The Interview:
For three of my sports journalism pieces I have conducted
some sort of interview. The interview to me is a form of gathering information,
of which doesn’t necessarily have to follow a flow of questions, although I had
some prepared in the event that conversation fell flat.
I first conducted an interview for a Boxing piece of which I
later wrote up for a print medium. This was an informal interview, and I found
it to be quite relaxed and chatty, and the interviewee gave all the information
I could need, and more.
The second interviewee was based around gaining facts,
rather than gaining a story. This was a more formal style of interview, yet it
was shorter, and much more focused on specific details.
The third interview I conducted was for the podcast. This
was with a weightlifter, of whom I wanted to express the information freely, without
me having to prompt too much. The interview was very relaxed, yet difficult to
conduct, as I found that the interview became more about what was expected to
have been said, rather than what he wanted to say.
The interview itself is something that I would like to
develop. If I had not done a specific type of work such as sport, I would have
liked to have challenged myself to a more intense interview, using different
styles such as incorporating a bit of Jeremy Paxman, and a badgering interview;
possibly with a politician.
The other style I would have like to have done is an
intensified life story with close camera angles such as what use to be carried
out by John Freeman.
Photojournalism:
The one piece of photojournalism I did was for the
Gymnastics club. I too photo’s over a few nightly sessions, and tried to cover
as many angels, types of shots, and focuses. I also used two alternative camera
settings which were T.V, and Sports, which were both appropriate for use and
had their different advantages. The camera I used was a Cannon 40D.
This was the first real piece of photojournalism work that I
have done, as I have not had much experience on the camera. For the first part
I felt that I was nervous and missed some shots that would have been good for use.
As I became more familiar with the camera I relaxed and began to try different
setting s and angles to gain the best shots possible.
Overall I think the photojournalism work was to a decent
standard, although I would like to develop it for future reference particularly
within sport.
Written Articles:
This is probably the area that I have the most experience
within. As a general thing, writing is something I practise each day with journalism
work. I wrote two specific sports articles for a daily newspaper, of which are
due to be published as part of features.
These incorporated pictures, and a set layout of which I had
to follow; a lead, and introduction to the sport, pictures, and a fact file on
the sports club I visited.
In producing these pieces, I had not written for a specific
purpose of audience that had to be to a set structure before. I have done work
of set words, or set topics, but not set structures, and this I found to be
quite difficult in keeping to the word limits, and ensuring each part of the vital
information was included. To do this successfully, I used tips I had learned in
writing techniques, as to write in a reverse pyramid, to keep the important
information included, to then disregard the least important.
Article writing is a part of journalism that I am aiming to
develop as much as possible through my degree and post study. I would like to
have built a portfolio of many different styles and types of journalism that exhibit
my skills.
Video journalism:
The video journalism piece was one that I did not get to
carry out. I wrote the script, and identified the club, and people that I would
speak to, but weather permitted that that I could not conduct this, as the
scene was supposed to be at a training session.
My idea with this was to set a scene of a session, of which I
would have introduced it like a sports show, and continued this on to the
interview on camera, with the training session as a backdrop. The sport was
American Football, so I had a great opportunity to try and probe some interesting
questions as to why it is becoming so popular here, and what the participants
enjoy so much about it.
I gained lots of information from one of the contact of
which I could use to interview, or in the future if I can carry out the
intended video piece. This is now a priority to develop my V/J skills, as I have
not had much practice in doing this.
Interactive Journalism:
This is the most current piece of journalism that I have
used and come across. I have used micro blogging such as Twitter, and other
social networking sites, but the idea of this was to incorporate this and
develop it into a story, live.
I used Twitter whilst live at a football match and I Tweeted
events and match updates using a hash-tag. I also re-Tweeted any relevant Tweets
to ensure I had these for future reference.
The idea of this was to then move my live commentary feed
into a Storify, and create a live story, incorporating the events, the
professional pundit’s reaction, the fans reaction, pictures, and my own
thoughts.
I picked the Hull City V Watford game as it bared some
significance to their season. I used Twitter to constantly update the events,
and this was useful when creating my Storify.
In the Storify, I created the full story in minutes, as I transferred
all of my Tweets and the reactions into the story. I looked for new Tweets from
professionals that had held interviews with players, and placed there feedback
into the story too.
I had essentially created newspaper report that would appear
in the local news online the next day, or in print on Monday, into a fully
readable and reliable story within half an hour of the game finishing.
I feel this method of journalism is the most prominent and accessible
version of journalism that can be used as a tool to be as updated as possible.
Podcast for Audience:
Podcasts are a useful way to record interviews and place
them for listening on to websites, and they are also a good form of being able
to write up and interview at a later stage.
The podcast on the weightlifter was a difficult to conduct
as I know him on a personal level. I found that he was picky in his wording,
rather than just expressing his views as he would have normally.
The podcast making itself is a process that I have found to
be good for reference and use to quickly find a piece of information, but when I
have to host this on my website, I find difficulties, and it does not support
MP3.
In future, I will conduct many interviews using voice recording,
and possibly transfer these to be podcasts as I find that audial sometimes woks
better than reading, and appeals to audiences. It is a good practise to have
both, but podcasts are particularly good for having an interactive media
website.
Overall:
All of the experiences I have undertaken have taught me new
aspects of journalism, and developed my skills in many areas. I can build upon
this portfolio, using many of these techniques, and also develop the ones that I
have not had much experience within.
I will continue to undertake many journalism works, and
opportunities that could enhance my portfolio and reputation as a journalist.
No comments:
Post a Comment