Hello all. I am currently home, sitting on a couch with a blanket on my legs because my mom does not put on the heater during the day (stupid oil company being too expensive!). Anyway, here is where I am now. I inserted all of my audio recordings on my travel drive, but man was it a difficult process. It cost me four minutes of audio from the rough draft, which is a shame because it had all of the cheers and some interviews. But on the positive side, I have the recordings of all of the crazy UNH/Boston University fans, which in the end, isn't all so bad.
I will have to go to the next game, which is on December 4th and get the audio recording of the cheers then. I do finally have a news hook though. On Monday, the UNH website posted an article by Jess Myers on the USA hockey magazine about best college traditions. UNH was up there for having the fish be thrown into the ice when the Wildcats score their first goal. I thought it was pretty cool that our hockey team was in the article. I will give the writer or the editor a buzz or email and ask them why UNH was in there.
Soon, I will post photos of the people that I talked to and maybe one additional photo on the blog. Once I get the editing of the sound all squared away next week, I will probably put that up on the blog as well. I hope that you all have a great Thanksgiving and I will see you all next week.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Hockey stuff at the Boston University game
Last night, I went to a UNH hockey game vs. Boston University, one of the Wildcats' biggest rivals. It was a critical game for me to go to because the next home game would be on Friday, December 4, which would be cutting it close to my presentation. I was so desperate to getting into the game, I had to pay $26 because the student tickets were sold out. Although, I thought it was worth it because I talked to two BU fans that gave me some good input what it is like to be a real fan.
I talked to two insane UNH fans, Mike Elliot and Mallory Goudin before the doors open. They are at the Whittemore Center a couple of hours before the doors open and when they get into the game, they get the fans all riled up before the game and during the game. When I asked both fans of why they go to the games, they looked at me like I was asking a stupid question. But since they are such big fans, that is their plans on Friday and Saturday nights.
The opposing I talked to, Suzanne Power and Chuck Nixon are both super fans for their BU hockey team. They are married, but I did not get into the last name part. They both went to the university for their undergraduate, but they followed the team even more when they graduated. Suzanne told me when she first went to BU, she did not know anything about hockey. But once she started going to the games, she became obsessed. She went to every hockey game, home or away, no matter what day it is, what the weather it is, or even the team they played. If BU is playing, she is there. When it comes to Chuck, when he went to BU, he went to some of the games, but he was not obsessed about the team until around 1994-1995. The couple are very proud fans. Whenever they get out of work on Fridays or Saturdays, they gear up into their BU hockey gear and go to the games, no matter where it is.
Both of them are very impressed by the UNH hockey fans. Suzanne said that the fans at UNH are very intense and they love their hockey team. She also said that from what she has noticed, they are the most traveled fans she has ever seen. In Chuck's perspective, he thinks that UNH has great fans and that they are very nice people.
I felt that I got a lot of key quotes and reasons why they go to the games. My next objective is to talk to the people that work at the ticket office and sell the tickets to the UNH fans and get their input. Maybe I can even get pictures of people getting their tickets. I also took more pictures at the game, they consist of the main people I talked to and some more dimensions of the Whittemore Center. I finally have the main characters in my story, now I just got to do the editing.
I talked to two insane UNH fans, Mike Elliot and Mallory Goudin before the doors open. They are at the Whittemore Center a couple of hours before the doors open and when they get into the game, they get the fans all riled up before the game and during the game. When I asked both fans of why they go to the games, they looked at me like I was asking a stupid question. But since they are such big fans, that is their plans on Friday and Saturday nights.
The opposing I talked to, Suzanne Power and Chuck Nixon are both super fans for their BU hockey team. They are married, but I did not get into the last name part. They both went to the university for their undergraduate, but they followed the team even more when they graduated. Suzanne told me when she first went to BU, she did not know anything about hockey. But once she started going to the games, she became obsessed. She went to every hockey game, home or away, no matter what day it is, what the weather it is, or even the team they played. If BU is playing, she is there. When it comes to Chuck, when he went to BU, he went to some of the games, but he was not obsessed about the team until around 1994-1995. The couple are very proud fans. Whenever they get out of work on Fridays or Saturdays, they gear up into their BU hockey gear and go to the games, no matter where it is.
