Tips for Natural Sound Stories

It was strange reading all of the tips given for natural sound stories. Even though most of them seemed pretty obvious, I realized that I hadn't even considered many of them when formulating my own story. Like a lot of the other students, I'm having a hard time getting out of a writer's perspective when I'm planning and editing my story. There's so many things that I would like to interject or put into my own words, but I think that in the end, my comments would create a less compelling story.

I've always been a huge fan of natural sound stories, but I'm starting to learn that they're not as simple as they seem. Before this class, I always enjoyed radio stories, but I never really appreciated the amount of work that went into creating them. Now, as I begin compiling my own radio story, I can't believe how difficult it is! I feel like I have so much audio, and it's so difficult to assemble it into a two and a half minute piece. In hindsight, I wish I would have had a more focused idea of what my story was going to be about. I think it would have made the editing process a lot easier. I'm starting to get the feeling though, that hindsight is always going to be 20/20 in this class.

Natural Sound Stories

A lot of the things the tips in Natural Sound Stories seem obvious. But they're mostly things that I didn't think of when collecting audio, because I'm so accustomed to print and find it difficult to get into an audio state of mind. I always think that I can explain everything I see in words later, but when working with audio and wild sound I can't.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little scared of my story. It seems daunting to put together right now. And I didn't ask stupid questions. The article said to ask moronic questions to create a narrative. What if I don't have all the information I need on tape?

Again, these are all things I need to train myself to listen for and think about. The article is now bookmarked on my computer... for the next time I'm preparing for an audio story.

Natural Sound Stories

All of the broadcast stories I've come to admire make the most of natural sound to tell their stories. There is something to be said for a story that can speak for itself, without help from the reporter. At the same time, though, I respect radio reporters for their ability to writer pieces for the ear, using words that effectively get the point across when natural sound may not be the best option. I think its the combination of these two things that makes for a good story.
The one thing that I have had the most difficulty with thus far is trying to force myself out of my "writer" thought process. I have found it very difficult to sit at an editing bay and try to focus on the sound I have collected. What I wouldn't give if it all could be transcribed for me, word for word. I'm so used to writing newspaper style stories, being able to see the information I've collected, and piece it together like a puzzle. Trying to do this with audio isn't easy. It's outside my comfort zone.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing though is knowing that I have a good idea of what makes a good radio style story. I've heard them. I know what makes the ones I enjoy so effective. But I'm not exactly at the point yet where I can create mini masterpieces of my own. It can be hard to move forward with a story that you know isn't working quite right. I usually know what would make it better, but I often don't know how to change it.

Natural Sound Stories Rock

Natural sound stories are full of non-spoken imagery, which I feel is an integral part of creating a replica enviornment for your audience. The sounds of an envirnment create a "feel" to your story that no spoken word can harness.
In our NPR type stories, by adding the ambience of the enviornment, we added an element of reality. This type of scene setting is not captured by all forms of media, I feel radio has a unique oppourtunity to "show a little leg without giving it all away."

Natural Sound

I enjoy natural sound stories because they let the subjects speak for themselves, and I usually find this to be more captivating in human interest pieces. When we watched the story last week about the insects all over that minor league ballpark, it made me appreciate just how many different types of sounds and sources can be used, edited, and fused together to create such a good piece. The how-to guide, like the photography guide before it, gives alot of practical information and tips that I feel like should be obvious - but of course in hindsight I failed to do many of these things when trying to get my radio piece done. I'm starting to notice a trend here.

Watching some winter olympics coverage got me thinking. It would be fun to do one of these types of stories about a unique niche sport that not many people know about, like curling. Following a team for a few days during practices and games could be quite enlightening. What is the crowd like at say, a college-level curling showdown? Are there any countries where fans paint their faces, have coordinated chants, and buy overpriced beer/food/souvenirs for their favorite curlers? Can I get a pack of curling cards? Curling replica jerseys? But I digress...

- Justin Ray

Natural Sound Stories

I think natural sounds stories are so cool because the audience gets an insight into maybe the environment, what type of person is being interviewed or the mood of the situation. It is obviously something we cannot get with writing, and I keep thinking of the multi-media projects we watched for this blog and in class and how helpful they were in understanding the story (like the voice of the man who acted as the KFC guy)...
I think its a great idea to plan out what type of natural sound you are looking for. What sounds really will get the story across? I know when I was trying to record some natural sound for my story, there were things that popped up that I was so glad I had the microphone on for. But having ideas can help you put a story together--such as the radio piece we are working on.
I would like to remember next time to say things more like in a conversation than asking questions. The reading talked about saying "wow, what a mess" instead of "what kind of destruction did the storm cause?" because the subject will respond in a more natural, conversative manner.
The other really important thing would be to "share before air." I think with video and audio I often times assume the audience will know just as much as me so will understand the sound bytes I have...I think it is important to get another opinion. I loved getting the sounds for my piece but will have to remember these for next time.

