Vid/Blogs/Tweets #2: Let's Take A Look!

FYI, I graded these fairly lightly. Like the first assignment, I'm less worried with crispness and details and more concerned with attempts to execute the basics, and necessary elements like B-roll and captions and, of course, content.

And in this review, we will look at the videos and blog posts and tweets together, since they are all on the same topic. Let's look to see how certain mediums emphasized certain parts of each story.

(Now, some people did NOT turn anything in for at least one part of this assignment. Remember we talked about having more heavily-weighed assignments later in the semester? This was one of those assignments. It total, these assignments equal about TEN practice stories in weight.)

(So, if you are one of those people, you and I should be talking about doing some extra-credit multimedia assignments, to try to pull up your grade. If these assignments -- or any out-of-class work, for that matter -- stand as 0.0s, your final grade will take a serious hit. Please try to extra-credit your way to a better grade by showing me you can execute these concepts in practice.)


Back to the review: here we go, in order in which the assignments were turned in (just so you know I'm not picking on you by making you first again, Ali):

Ali: war protesters video and preview and recap and tweets #200protesters

The vid had a nice mix of B-roll, but it could have used a more solid introduction via a title slide or narration to tell us what we're looking at.

Mandi: Chinese culture at MSU video and preview and recap and tweets #chmsu

Good range of interviews between a Chinese student and a domestic student and an expert! But each blog post should have different hyperlinks, instead of simply using the same ones in each.

Darien: Student-athlete life video and preview and recap and tweets #msustudenathlete

The tweet stream was something different: instead of trying to recap the subject, it was a Top 11 list (plus a lede tweet) of what one student-athlete loves about his chosen path. ("Girls" was #4, FYI.) What do you guys think; does it work?

Whitney: pets on campus video and preview and recap and tweets #jrn200hammy

Narration at the start of the video solidly sets up the rest of the story.

Anne: new sorority video and preview and recap and tweets #sigmaalphamsu

You don't need to do both narration and captioning of the same content; just pick one. Also, while you should use a name caption when first interviewing someone, you don't need subsequent name captions. In print we do need subsequent attribution to know who is being quoted. But on video, we have another cue: the person's face, who we already saw in connection with the original name caption.

Strong and very broad use of hyperlinks here:

Preview

Sigma Alpha, a professional agricultural sorority, wants to join Michigan State Universities Panhellenic Council.

The Panhellenic Council governs the 13 existing sororities on campus and helps run events such as Greek Week, Safe Halloween, and formal recruitment.

Sigma Alpha is located at 336 Oakhill Ave, and currently has 66 active members with 12 membership candidates to join this semester, Amanda Sumerix, their current president said.

By joining The Panhellenic Council, they will be able to be involved in such events and would allow potential new members to see their chapter during recruitment, and potentially higher numbers.

There are agricultural Fraternities that are part of The Interfraternity Council, a similar council, that benefit from being included in IFC which makes it a parallel for a sorority of the same interest to join possibly.

Review

Sigma Alpha, is to be an associate member of Michigan State Universities Panhellenic Council starting in Fall of 2013.

The By-Laws state that an associate member acts as every other chapter, although they may not vote on matters such as expansion.  They usually do not participate in formal recruitment.

Chapters such as Sigma Delta Tau at MSU are also considered an associated member and only are involved in the first day of formal recruitment, Spirit Day, then followed by open bidding.

MSU's sigma alpha will be only the eighth chapter out of 56 nationally to be considered  part of their Universities Panhellenic Council, according to their national website.

The Panhellenic Council has not currently began the formal process for Sigma Alpha to become part, but the conversational portion is complete and there will now be an open conversational meeting and procedural vote to proceed with their membership.

(Yes, we had some problems finding the "public" setting here. So we improvised. And that's what we do in journalism; we figure out a way to make things work, even when they don't.)

