictly scrolling, people may get tired of scrolling and just leave the page before finishing the article or even getting to the cool features. One of these features is the virtual reality tour of the farms. This brings a lot to the package, especially considering it was published in 2014; they were up-to-date on the latest technology. The interactive map also brought a lot to the package, as it integrated many statistics into one easy-to-use map.
One downside is the layout of the page itself. One paragraph toward the beginning of the article is squished to the side, making it difficult to read. Also, I understand that websites use advertisements, but the ads on this page were often in the way of the content, and when I clicked to remove the ad, I was taken to another page. Something else the story could use, as briefly mentioned earlier, is some more color or perhaps some fun graphics, something to catch the eye more effectively than the current white background does.
My Multimedia Strong Suits
When it comes to multimedia storytelling, I’d say that my strongest areas are photography, video production, and writing. I have enjoyed writing for as long as I remember; I love writing complex sentences that convey the intended message. Writing, whether creatively or informatively, usually comes easy to me, so I tend to gravitate toward writing positions in a group setting. I am confident in my writing skills, and my group members can trust me to proofread and use proper grammar. I am also confident in my video skills. I am passionate about creating videos, and I enjoy every part of the process—planning, shooting, and editing. I am in school to study film, so I have the skills needed to produce a video that fulfills the purpose of the group. I can be counted on to make a concise and entertaining video. In addition to video, I also enjoy photography. I often take photos for fun, and I would love to use those skills to help tell a multimedia story.
As far as social media goes, I do have experience using multiple different social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I am comfortable using these platforms, but I have not used them for business purposes. I would like to learn some methods of how social media is used in marketing and other professional capacities.
Ideally, I would like to be proficient in every area of multimedia storytelling, but I know that isn’t necessarily realistic. I know that design and graphics are not my strong suit, so I will not focus on those areas. I would, however, like to improve my web skills. I am interested in the technical side of the web, and I know that having knowledge about it can help solve a lot of problems. Learning more about web layout, code, and the like would help me become a better multimedia storyteller. Another main area that I would like to improve in is project management. I don’t have much professional project management experience, but I do enjoy planning and organizing, so I believe that I would enjoy managing projects more.
I think that multimedia is so fun, and I am excited to improve my skills and tell stories!
COMM 340 