For the audio pieces we've done so far I feel like it's hard to make sure the piece makes sense and that there is no implied content. When you are writing a piece on paper it is easy to scrutinize the piece and make sure there is a definite beginning, middle and end, the facts are attributed and other characteristics of good writing are in place. When you are just listening to your story it is harder to remember what you have used and what you haven't. It seems like it is all about remembering what you've said and making sure that you don't fill the gaps yourself because when you do this the audience won't understand the piece.

Corky Scholl

I really liked the way Corky Scholl told each story! I loved how he was able to capture a story while using very little narration. Sometimes it seems like journalists get so wound up trying to figure out ways to convey an experience to the reader/viewer. By simply being there and being quiet, I think Corky Scholl ended up with stories that did a much better job of attracting viewers because he just let the events and people speak for themselves, creating a very compelling finished product.

Also, I'm really curious to know exactly how this aired on TV. I imagine that it would have to be some sort of special weekly segment that required a lot more time to put together.

Corky Scholl

What I like most about Corky Scholl's work is how he often lets the stories speak for themselves. He uses voice overs on some of his stories, but only seems to do so when it's necessary. The first story about the summer hail storm really seemed to follow the tips we learned in class on Tuesday. He focused on getting good sound bites and good visuals. These two things were all that was needed to effectively show what was going on. A simple voice over stating something like "A freak storm happened..." would have been completely unnecessary. It's obvious from his use of visual and audio detail what happened. It's the people's reactions that make the story. He let the people speak for themselves

Corky Scholl

The wild sound in these pieces was, for lack of a better word, WILD. I was so impressed with how little narration was needed in each story. So much of the detail came through without any words. So, I thought it was all very cool.

I noticed that along with minimal narration from the reporter, there was also a minimal amount of speaking from sources. Only one story had an actual, Barbara Walters style, sit-down interview. Even then, the majority of the story was told through the visual, with pictures, and through wild sound and very small sound bites from sources. They could occasionally seem erratic, but overall I felt that the editing pace of each story fit the story being told very well.

Corky Scholl

I loved this! I know that the Scholl stories have been criticized as being to mushy and sentimental, but I am mushy and sentimental! All of these stories had me emotionally involved, and I credit that to the artful way the reporting was done. There were so many little nuances that made each of these stories, in my opinion, a work of art.

I loved the handball piece where there were several clips in a row of players hitting the ball in full force. After working with bias deck, I now know how hard it would have been to cut out each little frame of a player hitting the handball. In the marathon story, when "Robbie" was filmed running up a hill in the distance, somewhat out of focus, the camera was occasionally focused on a duck or a chipmunk, or some element of the landscape to add detail to the scene. The shots of trash and empty bottles of alcohol, set to the melancholy background music of "King James" served to further emphasize and illustrate some of the more disturbing components of life on the street. The scene with the "field of flags" in the pouring rain gave the story about honoring victims of terrorism even more emotional impact.

While the stories may be viewed as exaggerated to encourage a sentimental response, it is clear that the editing, photography and audio were packaged in a way that did inspire emotion. That fact alone demonstrates how powerful a carefully edited, well put together story can be. It makes me wonder...if Corky Scholl's stories can make me want to cry, what other emotions can a journalist inspire, and where/how does objectivity (responsible journalism's ultimate goal ;) factor in?

Corky Series

I felt the components which made up the producing aspect of the videos were all very well done. They were edited very well for audio, especially the peice on handball, the sound played well with the video. Whomever handled the editing did a fantastic job. Also, the elements of each story were well displayed in the video which in turn guided the audio masterfully.
As far as the content though, the stories were so sensationalized and mushy, I feel these topics masked some of the flaws in the stories. An example of this is the King James story. It seemed that none of the lyrics to King James's songs had anything to do with or further the story line. He was just a man of the streets who liked music. Why would it be hard to imagine a homeless person who likes music?. And the narrator's little punch lines were very corny. I hope being a dull,unoriginal drone is not a requirement of his job. But he could really portray a story very well. I would like to see a more substantive project of his.
From Nathan Skid