Dan: general education video and preview and recap and tweets #jrngened

The online news posts on the merits of general education courses are cleaved in a logical way: one represents the student perspective, and the other the faculty angle.

Colin: dorm life video and preview and recap and tweets #dorm200

Sometimes, we lock in too long on the head shot of someone we're interviewing. Here, we lock in too long on pretty inactive B-roll intended to break up that kind of head shot. We'd be better off showing more varied B-roll or a more active single stretch of B-roll. We don't want to simply go from one dull shot to another dull shot.

Karilynn: fake IDs video and preview and recap and tweets #jrn200fakeids

Good use of hyperlinks in the tweets. But one doesn't work. After posting tweets or blog posts, always check and make sure your links work!

Thrishanna: major vs. money video and preview and recap and tweets #moneyvsmajor

The video was one interview subject short of the two-person requirement, plus it lacked B-roll. What B-roll can you do with such a vague topic? you may ask. Easy: think about what the crux of the story is about: a decision people make about their time on-campus. So, you could get generic campus shots: people walking around campus, a class listening to a lecture, a student going online to register for classes, ect. If you break down a B-roll quest to the most basic elements, you can usually come up with some generic but related B-roll.

Plus, good hyperlinks to related articles in the preview story! But, like with a traditional print story, try to avoid first-person references in the review.

Tyler: IM sports video and preview and recap and tweets #jrn200imsports

Yes, the video quality isn't great. But let's ignore that. The structure was good, though I wish the shooting angles would have been better (and can the one guy at least get off his laptop while he's being interviewed? It's almost like he's telling the viewer, "Naah, this ain't that important. I can't even bother to close my laptop to talk to you."

Charlene: dance marathon video and preview and recap and tweets #msudancefever

Again, let's make sure we're not simply mimicking hyperlinks between blogs.

Yuehan: service learning video and preview and recap and tweets #jrn200sl

Don't overload captions with too much information; keep identification captions simple and easy to read. Also, even though they are intended to be red sequentially, be sure to treat the preview and recap as separate stories. That means correctly citing first attributions in the recap, even if the person was mentioned in the preview.

Thomas: Kickstarter app video and preview and recap and tweets #plmlt

The video really needs a more detailed opening caption or narration -- kinda like a lede -- so that the viewer knows what the first interview subject is talking about when she starts with, "Obviously ..." Well, it's not obvious yet to the viewer. We also needed some in-interview B-roll. Here, try to match the sound to the B-roll. When the speaker talks about an app, show the app at work on a phone. When the speaker talks about customer-friendly businesses, show a local business place. Good tweet stream.

Kaylonni: MSU diversity video and preview and recap and tweets #welovediversitymsu

Try to incorporate some habits from written story organization, like telling and showing by pairing telling statements up with supporting quotes. A tweet making a statement like, MSU students would love to see more multicultural events here on campus, should be paired with a quote that supports that conclusion, like "We need to advertise and push multicultural programs," said Kuwaiti student.

The medium is different, but many of the principles we've worked on all semester still apply. It's still journalism -- and all the related principles -- whether we're typing or shooting or tweeting or whatever.

Vid #1: Your Work!

And off we go!

Ali

The edits between items in Ali's vids are a little too abrupt, but that's not an uncommon problem in a first video.

Colin

The subjects were a bit distant. Don't be afraid to bring the camera up to them.

Dan

Good mix of B-roll, and nice job in jumping from one interview to another quickly, so it feels more like a conversation where people jump in and out, instead of having one person drone on, then the next.

Darien

The camera angles could be better-executed, but you have the concepts right.

Mandi

B-roll needn't be video; you can also use still images, like you do here.

Thrishanna

Be sure to get good, clear audio!

Charlene


Again, audio! Plus, it may have been helpful to have some narration as sort of a lede over the opening B-roll, just so we don't have a long period of no sound, and so the viewer knows what you'[re getting at. Just like a written story, we don't want a viewer to have to wait and guess what a vid is about; they should know right away.

