In recognition of the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, the NPR program Frontline ran a documentary over the past two nights, Bush’s War. Part one and two are available on the site in their entirety if you missed them or want to watch again. But what I really think is hot is the way that they tell the story online. I think the Web site is a superb example of how to tell a story using digital multi-media. I especially like the annotated video timeline. The site as a whole is a wonderful example of what depth, breadth, and inclusion digital media can bring to a story that broadcast or print media will never be able to approach.

Posted by Mark

Adri, Editor

Team Pedro

By Kristina (Scorsese Group)

Two days and five hours of footage later, the Scorsese team has filmed the filming of the Birch Bay Marathon north of Bellingham. Our objective: Capture the process of creating a film using consumer technology (specifically the flip camera).

While we have a full cast of characters, it seems like everyone fits into three main entities:
1. Us, the film crew
2. Joel, the race director, and the rest of the volunteers who made the race possible.
3. The runners

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Posted by Hanson Hosein: In this digital media era, “communication” is all the rage, especially because there are so many more of us doing it. That’s why this Storytelling class is so important — so fundamental — to our MCDM program. For there is no more effective manner of communication than through a compelling story.

But even once we get past the smoke and mirrors of technology and the Internet, there’s an even more fundamental component. And that’s writing. Yet another justification for why I’m going to be introducing serious writing components into every course I offer at the UW. I have found, for the most part, that our writing skills are good, but not great.

Which is why today’s article in the Puget Sound Business Journal on how communications programs in the state need to refocus is so intriguing. Here are some of the core findings:

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When I was in the fledgling stages of photojournalism I would blame my equipment alot.

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Hi all,

I’ve just returned to my apartment after being up for almost 28 hours.  Why?  Well because Ridley group just finished taping all our raw footage for our project.  Our interview subject was Mark Miller, a reporter for KOMO TV.

He was fantastic to work with and really nice guy who wasn’t afraid to be candid with us.  What wasn’t fantastic however was that his shift starts at 3:30 am and goes until 11:30am. We started by meeting him at the station and seeing the newsroom.  Later we left Fisher Plaza and traveled to Renton to do a story about the primary for the very early news.  It was interesting to see a news story on location and learn some of the ups and downs of being a local report assigned to the OMG its early shift.  Around 7am, Mark got word of a breaking news story about a house fire in Federal Way, WA.  Sadly Tom and Michelle had to go to work at that point, but Carie and I persevered and followed Mark, Tim, the cameraman, and Mike the news van driver/operator.  We did have a couple of misadventures trying to find the location of the house fire, but once we arrived, Mark wasted no time in crafting a story about the tragic loss of a home and a beloved family pet.  For our story even, there was some compelling video, some conflict, and some great sound bites.   When the live remote was over we traveled back to the station and Mark gave us a very good sit down interview.  Again I want to emphasize that Mark and everyone we met at KOMO were extremely nice.  All in all, I would say the mission was a success, and I believe Carie will have some of our clips posted soon.  For me its bed time.

Maury

As many of you have noted, making a documentary is not like making a fictional film where you have absolute control of the story and what the characters do. This feels more like a detective work looking for the story within. So in the spirit of sharing, I’m posting our process thus far, and I welcome any suggestions and comments. I decided to apply a few exercises from a creative writing class to the pre-production process:

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Today, I decided to take the camera on a test run – literally. I was curious what kind of quality video I could get if I ran with the camera. Conclusion: not very. A warning if you watch this video that you might get dizzy from all the movement. The only way I think the running with the camera will work is if I’m focused on another moving object. So if I’m running alongside someone else who is running that might work for short clips, but that’s about it. – Kristina