Both of them are very impressed by the UNH hockey fans. Suzanne said that the fans at UNH are very intense and they love their hockey team. She also said that from what she has noticed, they are the most traveled fans she has ever seen. In Chuck's perspective, he thinks that UNH has great fans and that they are very nice people.
I felt that I got a lot of key quotes and reasons why they go to the games. My next objective is to talk to the people that work at the ticket office and sell the tickets to the UNH fans and get their input. Maybe I can even get pictures of people getting their tickets. I also took more pictures at the game, they consist of the main people I talked to and some more dimensions of the Whittemore Center. I finally have the main characters in my story, now I just got to do the editing.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
A little nervous about presentations tomorrow
For some reason, when it comes to presenting my work, I am always self conscious that someone's project is going to be better than mine or what kind of criticism I am going to get. I know it is a rough draft, but I want to make it good because when it comes to composing my final project, I will have momentum from my rough draft. As of right now, I am currently trying to put together a slide show of pictures of fans and the hockey players and some audio from the fans cheering and talking about going to the games. I have not been able to talk to additional people about the hockey game because I have been unable to go to a hockey game for about a month.
Friday will be critical because that is the last game for me to go to until my final presentation, although there is also a game on December 4, but hopefully that will not be too late. I forgot to get student tickets yesterday, so they got sold out. I had to pay $26 to go, which is a shame because had I remembered, I could have gotten in for free. I got tickets in the other side of the student section, which could possibly be good because then I can get some perspective from the opposing fans about going to UNH hockey games.
I am anxious of what people will think about my pictures. It was hard with the horrible lighting in the Whittemore Center and a lot of them came out fuzzy. If anything, when I take a second crack on Friday, we shall see how it works out. I know that this is a rough draft, but I am an overachiever and I want to do the best job possible, whether it is good or bad. Wish me luck.
Friday will be critical because that is the last game for me to go to until my final presentation, although there is also a game on December 4, but hopefully that will not be too late. I forgot to get student tickets yesterday, so they got sold out. I had to pay $26 to go, which is a shame because had I remembered, I could have gotten in for free. I got tickets in the other side of the student section, which could possibly be good because then I can get some perspective from the opposing fans about going to UNH hockey games.
I am anxious of what people will think about my pictures. It was hard with the horrible lighting in the Whittemore Center and a lot of them came out fuzzy. If anything, when I take a second crack on Friday, we shall see how it works out. I know that this is a rough draft, but I am an overachiever and I want to do the best job possible, whether it is good or bad. Wish me luck.
Monday, November 2, 2009
My final project as of right now
Before I met with Sandy, I was excited about my progress with my progress with my project. As you know, I am working on an experience at a UNH hockey game. I have covered three games so far, two of them were against the University of Miami (Ohio) and the third one was against the University of Maine. The first Miami game did not go so well because my battery of my camera died during the game, so I got more coverage in the second game.
There is a combination of video, still photography and audio recordings. With the video, I am entering the arena, then shows the concession stand, then the UNH Apparel area. There is a photography area for the UNH hockey players. Then I show the ice. I also have some interviews with some rabid fans, a member of the band and other UNH students. I also have some game coverage and intermission activities. The video part was very challenging, but I think I have some good stuff. In the Maine game, I have some audio recording of the fans chanting and two separate interviews with two students. I took several photos between the fans, the hockey players and whatever else is going in the arena. I felt pretty good about it because all three of them were sold out and they were all fun and competitive games.
It is all good stuff, but Sandy told me something that gave me a new perspective on my project, "Every story needs a character." I know the epiphany sounds something like a child can think of, but sometimes I need that to get me going. If I can talk to and even sit with some fanatic UNH fans and how they get the chants going, maybe the project will have more meaning to it. Before, I liked it the way it was, but then it would not be much of a story. I initially thought it would have been cool because it would have been a cool feature. But once Sandy told me about the character stuff, I realized he made a good point. I was stressed out and discouraged at first because for one, I put a lot of work so far and I felt like I didn’t get anything done. The second thing is that I am going to have to put more work into it. The problem is, the deadline for the rough draft is November 18th and the next hockey game I can go to is on the 20th. I am really going to have to be more aggressive than usual and do everything I can to get that story.