Tyler

Don't be afraid to use B-roll in the middle of an interview segment, and not just as transitional B-roll between different interview segments.

Kaylonni


I know you're working with basic equipment, so I'm not very concerned with video quality. But in terms of concept, we could have used some B-roll to break up single interview segments while the subject keeps talking, just to break up that tedious shot of someone droning on.

Karilynn

Nice structure and good sound, but two things: first, this is a general news story for a general audience, so avoid the direct and opinionated statement at the end (though I appreciate the sentiment). Second, there was a fatal in the spelling of Yuehan Liu's first name. Let's be sure that we're following the EXACT same fact-checking standards as we have in print. The medium is different, but why we do it and the standards we're trying to execute are not.

Ariel

Just like in print stories we need attribution, we also do in video. Who are the interview subjects? Why are they talking about this subject? We could really use some attributing captions here.

Thomas

Audio, right? And B-roll? Captions?

Yuehan

Nice audio! Nice use of still pictures as B-roll!

Vid #1: Some Examples Of What It Could Look Like

For the first video assignment, I am asking you to do a news video on the topic of, what have you learned sofar in JRN 200?

In this assignment, I will split you up into groups, and you will interview your group members for this story.

As long as you meet the basic parameters of this assignment, I will give you a 4.0 equal to that of a practice story. Those parameters include:


-- Videos staying within the 1-2 minute range and on-topic
-- Videos containing at least two human interviews on tape
-- Videos containing NO fatals


The penalty for failing to meet these parameters is 0.5 of your grade, per error. In addition, a fatal resulted in a 1.0 grade. And failure to turn it in, of course, is a 0.0.

These same deductions will apply on all future multimedia assignments. But future assignments WILL include consideration of content and journalistic value.

Now, in doing a first video people demonstrate a wide range of starting points. Let's get a sense of what those starting points may look like, based on the first videos from my summer 2012 JRN 200 class. Let's point out and discuss good habits and ones that can be a bit better.

Off we go: 

Lindsay

Molly

Emily

Lilly

Max

Julia

Katelyn

Vid #1: Your Video Group!

For the video exercise, each person will be assigned to a four-person group with which you will work on the vid assignment and interview each other. Please share whatever video resources you have within your group.

For those of you who don't have a camera, please be sure to get a memory stick or comparable memory device in which to store your raw video.

You may edit your video on whatever editing program you have on your own personal computers (iMovie, ect.). If you lack such an editing program, the open lab on the second floor of the CAS building has such programs already loaded.

You MUST work with your group members and include their interviews in your story. However, additionally you MAY collaborate with other groups in working on this story and ALSO include their members among your interviews. You may NOT trade group members.

Green group: Anne, Colin, Kaylonni, Thomas

White group: Charlene, Ariel, Tyler, Jack

Sparty group:  Mandi, Ali, Thrishanna, Dan 

Izzo group: Darien, Karilynn, Yuehan, Whitney

JRN 200: Multimedia Resources Are Here!

You know how at the start of the semester I said we'd be working with video, social media, online media and new media in general? Well, the time is almost here! 

From these hyperlinks, you can download both Journalism 2.0 (in either the English, Spanish or Portuguese versions; whatever ya want. Knock yerself out) and the Reporters Guide to Multimedia Proficiency.

Please download BOTH free texts and read each in its entirety (close to 200 pages total) before class on Wednesday.

Also, please read Reporting For The Media Ch. 14 (p. 353-373) by that same date.

Plus, please set up FREE accounts at YouTube.com, blogger.com and twitter.com for use in class, no later than Wednesday. You may use personal social media accounts, but please be aware that if you do, I will see your personal content and your friends will see your class content. If this is a problem, please set up class-only accounts as needed.

Finally, if you have a Flip camera or some sort of video-recording equipment, please start bringing it to class on Wednesday.

Thanks!

Vid/MM #2: Let's Take A Look-See!