Corky Scholl by Charlotte

After watching Corky's video and the article on him I realised that being a good journalist has a lot more to do with your personality than I previously realised. Telling a story is all through words or photography is all about understanding the subject and surroundings and how they interact. Corky shows us how his patience and easy-going, sweet nature allows the subject to trust him and subsequently tell their story without apprehension.
In his video I noticed just how important all the little sounds are like footsteps, water lapping, the sound of a ball hitting a backboard. These sounds gave the story character and made it 'real' for the viewer. The use of such distinct and diverse sounds allowed one more sense to be stimulated for the viewer. We weren't being told a story by an anonymous reporter, we were put into the story, 'feeling' all the aspects of it for ourselves.
I also think that when reporters don't speak but let the quotes from people in the story, tell the story, it allows us to see the story in a more honest light. I'm starting to think it's somewhat like chinese whispers - each person that the story goes through before it gets to us, is one more layer of perspective we have distinguish and eliminate in order to get a clear unbiased view of what is actually going on. Scholl eliminates the middle man allowing the story to tell itself and be interpreted freely by the viewer for what is significant and important as human beings and nothing else.
You can tell Scholl's passion of life in his stories as he magnifies the human quality in people, their emotions, which also makes it easier to relate to and far more compelling. He focusses on the little things that make people human, their heavy breathing, a sly smile, the things that give people depth and character, instead of seeing people as just objects. When we dehumanize people, as so often happens in newstories, it allows us to skip the true consequences or miss the true beauty and spirituality of a scene. We don't process the story on a deep level, as human to human, we can hide from it's reality, consciously or unconsciously.

Corky Scholl

These stories by Corky Scholl were so entertaining and insightful. They may not be the latest groundbreaking stories or contain news vital to our survival, but I sometimes think these are the stories a general audience most likes to hear about. The sounds can have amazing effects on how the story is produced. In the story about the June hail storm, the people narrated what went on and explained why this was such an odd occurrence. We could hear the shovels scraping the ground and water rushing. However, in many of the other clips, we had a narrator to explain bits and pieces and who let the people involved tell the details and bring the emotion. In the clip about the bees, the adults were there to explain what was going on, that buzzing of the bees made us feel like we were right there and we felt emotion from the little kid who was amazed at what was going on. In the handball clip, I could get a feel for the situation because I heard Spanish in the background (just like the frog story, the accents bring so much to the culture of the story), a ball hitting a wall, the squeak of shoes and the grunts from exasperated players. These sounds tell us so much more than a single voice or reading something. I think the one that hit me the most was the field with flags for every American who has died in the war on terrorism. I felt shivers when we heard the man repeatedly say "in grateful memory," and we then heard the full names of many men and women. I could hear the flapping of the flags and felt everything sink as the lone trumpet in the background played. The sounds in Scholl's work are not overpowering or confusing (which I am sure some audio could be) but rather add flavor and emotion and help pull the viewer into the story.

Meter Maid

- Justin Ray

I found the KBIA 8 hours segment about the meter maid to be somewhat lifeless at times, and probably could have been half as long as its eight minute-plus length. The piece seemed to rehash the same element of people not liking getting a parking ticket and its effect, or lack thereof, on Kim Heibel during her day-to-day activities. That being said, it did offer a glimpse into a basically thankless job that I don't want to try to comprehend waking up to every day for 21 years. The character of this woman to brush off being a faceless figure of disdain in the eyes of nearly everyone she comes in contact with during her workday is quite resounding.

I particularly enjoy this story format because it permits listeners to create the visualization in their minds as the story goes along. Maybe this makes me a less sophisticated acquirer of news, but I cannot say I've listened to a great deal of NPR in my day. A few samples of this format may have inclined me to seek such a station during those 14-hour road trips from Columbia back home to Houston.

POY, Chiloe

The stories that came from the Chiloe website were really interesting and emotionally affecting. I thought that the flash media presentation was the proper way to tell these stories, in print the individual voices could've been easily lost. However I have come to the opinion that when done well, almost any media can tell any story to great effect. It is the skill of the journalist that makes a story sometimes, not the story itself.


I felt the Chiloe site, in the same vein as the Kentucky website, was in the interest in preserving or documenting a unique way of life. I watched most of the stories, but liked the one about the fisherman and the kid who goes to boarding school. I thought that those represented the culture and economy of the island in the best way. All the stories were really good though!

POY

I was highly impressed with the Philidelphia Inquirer's flash presentation titled The Weight of war. This presentation followed the Echo Company's reactions through the loss of a fellow marine. I feel the still images captured their struggle, grief and resiliance like no other medium could. The ablility to let the images soak in adds to the overall effect the images elicit.
I am begining to comprehend the advantages of a convergence media. I needed to get a grasp on the concept what the term Convergence Media implied, before I could understand the benefits of the new platform. Slide shows, like the ones we are working on and looking at, add a colorful, artisitic aspect to a story. I am excited to see what we will learn next.
From Nathan Skid

POY

I really enjoyed the Mountain Workshops stories that we viewed in class, so I decided to check out more for this blogging assignment. I think the multimedia stories on that site are done extremely well! The pictures are amazing and show so much detail. Someone may have mentioned this in a previous post, but most pictures that appear in newspapers are in a gritty black and white. Although black and white is supposed to create a more emotional picture, I think the color in these pictures only serves to enhance the detail of each photo.

