My Media Use Diary :)

Picture Stories :)

Hello!! This week the lecture was all about picture stories.  We began by noting all the different places that you can find picture stories.  Seriously, these things are everywhere! T.V, movies, newspapers, magazines even graffiti – they all identify a story.  A quote from Eetu Sillanpää - the guy who was responsible for this incredible photo after the school shooting in Finland, once said “A picture has no meaning at all if it can’t tell a story.” 

This is so true! As we look back through history, the amazing cave paintings by the Indigenous Australians wouldn’t be half as incredible if we couldn’t get a story from them.  If they were simply a few lines then sure, we might marvel at how long they have survived, but we would not have recognised their true beauty.  Over time the art of using pictures to tell a story has progressed.  Holy books, such as the ‘Book of Kells’ in Ireland or the ‘Diamond Sutra’ in Asia were used to spread the stories to people who weren’t able to read.  Along with Holy books, there were also stained glass pictures, usually depicting a Biblical story or scene.  Again this was to ensure that the uneducated (basically everyone back then) were able to enjoy, learn from and understand the stories. 

Next was the era of the Newspaper.  In the beginning there were line drawings – Just like in this photo of Abraham Lincoln.

Bear in mind that these photos weren’t all that long ago.  However, since then pictures, especially in newspapers, have come along in leaps and bounds.  In 1936 we saw the first colour photo in print – Natures Hues I believe.  Then, in more recent years, digital photography has evolved.  Now you can ‘capture and upload’ in just a few seconds – and that is only set to improve.  The recent development of tablets and super-duper smart phones has made this all the more possible. 

When digital photographs were born, so was digital manipulation.  You know, when a photo of an elephant somehow morphs into a butterfly... Well not that drastic, yet.  Photoshop can do some very great (and I don’t necessarily mean good) things.  Take this Dove advert for example.  It’s absolutely incredible!!

When a headlining story breaks, there obviously needs to be a big ‘front page worthy’ photo too.  I bet this was difficult before the day of digital cameras.  Now-a-days it is not unusual for a news website to have not only one, but a whole gallery of photos for a particular story.  These are, more often than not, sent in by people who just so happened to be there.  Who manage to capture the perfect shot in just the right place at just the right time.  This is oftern seen where there is death and destruction.  The 2011 Queensland floods are a fabulous example.  Photos, videos and interviews taken/filmed by locals made it onto international headlines (I should know, I was in both the UK and the US at the time).  The London Riots also provided the opportunity, though many of these ended up on social media sites, which is still a form of media though.

Anyway, enough about where the story ends up, more about how it is made.  A great photo takes a great deal of skill, practice and coordination – so don’t expect your first to be brilliant!!

To take a great photo, you will need

-  A camera – fabulous or not, as long as it works

-  A nice frame – not one you buy from Target, not a natural frame... like a bush.. or a wall...

-  Focus – No fingers over the lens, or a blurry blob

-  Exposure

-  The right angle

-  Perfect timing

The best guideline to follow when aiming the perfect picture is the Rule of Golden Thirds.

Basically, this is saying that the focus point should be the two top-middle corners..

In this photo, it’s where the models eyes are.

The final topic we covered this week was Moving Pictures.  When capturing a moving picture (or a video) the most important things to remember are the same as for regular pictures with the added factor of Sound... Buuuutt we’re not going into that today, save it for next week folks!! :)

Text

Wow!! I can’t believe we’re already three weeks into the course!! I must say, I’m not really looking forward to it ending.  So far it doesn’t seem like we have learnt all that much, but when you actually look back to where we were three weeks ago, we really have come a long way.

This week our lecture was on Text.  We also had a fabulous guest lecturer, Skye Doherty.  We started by identifying text, basically what it is and how we use it. Text is fast, it’s flexible and it’s portable, especially now with the technology that we have.  Text is searchable (Google has to have something to use), it’s controlled and it dominates online.  This is so true, sure a picture can give you insight to a story, or take you in so you feel like you’re really there; but it can’t describe the emotion, it can’t give you the facts in one quick simple sentence and it can’t give you the full story.  Speaking of ‘full stories’, this leads me into the next part we discussed – The ‘Inverted Pyramid’.  I swear, I have been seeing this thing around everywhere recently, and I must say, at first it made me think of the food pyramid.  But no… it is not.

The Pyramid looks a little something like this

Basically, you have to provide the most important information first.  So in the opening sentence, you have to mention who, what when, where, why and how – the’ 5W’s and H’.  This provides the reader with enough information to know what the story about, and know what happens even if they don’t want to read the whole thing.  That been said however, this line should try to capture the readers interest to lure them in to the rest of the story.  A nice interview with a politician, a victim or someone who would add importance and interest to the story can be added here.  The following paragraph should provide further information about the story, still important information – but not critical.