What I am worried about in the story is what if I become too aggressive and scare people off? My problem is that I care too much about my work. I should have the attitude that I can’t be a professional overnight, so I can’t have too many expectations for myself. My vision for this story is to make the viewers to understand why going to a UNH hockey is like a cult. Why is it so exciting? There is so much passion and intensity in the arena for each game, no matter who the opponent is. Of course, the excitement is even more invigorating when they play their Hockey East conference rivals like Maine, Boston College and Boston University. It was the reason why I went to UNH in the first place (other than the academics and the beautiful sights of course). Once I talk to the rabid fans, I think my story will be complete, after the massive editing I would have to do.
There is a combination of video, still photography and audio recordings. With the video, I am entering the arena, then shows the concession stand, then the UNH Apparel area. There is a photography area for the UNH hockey players. Then I show the ice. I also have some interviews with some rabid fans, a member of the band and other UNH students. I also have some game coverage and intermission activities. The video part was very challenging, but I think I have some good stuff. In the Maine game, I have some audio recording of the fans chanting and two separate interviews with two students. I took several photos between the fans, the hockey players and whatever else is going in the arena. I felt pretty good about it because all three of them were sold out and they were all fun and competitive games.
It is all good stuff, but Sandy told me something that gave me a new perspective on my project, "Every story needs a character." I know the epiphany sounds something like a child can think of, but sometimes I need that to get me going. If I can talk to and even sit with some fanatic UNH fans and how they get the chants going, maybe the project will have more meaning to it. Before, I liked it the way it was, but then it would not be much of a story. I initially thought it would have been cool because it would have been a cool feature. But once Sandy told me about the character stuff, I realized he made a good point. I was stressed out and discouraged at first because for one, I put a lot of work so far and I felt like I didn’t get anything done. The second thing is that I am going to have to put more work into it. The problem is, the deadline for the rough draft is November 18th and the next hockey game I can go to is on the 20th. I am really going to have to be more aggressive than usual and do everything I can to get that story.
What I am worried about in the story is what if I become too aggressive and scare people off? My problem is that I care too much about my work. I should have the attitude that I can’t be a professional overnight, so I can’t have too many expectations for myself. My vision for this story is to make the viewers to understand why going to a UNH hockey is like a cult. Why is it so exciting? There is so much passion and intensity in the arena for each game, no matter who the opponent is. Of course, the excitement is even more invigorating when they play their Hockey East conference rivals like Maine, Boston College and Boston University. It was the reason why I went to UNH in the first place (other than the academics and the beautiful sights of course). Once I talk to the rabid fans, I think my story will be complete, after the massive editing I would have to do.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Final Project Plan
My final project is going to be about the culture of going to a UNH Hockey game. What it is like to go, what goes on there, why it is such a great atmosphere. I thought this story would be cool because UNH hockey was one of the reasons I decided to come to this school to begin with. Also, it is such big thing to do on campus on the weekends.
I have already taken some video clips and put it together for my previous project, so I can use some of my better clips and use that for the final project. I plan to use some audio recordings for some of the chants that they do because it is a big thing in the hockey game. I am going to take pictures of the other teams and how the fans react to them. Since Maine came this weekend, I got some good pictures and audio clips of the fans and the opposing team. I learned that my other peers really liked my idea, which made me surprised because I usually do not get such positive feedback on any of my story ideas. The feedback that I got was very positive. They liked it because they know how passionate a lot of the students are about the hockey at UNH. They suggested that I should focus mostly on the fans instead of the players views of what it is like to play hockey.
My ideas of the project has not changed at all. In fact, I feel more confident in doing it. My challenges are going to be staying on top of the fans chants and cheers and watching the game. Sometimes I do not take the right pictures or record all of the chants in time. There are no warnings of when the chants happen, so I have to be more aware of my surroundings. I felt lukewarm about the other ideas in my group because the story ideas were either just okay or they seemed too unrealistic to accomplish. I think my classmates will do well, but it depends on how determined they are to succeed. I am super excited about this project. I think the biggest obstacle was having some other people agree on me doing it. Once it passed, I am more focused and more prepared than anything now.
