Storytelling Way-back-machine: August 1998

Mark Lent's photo of world record water skier Jerry Pope and me shooting video of Mark's work from a chase boat. ©1998 Mark Lent

As I prepare for the second weekend of our Storytelling in Health Care Leadership seminar, I’ve been going through some old work and reels.  Lots of material is recorded, some in older formats than others:  Hi 8, DVC-PRO, DV.  I came across some video from a shoot in 1998.  Before we see the video, I need to set up the story.

In 1997, shortly after the death of Princess Diana, I began producing a web documentary project called “Behind the Viewfinder – A Year in the Life of Photojournalism”.  It was a regular diary of 10 photojournalists, telling their stories and their work.  Some people have called it blogging before we knew what blogging was. The site, just as it was created, is still live at www.digitalstoryteller.com/YITL

I was also shooting video interviews for a video documentary of the work.  So here is the set up for the video below:

Photojournalist Mark Lent was shooting a project about Jerry Pope, a world record holding water skier.  Jerry is paraplegic and skied 100 kilometers without stopping.  So Mark, the photojournalist, was facing backwards in the tow boat pulling Jerry.  The photo would illustrate a story about Jerry.

I was in a chase boat, and we cruised along side and behind Jerry, videotaping Mark, taking photos of Jerry.  The boat motor sound was loud, so Mark was wearing a wireless microphone, which transmitted everything he said to the video camera and to my earphones.  Mark ultimately wrote about the day in his post for Behind the Viewfinder on September 5, 1998.

If we fast forward 11 and a half years later. Saturday afternoon, I was reviewing old tapes for possible examples to share with students in the next seminar session.  In my search,  I came across an un-logged tape and popped it in the video deck to preview it.  What I found was the video from that day.

You can clearly hear Mark’s voice, and his shutter, as he takes the photos including the photo included here. The video below is compressed to a .mp4 to make it a quick load for you.  You’ll want Quicktime.

If you need the windows version of the video, click here

How to shoot TV News? The NPPA can show you how

Yes yes, this clever bit of video has  gone viral … but seriously, doing the above is harder than it looks.  If you really want to know how to do this, and do this well, go here:

The NPPA News Video Workshop

This is the 50th anniversary of the News Video Workshop, where the best in the business of visual storytelling have learned and shared their skills and wisdom.  I’ve attended this workshop twice, and wrote about it last year.  As the promo materials share:

The NewsVideo Workshop is a week long, intense immersion into the world of moving pictures and sound. You will spend 12 – 16 hours each day learning from a faculty of more than 20 nationally- and internationally-recognized, award-winning journalists: including Bob Dotson, and Darrell Barton. These two alone have 9 Emmy Nominations, 4 Emmy Wins, 2 Photographer of the Year Awards, and 1 Sprague Award among them.

Learn more and sign up at: http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/workshops_and_seminars/NewsVideo_workshop/2010/

Actually, the truth of the Booker video is that visual storytelling is often a “visual language”.

PS:  One of my colleagues from last year’s workshop, Lila Merideth, is hosting the Associated Press’s web video show for the 2010 Winter Olympics,

Is it Deja vu? iPad video and Newton Video

Okay, it’s here.  Today we receive both the “state of the union” from Mr. Obama and the “slate of the union” from Mr. Jobs.

If you missed the product launch, look at this video from Apple on the iPad.

UPDATED:  New link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-YAQ1wfNqc

If this is at all vaguely familiar, take a walk down memory lane:

NOW on PBS – Saving American Journalism

Spend 30 minutes to understand the future of journalism and why so many people are concerned. PBS’s David Brancaccio interviews professor Bob McChesney and journalist John Nichols. The two authored book is “The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again

Textbook for “We Are What We Eat”

In December, I chose the textbook for “We Are What We Eat” and the college curriculum committee has given its approval to the course. Work continues, planning goes on, and we’re still on track for the Fall course launch.

Finding the right book for a course about nutrition, food sources, public health, economics, and public policy was an interesting challenge.  Ultimately, when it came tome to pick one, I settled on Dr. Marion Nestle’s What to Eat.  Dr. Nestle, from her bio, is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health (the department she chaired from 1988-2003) and Professor of Sociology at New York University.

The text approaches food from the perspective of the supermarket, in an aisle by aisle, or section by section discussion of food, labels, nutrition.  Our goal from the inception of this course was to blend the theory and science with the practical so that future public health leaders can influence reasonable policy.