The paragraph after that will again have information that will add to the story, but not as important as the previous paragraph.  This is the part that they may want to include a nice eye-witness account, or interview someone who was present.   

Then the last very small paragraph, sentence-long almost, is where they make any comments such as “If you would like to help the cause, visit…” or “Investigations are continuing”.

Basically, this one can be very easily cut from a report if need be.

Hypertext.  A beautiful thing as far as online newspapers should be concerned.  Hyperlinks can be added basically anywhere and they can take you to recommended stories, similar stories or pages providing further information on a particular topic.

I love the BBC News website, I’ll admit it.  Maybe it’s that they have a slightly different perspective on things in the UK than we do in Australia, I don’t know.  But, something that I have always noticed about the BBC is that they have a million hyperlinks to go along with their stories.  Here’s a quick print of a story about the controversial mining tax the Government has just introduced.

Note it has links to other stories that may interest the reader of a riveting tale of mining, politics and finance.  For example one link – to the story about the Sydney Harbour Bridge turning 80 another about Australia’s booming economy or relations with the US, a tale about Gotye’s No. 1 hit or even the increase of sharks on Australian beaches, the country profile and the latest antics of our beloved politicians.

Headlines are probably the most important part of a text story – especially in print.  When a good headline is made, remember three things

1.  It must be true – You don’t want to tell a lie, otherwise it puts doubt into the rest of the story, not to mention it is greatly frowned upon in the news world

2.  It should contain a verb – The riveting stuff you learnt in grade 7 grammar class is being put to good use

3.  You don’t need a pun.  Seriously, if every news headline had a cheesy pun, do you think anything would be taken seriously?

After coming up with a magnificent headline, you will need to understand just exactly how to set up your article. The basic set-up looks like this:

‘Poynter Eyetrack’ states that the best stories should be placed in the upper left of the page, followed by the upper right.  Photos, contrary to popular belief, are not usually the entry point to the page. 

Finally, we have reached the end of yet another week.  This is the final slide i am going to show you, it's basically everything that text is, will be, can be and is hoped to be :)
Byee!!

New News

As our second week of Uni came around, I eagerly anticipated the second JOUR1111 lecture.  This week the topic happened to be ‘New News’.  We began with Web Iterations.  I to be honest, had absolutely no idea what to expect.  I had never heard of the term ‘web iterations’ before, but I was keen to learn.  

Basically, ‘web iterations’ refer to the different types of media we get our news from.  The first of which being ‘Old News’ – You know, old fashioned stuff, back in the 20^th century :P Newspapers, magazines, radio and television all fall under this category.

Next we covered ‘Web 1.0’ The information web, which is basically where web pages are surrounded by advertisements and banners. 

 ‘Web 2.0’ was next; it’s the social one, very interactive.  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Skype, Instagram and Google+ are all fabulous examples of the ‘Social Web’.  ‘Web 2.0’ also covers the ‘Prod-Users’.  Prod-Users are those who produce and use.. I think, I was a bit confused on this one...

Ah, I went to a nice site that had lots of information on ‘Prod-Usage’, an entire site to be exact.  Anyway, they say that prod-users “break down the boundaries between producers and consumers and instead enable all participants to be users as well as producers of information and knowledge”.  This, I believe, would be when breaking news happens and normal passers-by are the ones who ‘capture the moment’.  The 2011 Queensland Floods last year or the earthquake in Christchurch are excellent examples.

The forth topic we covered was ‘Web 3.0’ the Semantic web.

 

Our next topic was ‘Web News’ which we began with a little exercise.  Basically we were told to pass some mysterious package down the rows, while each taking out a single plastic bag (which happened to be filled with jelly beans) and marking down the number.  We were then told we could open the package and eat one single bean, before we heard the one word we really didn’t want to hear: STOP!! We then had to repeat the process in reverse.. reseal the bag, place back in envelope and send back down the row.  Okaaay... we were all a little bit confused at this point.  Essentially it was about what we thought we were entitled to; we had been given something for free and had it taken away from us.  See this exercise was to illustrate that people believe that they should be entitled to the news, for free.

With the increasing numbers of newspapers moving online, people often question whether or not they are entitled to full access without paying a cent.  News on the web has always been cheap and readily available, so that is not the problem.  The problem is that newspapers no longer make any profits.  Back in the day, before Ebay (If anyone can even remember back then), newspapers made all their dough from the classifieds.  However, since the advent of cheap online shopping, newspapers are no longer needed here – and it wouldn’t really work for them online either.  So they have no way to make money, or pay their journalists.

Recently, many newspapers around the world have introduced a subscription only service.  Where only members can read the full stories, have access to special videos, deals and sales.  This is called a Paywall – the first newspaper in Australia to introduce it was the Herald Sun.

So, that just might be the future for journalists out there, who knows...