This time, we're going to look at the videos/tweets/blog posts as a unit, to see how each medium cross-told the story. Off we go:


Bella: news stress  video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #badnewsstudy


Angelica O: student voting video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #postelection2012

Alex: college hockey video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #msuhockey

Tia: dining halls video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #dininghallsjrn

Carly: housing  video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #housingatmsu

Nourhan: movie screening video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #crossingbordersmsu

Okay, now the next four I'd like you to also look at after class, because included are links to the related written out-of-class stories, as published by spartanedge.com. If you want to get an idea of what all parts of your third out-of-class story should look like, this gives you a pretty good and thorough idea:

*****

Danielle: campus safety video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #msucampussafety (spartanedge.com version)

Brytanie: Body image video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #menonbodyimage (spartanedge.com version)

Nick: campus smoking video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #smokingjrn200  (spartanedge.com version)

Shelby: student stress video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #midyrstress  (spartanedge.com version)



*****

Now, back to the rest:


Cait: student voting video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #msuvote

Matt: instant replay video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #jrn200 #mlb

Liam: student voting video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #msuvoters

Amber: student voting video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets #jrn200tweet


Angelica C: health care costs Video / blog 1 / blog 2 / tweets

Vid #1: Your Work!

Let's take a look!

Leah
Could have used more b-roll and a title slide, and it ran too long

Amber
A tripod would be nice. No matter how steady you think you can hold a camera, it will look shaky without a tripod.

Bella
Good use of captioning.  See how much better the shot is with a tripod?

Nourhan
Nice back-and-forth interviews. But, tripod! And b-roll!

Nick
The audio is a bit uneven. Try to get the mics as close as you can to the subject.

Matt
Again, mic + distance = lousy audio

Carly
Better audio. Good thing you asked Brytanie how she spells her first name. Watch your editing at the end; the last sound byte gets cut off.

Stephen
B-roll was wise to use between segments, but would also have been helpful amid segments, too, to break up that constant head shot of your interview subject.

Brytanie
Good tight head shots, but needs more b-roll

Alex
Good audio; good b-roll but needs more b-roll.

Shelby
Under copyright law, you can't use copyrighted music without expressed written permission of the author. It's not enough to credit it. (Same with pictures.) So, no fatal, but you do get a federal lawsuit.

Angelica O.
Ambitious interviewing: you interviewed a FORMER student, too!

Danielle
Captions when we first introduced interview subjects would have been helpful.

Alyssa
Nice interviews, but a lack of b-roll.

Liam
Ditto

Tia
Fun opening b-roll!

Cait
Unfortunately, a fatal: be sure to double-check name-spellings!

Video #1: If You Need Some B-Roll ...

Then we've got that B-roll!

JRN 200: Video/Blog/Online News #1

Per your request, here are the details of the first round of video/social media/online news assignment. Everything is due via email by 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2 to omars@msu.edu.

If you have any questions on details of these assignments, or if you want to see examples of what these assignments in finished form looked like in my summer 2012 JRN 200 class, please see the appropriate previous recent blog posts.

The assignments are as follows:

Video: Create a news video no shorter than one minute and no longer than two minutes, reporting on the topic of what we've learned sofar in JRN 200 this semester. Your video must include at least two interview subjects from your video group, and no fatals.

When finished with your video, please upload it to your YouTube.com account, and make sure that account is set to public viewing. Then email me a link to your video by the deadline.

Tweets: Live-tweet an event you are following. It can be as simple as a TV show you're watching, or your roommate making breakfast, or some other routine activity. You need to do a minimum of 12 tweets, each with a unique universal hash tag unifying the tweet stream.

When finished with your tweet stream, please email me a link to your Twitter account (and make sure it's open to the public), along with what your unique hash tag is for this assignment.

Online news: You need to write a minimum of two posts -- one preview and one review -- of the same even you're live-tweeting. Each post must be at least 100 words and no longer than 200 words, and each must include at least two relevant hyperlinks.

