Hip Hop in the Middle East

Two important skills that a good journalist, writer, filmmaker, producer, actor, etc. should acquire are observation and analysis.

The VII Photo Agency based in DUMBO, Brooklyn is a highly renowned and respected photo agency founded by some of today’s best photographers. Alexandra Boulat, one of the founders and a French photographer who passed away last year, was esteemed in the world of photography for her powerful images and compelling photo-documentaries about life in the Middle East.

To access her work, please follow the instructions below. After viewing the short video,  write a short analysis (80-100 words) of the photo-documentary “Hip Hop from Israel and Palestine”. What do you think of the photos? How about the interviews? What role does hip hop play in the lives of the people in the story? How different is their form of hip hop from what you are accustomed to in the US? How did the video affect you in the way you view the Middle East? Remember, these are only guide questions.

1. Go to http://www.viiphoto.com/video.php

2. Scroll down until you find “Hip Hop from Israel and Palestine”

3. View the video and write a short analysis after

Journalism Tools

From Common Sense Journalism by Doug Fisher

A good site for journalists to bookmark, 10,0000 words has a post on 21 online photo editing tools.

Among the most fun/useful are:

1. Mezzoman, which helps you find a meeting point;

2. Jott, which lets you call in notes and creates a transcript;

3. Qipit, which takes a photo you have made of a note-filled sheet and turns it into an PDF that’s easier to read;

4. Time and Date, which lets you figure out what time it is anywhere (it also has a neat distance calculator);

5. Meebo, which lets you hook up with a number of instant messaging services at once;
6. Tablefly, which enables easy creation and online publication of comparison tables;

7. Hey!Spread, a paid site (5 cents a credit) that enables you to spread your videos at once over many sites;

8. FindSounds, for finding that sound you just need for that video or slideshow;

9. Alphabetizer, which lets you alphabetize any list or capitalize the first letter of each item or cut and paste an online list and strip the HTML so that you can easily past it into a text editor.

Mark Luckie, proprietor of 10,000 words, has yet another useful list, The Tools I Actually Use. Included is Zamzar, mentioned here earlier, a site that lets you convert numerous media types to numerous other media types. He also mentions MapBuilder and FMAtlas, two sites that make building online maps a lot easier. FMAtlas looks especially intriguing as it allows you to upload comma formatted data and produce a map (a list of examples from newspapers and blogs). Right now, it’s in Alpha, which makes me wonder if down the road the free part of this tool turns paid. Luckie also includes a software section.

TIPS on Video Opens*

Strong visuals, great nat sound, a fast-paced sequence: they’re all good ways to open a story. Talking heads? Not. As online videographer Colin Mulvaney points out, it’s important to let the viewer know right away that your video is worth watching:

Online viewers are a fickle bunch, where the click of a mouse button will lead them to some other cooler destination. The key is to smack ‘em upside the head and wake them up. Your first 15 seconds better be good or they won’t stick around long.

That holds true for TV viewers, too, of course. For years now, they’ve watched the news with remote control in hand. So capturing attention is a key goal for any video story, whatever the medium. Mulvaney’s post offers half a dozen excellent examples of how to do it well.

*From Advancing the Story: Broadcast Journalism in a Multimedia World

How to make the most of your journalism internship

Landing the big internship is a difficult process on its own, but fully utilizing the time spent working for a media company can be even more daunting. Add to that the importance an internship holds for a future career in journalism and the pressure to get a job afterward and the pressure is on. There are some things that should be done during your internship to maximize your time and come away with a great portfolio and a fistful of contacts.

To read the entire article, please click below:

http://www.10000words.net/2008/07/how-to-make-most-of-your-journalism.html

Journalists Putting Themselves Online

Mark Luckie has posted screenshots of (and links to) the personal Web sites of 15 journalists. They could be used to inspire journalism students to master the art of self-presentation. Great examples. Click on the link below to view these sites.

15 journalists’ outstanding personal sites

Go on, just have a quick peek. They are very nice sites.