One of my favorite aspects of this site was the audio that was playing as the pictures slowly rolled. There's something powerful in hearing a person tell their story in their own words that I don't think even the most accomplished reporter can express. For instance, I viewed the piece "Of Love and War." Hearing the old man's voice added so much to the story! You could hear the changing inflection of his voice as he talked about war and his wife's death. There's no way that could have been captured in a print piece!

Multi-media: KY and Chiloe

I really enjoyed going back to view more of Kentucky and also take a look at Chiloe. They are each presented in different ways--both of which I liked. I felt that the Chiloe presentation maybe gave more options for written information for the audience to see, and it was helpful to explain some of the traditions of these people. For Kentucky, I do not think these types of descriptions written out on the page were even needed because the story was completely included once we start watching/listening. I really liked "Raising Appaloosas" because WKU completely captured who this girl was. The audio proved she had the knowledge and maturity level of someone twice her age (which we would maybe not have noticed if it were only pictures), and her passion for horses could be seen in the pictures. They were not all of her smiling with horses but showed her responsibiliites as someone who looks after the animals. I also watched "I Sing Them Chilote Songs" from the Chiloe presentation. The story is obviously great and much like the type of human interest stories I would like to cover. Because we have visuals and audio, we can watch the words she is saying. We know she also has animals, we know what the market looks like, we see the many different potatoes, etc. My favorite part was the end; the audio captured her singing to her potatoes, and because of the previous descriptions and pictures, hearing the song made perfect sense.
These multi-media presentations are awesome, and I would be excited to learn how to put a high-quality one together. Video often moves too fast or we have to cut it to get all the clips we want. Here, the pictures capture a moment and flow together so we can see many moments but we don't lose the sound. It makes an amazing story.

Pictures of the Year

I had so much fun looking at all of these publications. I looked at Mountain Workshops first, since there were some other posts about that, and I loved it. It's so interesting to hear the stories of these ordinary people told in their own voices. The still photos paired with the audio served to enhance the power of each story and gave each story a dramatic and artistic quality. I love the way it was done!

After looking at that project, I moved down to the Chiloe link and browsed around that site for awhile. I was again, very impressed by the way the each of the separate stories worked together to create a collective story of this interesting island. When I got to the New York Times site "Photography on NYTimes.com:2004", and the Washington Post's "Camera Works", however, I was overwhelmed by the huge amount of content on the site, and almost didn't find the slideshows that had won prizes. When I did find them, i was impressed by the many photos that expressed so much without using a single world.

One thing I love about photojournalism online is the color. Print photographs always come out a little grainy, because ink and newspaper usually can't capture the clarity of the photo. Online photos are always so crisp and colorful. These presentations demonstrate the huge realm of possibility that there is for multimedia journalism.

Kentucky/ Wash Post

I browsed two of the POY multimedia winner sites: Western Kentucky University's "Mountain Workshops" and The Washington Post's Camera Works site.

I just briefly browsed The Washington Post's site since I have been on there many times before and am familiar with it. But I just wanted to comment on their "The Day in Photos" gallery. I really like this concept and have used it many times not only to look at the good photography, but also because I think it adds a different dimension to my brief scanning of the headlines. When I don't have time to read stories in depth, looking at the photos gives me just a little bit more information, and I like that.

On another note, the little bit of the Mountain Workshops feature we watched in class really interested me, so I decided to go back for a closer look. I really enjoy this piece because it appeals to the part of me that really enjoys human interest stories. I like learning about people, learning about ways of life, and I think this multimedia spread does a good job at tackling these people's stories. I agree with some of the previous comments, I'm not so sure video would have had the same effect that the photos did for this piece. While I am excited to learn how to use video in an effective manner, I do often believe that photos offer something different, often something better. Through photography you can focus closely on minor details, or approach the subject through interesting angles. These things give the viewer a better view into their life. I think that the photos, in conjunction with the audio, make for a compelling work. To use the example of the war veteran, I think the photo/audio combination was perfect for telling his story. His words come to life through his voice, but they are enhanced by his photos. If they had simply used video, I don't think I would have been able to focus on the same things that the photos allow to come out.