When finished with your news posts, make sure they are open to the public and please email me links to each post.

Questions? See me ASAP, please. And good luck!

Vid #1: Your Video Group!

For the video exercise, each person will be assigned to a three-person group with which you will work on the vid assignment and interview each other. Each group has at least one person who told me they have a Flip camera or comparable video recording device; please share whatever video resources you have within your group.

For those of you who don't have a camera, please be sure to get a memory stick or comparable memory device in which to store your raw video.

You may edit your video on whatever editing program you have on your own personal computers (iMovie, ect.). If you lack such an editing program, the open lab on the second floor of the CAS building has such programs already loaded.

You MUST work with your group members and include their interviews in your story. However, additionally you MAY collaborate with other groups in working on this story and ALSO include their members among your interviews. You may NOT trade group members.

Green group: Shelby, Amber, Matt

White group: Tia, Cait, Leah

Sparty group: Nourhan, Danielle, Stephen

Izzo group: Angelica O., Alex, Nick

Breslin group: Carly, Angelica C., Brytanie

Munn group: Alyssa, Liam, Bella

(NOTE: The Munn group of State Newsers is being grouped together only because two of these three people will be at the same convention as I am, and won't be available at most times to work with non-State Newsers in a group. I would rather have mixed them up with the rest of the class, but this is a nod to practicality. Plus, this is my full disclosure of a conflict of interest, so nyah.)

Vid #1: Your First Assignment, Some Examples

For the first video assignment, I am asking you to do a news video on the topic of, what have you learned sofar in JRN 200?

In this assignment, I will split you up into groups, and you will interview your group members for this story.

As long as you meet the basic parameters of this assignment, I will give you a 4.0 equal to that of a practice story. Those parameters include:


-- Videos staying within the 1-2 minute range and on-topic
-- Videos containing at least two human interviews on tape
-- Videos containing NO fatals


The penalty for failing to meet these parameters is 0.5 of your grade, per error. In addition, a fatal resulted in a 1.0 grade. And failure to turn it in, of course, is a 0.0.

These same deductions will apply on all future multimedia assignments. But future assignments WILL include consideration of content and journalistic value.

Now, in doing a first video people demonstrate a wide range of starting points. Let's get a sense of what those starting points may look like, based on the first videos from my summer 2012 JRN 200 class. Let's point out and discuss good habits and ones that can be a bit better.

Off we go: 



Justin

Lindsay

Molly

Emily

Tiarra

Lilly

Nubia

Kyle

Max

Julia

Katelyn

MM #2: Let's Look At Some Vid/Blog/Tweet Combos!

Okay, round two of multimedia. Except this time, we're going to look at how each medium -- social, online and video -- told the same story topic in different ways.

Let's look at how each medium maximized its advantages -- video telling stories in motion and sound, online using hyperlinks for background, and social breaking things into short blasts -- and how each medium complemented the others and helped form a well-rounded examination of the subject at hand.


Off we go:


Julia: construction accident first story / update story / video / tweets #jrn200collapse

Max: MSU baseball: first story / update story / video / tweets #maxonmsubaseball

Justin: summer school  first story / update story / video / tweets #msujrn200class


Lindsay: grub crawl event  first story / update story / video / tweets #omargrubbing

Kyle: healthy eating first story / update story / video / tweets #healthyisexpensive

Lilly: Facebook policy  first story / update story / video / tweets  #facebookpolicy


Nubia: bike safety first story / update story / video / tweets #msubikesafety

Emily: student work  first story / update story / video / tweets  #jrn200story2tweetstream


Now, this is how the grading worked: the first story, second story and tweets were individually graded, then an average grade was determined that was your multimedia assignment grade.

Your video was graded individually, and had its own grade equal in weight to the multimedia package grade.

