This week I did some “jouranlisming” that is totally new in this adapting world of journalism. Instead of creating a story using a video camera, audio recorder and DSLR, I did a story all on my iPhone – in one hour (or less). The link to my final product is in my last post, but I’ll go over how it felt completing the assignment in such a short amount of time in this post.
The app, overall, has a nice interface that makes design for your product easy as pie. There are sophisticated and simple ways to add text any of your media that really makes it look like a hipster’s dream come true. And the way the stories come together really makes it look like you spent a great deal of time and money getting professional designers to create your story. In reality – it only took a short amount of time and effort to get these things through.
Now on to completing the actual assignment. Seeing as the event that I chose started at 7pm and the deadline was 7:45pm, I certainly felt the pressure. Overall there was no problem using the interface. But there was a scramble to make sure you got all the components: a wide shot, a portrait, a tight shot, AP captions for each photo, a 150 word story, a quote from a source, and a short video clip for additional points. My goodness! Having to ask someone for a picture (the detailed shot was the worst because you actually have to get close), and then recording their quote and playing it back so you make sure you get what they said verbatim, and then disappearing like the Dark Knight into the shadows to write your captions and story was quite the head spinner. Believe it or not, I completed it just in time (give or take the minutes for upload and trying to understand WordPress mobile).
But hey, that’s journalism for you! I’m surprised part of the lower-journalism curriculum doesn’t include stress training! Needless to say, I had a good time trying to figure out the app. And its simplicity definitely was helpful in the process. To be honest, I really wouldn’t mind using that app again to create some original content — so long as I have more than an hour to do it!
Mia Johnson Writes 