Here is the link to my final multimedia project for my 4720 class:

http://www.lisaparisot.com/Eagle/EagleFinal.html

Doing the project was an interesting, mostly fun experience for me. It required a lot of work in a lot of different ways. Luckily my group members all put forth great efforts in everything, and I think we’re all satisfied with the way the story turned out.
The initial story idea was Juan’s, so he contacted Johnny and eventually Elia to do the stories for us. It took a while to get our contacts lined up, but it worked out. Then we just had to film, record, and shoot our subjects, which took some time, considering everyone’s busy schedules. After we had all our content done and edited, Rebecca built the entire flash presentation from scratch. After that, we just brought all our media into the presentation, hammered out a few details, and had our final product.

Overall, I feel like I’ve learned a lot of valuable skills this semester. Knowing video, audio, and a number of new software skills makes me feel more comfortable in marketing myself after graduation. Whether or not I got into mulitimedia, I’m pretty certain that these skills will come into use somehow.

Election Multimedia

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/politics/2008-election-overview/

I thought the NY Times Election 2008 multimedia presentation was done well. It used photos, video, sound, and graphics to effectively represent the election and the years leading up to it. For the most part, it was very balanced and unbiased. Both candidates’ high and low points were represented with emotional and interesting photographs and video clips. I particularly enjoyed the seeing video of Republican and Democrat voters coupled with the progress of each candidate’s campaign progress. The photos were the biggest interest to me. Many were very moving, and from interesting perspectives that no one other than a photographer very close to the event would be able to see. Even a week after the election ended, this presentation kept my interest throughout.

Soundslide #1

For my first soundslide assignment, I interviewed a student taking her first lesson of aikido, a style of martial arts. Watch here:
Aikido Soundslide

Paralympic Swimmer

http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=d54ae703c026d0aa452bd1219d92e6fef791d0e1

This is a multimedia story about an Iraq veteran who lost her leg in combat and now swims for the US Paralympic swim team. Obviously this story has emotional impact for several reasons. A story about a war veteran, or an amputee, or an Olympic swimmer could most likely all stand alone. This combines all three and gives you a story to become involved in and someone to root for. It also has action and movement. Personally, I was curious to see how someone with a prosthetic leg would swim, so I was interested in watching the video. It also shows some of the aspects of life with a prosthetic, which is not usual to most people, so I would imagine that would be a point of interest to anyone curious about that. Overall, I think it’s an intersting story with an emotional impact that would draw in readers.

Multimedia Websites Critique

The Halifax Explosion
http://www.cbc.ca/halifaxexplosion/index.html

This website does a good job of leading readers through the Halifax Explosion with the use of photos, graphics, and articles. I knew nothing about the Halifax Explosion before reading this, but the website captured my interest with colorful graphics and layout, and an easy-to-use interactive timeline of the event. The writing is effective without being sensational or too emotional, and the photographs provide excellent support. Because the photos are grainy and obviously very old, I think they help give the story a particular vintage feeling without making it seem like ancient history. Overall, this site is very effective and visually captivating for anyone learning or researching this event, and is user-friendly enough for nearly anyone to navigate it.

Churchill’s Speeches
http://www.churchillspeeches.com/

I found this site to be a little less easy to use, but no less interesting. Listening to Churchill’s speech alone may have not been very stimulating, but the site creators added an interactive timeline with photos for the reader to scroll through while hearing the speech, creating a sort of soundslide spanning many years. These photos give life to the speech Churchill gave shortly after the end of World War II. Readers also have the option of reading a transcript of the speech as it is playing. The key themes of the speech have all been color coded for another easy function.

Interview

I recently interviewed a friend of mine who works for the Daily Texan at UT, where he often interviews various celebrities, film directors, and such. Go to the page listed below to listen to the interview:

www.lisaparisot.com/Final Interview

Beginning…

Before I graduate and enter the world of professional journalism, I’m hoping to learn as much as I can in this course from as many areas as possible, in order to be as prepared and valuable to future employers (and to myself) as I can be. Hopefully the time line of posts in this blog will reflect the progress I’ve made and new skills I’ve learned throughout the semester.