Grades were figured more on content and substance and proper use of journalistic style than in the previous multimedia/video assignment. This assignment was NOT a perfect 4.0 as long as you met the technical requirements, as was the last assignment, though the technical aspects still weighned in as part of your grade. Those were:

-- Videos staying within the 1-2 minute range and on-topic
-- Videos containing at least two human interviews on tape
-- Videos containing sufficient attribution of sources

-- Each breaking news story staying over the 100-word minimum
-- The breaking news stories being written in a journalistic style, as opposed to a first-person blog-like style
-- Each breaking news item containing two working hyperlinks, inserted onto text
-- A minimum of 12 tweets on the same subject as the breaking news topic
-- Each tweet having a consistent unique hash tag, to allow the tweets to be chained together


In addition, a fatal resulted in a 1.0 grade. And failure to turn it in without proper and verified excuse, of course, is a 0.0.

Multimedia #2: How My Last Class Did It

If you're looking for some examples of people who were at the same stage you're at now. Let's look at some of the groupings!

Sam: beyond coal video General comments: Video: Watch your spellings! One video caption has a misspelling.


Jessy: roommate conflicts video General comments: Video***: Notice the back-and-forth use of sound bytes, where you talk to one person, then another, then go back to the first person. It's more conversational and generally preferable to using everything someone has to say all at once.

Darcie: protest video General comments: Video***: note the use of narration to help keep the story moving between sound bytes.


Julianne: restaurant video  General comments: Video*** Nice use of b-roll and neutral experts! The latter turns what could have been a one-sided puff piece into something more analytical.


Stefany: speaker video General comments: Video***: This was a tough assignment, in that you were reporting on a speech that already took place. Smart back-tracking in getting an interview with the speaker, reactions from people who were in the audience.





BriAnn: dodgeball fundraiser video / General comments: Video***: Good use of b-roll and nice use of yourself as an on-camera narrator. But remember as journalists we need to present ourselves neutrally, which means don't wear a Greek shirt when doing a NEWS story about Greek life.

Julia: holiday creep video


Connor: Dorm security video General comments: Video: a little more b-roll, pleez!

Videos: Let's Look At Some Vids!

Justin

Lindsay

Molly

Emily

Tiarra

Lilly

Nubia

Kyle

Max

Julia

Katelyn

Now, on these assignments, everyone got a 4.0 as long as they met the basic parameters of the assignment. (Remember I said that was the condition of getting an automatic 4.0?)

Those included:

-- Videos staying within the 1-2 minute range and on-topic
-- Videos containing at least two human interviews on tape
-- Each breaking news entry being about the SAME topic, being covered as a preview and then a recap of what happened
-- Each breaking news story staying over the 100-word minimum
-- The breaking news stories being written in a journalistic style, as opposed to a first-person blog-like style
-- Each breaking news item containing two working hyperlinks, inserted onto text
-- A minimum of 12 tweets on the same subject as the breaking news topic
-- Each tweet having a consistent unique hash tag, to allow the tweets to be chained together

The penalty for failing to meet these parameters is 0.5 of your grade, per error. So, if your tweets lacked a consistent unique hashtag, you got a 3.5. If your breaking news stories lacked topic consistency AND the minimum hyperlinks, you got a 3.0.

In addition, a fatal resulted in a 1.0 grade. And failure to turn it in, of course, is a 0.0.

These same deductions will apply on all future multimedia assignments. But future assignments WILL include consideration of content and journalistic value.

Videos: If You Need Some B-Roll ...

... then they've got your b-roll!

Videos: The First Assignment

For your first video assignment, I will ask each of you to do a story 1 to 2 minutes in length regarding what people have learned in JRN 200 sofar. You must interview a minimum of at least two classmates for this story, using a video recording device, editing the video into a coherent story form, posting it to YouTube and then emailing me a link to your video before the start of our next class session.

Use the tips offered in the Reporters Guide to Multimedia Proficiency in editing your video work. I know this is a bit of learning to swim by diving into the deep end of the pool, but trust me, this has worked well in my previous classes. I find it best to just start having you guys get your hands dirty.

