After this class, I started to realize the beauty of Flash in journalism amid the sea of information. Like an impactful photo, a Flash graphic is easy to hook people’s attention by giving them an intriguing taste of the core. Another merit of a Flash graphic is it compresses information into a simple illustraion, such as a roll-over graphic. Fast, space-efficient, interactive and reader-friendly, too.

With the growing trend of infographics in Journalism, I’m sure producing Flash graphics is going to be a must-konw technique by all journalists. Hmmm… I guess it’s time for me to play with Flash for a while.

First of all, writing for visial medium is another form of writing for the ear. It’s especially difficult for me as a non-native English speaker to make the script sounds conversational and casual. I had a difficult time writing in a simplified and concise way, without the use of long sentences and clauses, on the other hand not making the script looks choppy.

To make a sound video, one also needs to synchronize narration with relevant images perfectly, otherwise, it can be quite destructive. This definitely requires much experience  and skills- to write up the narration that fits the flow and timing of the  images.

He was born in 1988 in Wulanchabu, China, with a form of primordial dwarfism, and was recognised as the world’s shortest man in the Guinness Record in 2008.

This video, though a short one, is successful in portraying the short man through comparison with the objects around him. At the very beginning, He is shown walking along the corridor between two  rows of desks and chairs, such that only people’s legs can be seen from such a low angle. One interesting thing is, the video not only focuses on his shortness, but also his life as an 21-year-old adult in his daily life. For example, there are scenes when he lits up cigarettes like a grown-up with a childlike face. I believe the story will be a lot different if it’s only in text. Readers can hardly imagine how short the man simply by reading a figure or descriptive statement.

The video has a rather refreshing angle as it is featured without any narration or interviews. However, I think it would be better if a few lines of introduction can be added in the beginning to give readers an idea of the man’s background, such as his age, ethnicity, height, reason for his death, etc. (I can only know these by reading the text that introduces the video).

It would also be a great idea to include a more in-depth story of his family background, perhaps to bring a person’s story to the bigger issue of primordial dwarfism.

Al Tompkins, author of “Sliding sound and Altered images” argues that a journalist or videographer should never add extra sound bites or video clips that do not belong to the interview. It is understandable that it is the responsibility of the journalists uphold truth and present the most origianl and authentic scene to the audience. However, I do believe a certain degree of “polishing” is necessary to make the clip more complete, interesting and attractive. So similar to that in print, a bottom line has to be drawn.

In print, the is a question frequently raised by student in class: can I correct somebody’s quote? A strict answer is of course no. But things are not always black and white. A more practical answer is: if altering the quote does not change the speaker’s style and meaning (say only for minor gramatical mistakes) or affect the audience perception of reality, go ahead. The same applies to video editing too. What if adding a sound site or related shot can significantly add color to the entire package, given the fact that the main message can still be conveyed?

Of course, all these questions require experienced and professional ethical judgment. To conclude, there is always one question that should be frequently reflected upon by every journalist or videographer: Am I altering the truth by my editing?

The use of matural sound is particularly impressive, such as the use of dog barking in the beginning gives an authentic setting for the story (as if a dog is barking to you). The idea of replacing the reporter’s long and descriptive statements about the organization with a Neuticles’ phone recording as an introduction is also interesting.

The story is informative in the way that it provides some related facts and figures, such as the problem of pet overpopulation and the number of unwanted pets put down each year. This form of interesting yet informative journalism helps bring up a bigger issue in society.

MSNBC’s award-winning multimedia story “Crafting beauty from death” is about a Harlem funeral home owner striving to make his clients look better than when they were alive.

The story is told in the form of a photo slideshow with narration. Instead of choosing a black-and-white color tone, Gianni Cipriano gives audience a refreshing angle of the heavy yet mysterious issue to many- death. Pictures are rich in living color – colorful lipsticks, pink nail paint and red roses at the funereal. This warm and lively mood  helps bring audience to a closer look in the world of an embalmer.

The gospel music playing in the background also works well with the theme – an embalmer works hard to pay his last respect to the dead, solemn yet holy, sad but beautiful.

“Crafting beauty from death” won first place in the 66th-annual Pictures of the Year International for the category of multimedia feature story.

But somehow, I’m struck by David Snider’s passion in photography. “I had to shoot these pictures. These moments are what I thought was timeless and precious… Although I aspired to be a Photojournalist, I remained a Street Photographer, a patient watcher of humanity.” It’s true that photography captures the moment and turns it into eternity. This is same reason which explains my passion in writing. I wish to leave a record -my exploration, discovery and understanding of life, people and the world, and of course, to share.

David LaBelle said, “Photography is a tool, a vehicle for communication to open door to the world and then carry back their discoveries.” As a student (and future) journalist in a convergence age, I should seriously think of learning professional photojournalism as a way to add colour to my work, and more importantly contribute to a more holistic and balanced coverage.

But more importantly, backpack journalism helps enhance the accuracy of reporting by giving the audience a holistic, balanced picture of the scene and the news event. A picture is worth a thousand words. An online video about Haiti is going to tell a lot more about people’s life after the earthquake than a full page of words. It’s also going to open the door for independent/ citizen journalism, as a backpack journalist can always run his/ her own stories without a big budget and having to rely on a large crew. This ultimately gives way to a freer flow of information.