And I know this is your first video assignment; you will be graded far more on meeting the minimum standards listed above than any technical or artistic merits.

To give you a frame of reference of what this assignment might look like, as done by similarly-inexperienced video journalists, here's links to my fall 2011 class doing this same exercise. Let's look for examples of work that's good, and work that could have been a bit better:


Darcie

BriAnn


Jessy

Sam

Mike


Nicole

Stefany

Julia


Alissa

Maddie F.

What did you guys think?

Vids/Blogs/Tweets #2: The Roundup

Let's look at some of the groupings!

Sam: beyond coal video / blog / tweets #jrn200msuenergy General comments: Video: Watch your spellings! One video caption has a misspelling. Blog: Give each post its own headline, not just one that's the old post name, plus "continued." Also, don't use the same hyperlink in consecutive posts. Use new hyperlinks.

Breanna: cosmetics video / blog / tweets #organicvsconventional General comments: Video: What is the attribution for the information in your text slides? Don't forget attribution there! Also, watch your editing. A latter caption had text saying "text here" or something like that; there was also a span with no video. Blog***: EXCELLENT use of embedded video and hyperlinks. Tweets***: EXCELLENT use of hyperlinks!

Trisha: housing video / blog / tweets #toliveonoroff General comments: Video***: Good range of interviews.

Jessy: roommate conflicts video / blog / tweets #roommateconflictsstory General comments: Video***: Notice the back-and-forth use of sound bytes, where you talk to one person, then another, then go back to the first person. It's more conversational and generally preferable to using everything someone has to say all at once.

Darcie: protest video / blog / tweets #MSUsafety General comments: Video***: note the use of narration to help keep the story moving between sound bytes. Blog/tweets***: EXCELLENT use of hyperlinks to give people more information. See how each medium tells a story using basically similar content, but parsing that content in different ways?

Mattie O.: college housing video / blog / tweets #collegehousing General comments: Video***; EXCELLENT use of captions to introduce each subsection and nice b-roll, but where are the minimum two interviews with a human being? Perhaps you could have introduced sound bytes to explain some of the subsections instead relying solely on what was otherwise strong narration. Blog***: Insert hyperlinks into existing text as opposed to saying, "Watch this!" Tweets*** Strong hyperlinks, including link to video. But make sure your hash tag is truly unique unless you WANT to let your readers see related topic tweets beyond your own.

Ashley: inclusion video / blog / tweets #MRULESouth General comments: Video: B-roll would have helped break up the long interview segments. Tweets: You have some tweets that are quotes. If they are from someone else, you still need attribution. If they are your observations, then you don't need quotation marks; tweets are assumed to be from you.

Nick: cigar tax video / blog / tweets #jrncigars General comments: Video***: When you're doing a news story as opposed to an opinion piece, please refrain from interjecting opinion, like you did at the end here.

Julianne: restaurant video / blog / tweets #recordbreakingnoodles General comments: Video*** Nice use of b-roll and neutral experts! The latter turns what could have been a one-sided puff piece into something more analytical. Tweets:*** Nice mix of quotes and facts.

Nicole: keg law video / blog / tweets #kegtags General comments: Video: more b-roll would help break up the interview shots a bit. Blog: Hyperlink on text and don't create a "click here" link. For example, instead of saying "To see what the tag looks like, click here," just create a hyperlink on your first reference to the tag. Tweets***: It flows well, like a story would.

Stefany: speaker video / blog / tweets #takethepledge General comments: Video***: This was a tough assignment, in that you were reporting on a speech that already took place. Smart back-tracking in getting an interview with the speaker, reactions from people who were in the audience. Blog***: Smartly updates and evolves original post on he speaker by delving into one of the subtopics of the speech. Tweets***: A basic play-by-play rundown of the speech.

Mike: dorm water podcast / blog / tweets #hubbardwater General comments: podcast***: something different, but the same. Note the structure: you still have a (narrated) lede, you still have quotes (via sound bytes), you still have attribution. Blog: Give each post its own headline, not just one that's the old post name, plus "continued."

Bethan: LGBT community video / blog / tweets #bethanstory General comments: Video: B-roll would be helpful, even with a topic where visuals aren't obvious. The story is about individuals becoming part of a community; show them interacting with others, on their daily rounds, ect. Blog: Insert hyperlinks into the text, not into a separate line. So, instead of having a line at the end saying, "All of these groups have pages" and then offering links, instead put hyperlinks over the first reference to each group.

Alissa: online dating video / blog / tweets #loveisintech General comments: Blog: Give each post its own headline, not just one that's the old post name, plus "continued."

Maddie F.: MSU entertainment video / blog / tweets #iloverha General comments: nice job all around.

BriAnn: dodgeball fundraiser video / blog / tweets #SKPhilanthropy General comments: Video***: Good use of janky-free b-roll and nice use of yourself as an on-camera narrator. But remember as journalists we need to present ourselves neutrally, which means don't wear a Greek shirt when doing a NEWS story about Greek life. Tweets***: a play-by-play of the event that complements -- but doesn't overlap -- the vid and blog.

Julia: holiday creep video / blog / tweets #christmascreep General comments: Blog***: nice use of an initial overview, then a post on reaction. Also, nice link to your own video. Tweets***: make sure your hash tag is truly unique unless you WANT to let your readers see related topic tweets beyond your own. Which, in this case, might be kinda useful.

Kevin: MSU entertainment video / blog / tweets #uabmsu General comments: Video***: your b-roll of the sales stuff would have been better used while the co-owner was talking, so you can show and tell at the same time.

Connor: Dorm security video / blog / tweets #msudormsecurity General comments: Video: a little more b-roll, pleez! Blog: Posts are a bit on the long side; you may have been better off in breaking up your two posts into four or five shorter posts.

Carly: Greek life video / blog/ tweets #missgreek2011 General comments: video: nice use of b-roll, but you only used one source when the assignment required at least two. Plus, unauthorized use of copyrighted music.

Maggie: Fan violence video / blog / tweets General comments: blog: Hyperlinking is best done when embedded in ordinary text passages, as opposed to at the end of all text. Tweets***: nice overview where the tweets collectively read like a story.

Videos: Let's Take A Look ...

Okay, so your first video is done. Congrats! The good news is that by showing me basic skills such as shooting interviews and interspersing b-roll, you'll get a 4.0 grade worth one practice story on this exercise.

That is, unless you fataled or missed your deadline. I will be checking things like caption info, ect. for factual accuracy. It's a different medium, but the same rules apply: we have to get it right, and on time. Every time.

I'll comment on vids as we go. Here we go:

Darcie

BriAnn

Maggie

Jessy

Sam

Mike

Trish

Nicole

Breanna

Mattie O.

Bethan

Connor

Stefany

Julia

Ashleigh

Kevin

Alissa

Maddie F.

Carly

Nick

Julianne

What did you guys think?

Video: If You Need Some B-Roll ...

Then we've got that B-roll!

Video #2 -- Let's Look At Some Vids ...

... on topics including ...

homeless shelter video and blog posts

a blood drive video and blog posts

the municipal pool video and blog posts

nuclear reactors video and blog posts

pet adoption video and blog posts

zombie preparedness video and blog posts

summer reading video and blog posts

MSU recycling video and blog posts

MSU environmental sustainability vid and blog posts

I'm skipping tweets because it looks to me that you have that down pat. But look not just at videos and blogs, but as videos and blogs as a combo: how does each medium help in telling the story? How does each empower readers/viewers to choose their preferences in engaging the story? How does either medium surprise readers and create a sense of discovery. How do pairs of mediums complement each half?

What ideas do you see that you think work, and what do you think can be improved upon?

Please give these a good look.