I have already taken some video clips and put it together for my previous project, so I can use some of my better clips and use that for the final project. I plan to use some audio recordings for some of the chants that they do because it is a big thing in the hockey game. I am going to take pictures of the other teams and how the fans react to them. Since Maine came this weekend, I got some good pictures and audio clips of the fans and the opposing team. I learned that my other peers really liked my idea, which made me surprised because I usually do not get such positive feedback on any of my story ideas. The feedback that I got was very positive. They liked it because they know how passionate a lot of the students are about the hockey at UNH. They suggested that I should focus mostly on the fans instead of the players views of what it is like to play hockey.
My ideas of the project has not changed at all. In fact, I feel more confident in doing it. My challenges are going to be staying on top of the fans chants and cheers and watching the game. Sometimes I do not take the right pictures or record all of the chants in time. There are no warnings of when the chants happen, so I have to be more aware of my surroundings. I felt lukewarm about the other ideas in my group because the story ideas were either just okay or they seemed too unrealistic to accomplish. I think my classmates will do well, but it depends on how determined they are to succeed. I am super excited about this project. I think the biggest obstacle was having some other people agree on me doing it. Once it passed, I am more focused and more prepared than anything now.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Shooting Video
Since I am such a big UNH hockey fan, I thought it would be cool to take some shots of what it is like to go to a hockey game and why the fans get so into it. It was a good time because Friday and Saturday were their first home games of the season and it was against University of Miami in Ohio, which they were the #1 team in the country. I was really excited about shooting video while I was planning it because not only do I learn how to do it, but I can be watching the game in the process.
It was a lot harder than I thought. On Friday night when I used Sandy's camera, the video card was full as I was taping one of the interviews I had with a UNH student. Luckily, I had another camera that can shoot video, so I ran back to my dorm, got my camera and then came back. As I was filming again, the battery died. So the multimedia gods punished me that night, but I was fortunate that UNH was playing the next night.
Saturday ended being great because I had better shots and I interviewed better people. When I was walking around the arena, I saw Bobby Butler, one of the two captains of the hockey team. When I asked if I can interview him, he told me that I should consult with the Sports Information Director first, so that irritated me. Then I talked to some fans, two people who work for the media groups for athletics and a member of the band. I also took some shots of some cheers, some of the activities during intermission and the game. It really worked out for me that the hockey team played again on Saturday.
Video recording to me was the biggest challenge because I always had to be on the move during the game since it has such a fast pace. Trying to hold it as still as possible was another obstacle, but I know I am not a professional. Another thing that made me paranoid was when I was filming and making sure that I was not some sort of creeper. Otherwise, it was a lot of fun. I think visually, video recording is the best way of journalism that we have done so far in this class because when someone is talking, viewers can see what they look like and they can see what happened in this particular news story. Even though this was my first time, I was really proud of myself when it came to recording.
So far, editing is not as difficult as I thought it would be, but it is tedious. Making sure that I put everything in the right order took some time. Once I tighten everything, it should come out a little smoother. I am really looking forward to what everyone thinks of this video. Hope it turns out to be good results!
It was a lot harder than I thought. On Friday night when I used Sandy's camera, the video card was full as I was taping one of the interviews I had with a UNH student. Luckily, I had another camera that can shoot video, so I ran back to my dorm, got my camera and then came back. As I was filming again, the battery died. So the multimedia gods punished me that night, but I was fortunate that UNH was playing the next night.
Saturday ended being great because I had better shots and I interviewed better people. When I was walking around the arena, I saw Bobby Butler, one of the two captains of the hockey team. When I asked if I can interview him, he told me that I should consult with the Sports Information Director first, so that irritated me. Then I talked to some fans, two people who work for the media groups for athletics and a member of the band. I also took some shots of some cheers, some of the activities during intermission and the game. It really worked out for me that the hockey team played again on Saturday.
Video recording to me was the biggest challenge because I always had to be on the move during the game since it has such a fast pace. Trying to hold it as still as possible was another obstacle, but I know I am not a professional. Another thing that made me paranoid was when I was filming and making sure that I was not some sort of creeper. Otherwise, it was a lot of fun. I think visually, video recording is the best way of journalism that we have done so far in this class because when someone is talking, viewers can see what they look like and they can see what happened in this particular news story. Even though this was my first time, I was really proud of myself when it came to recording.
So far, editing is not as difficult as I thought it would be, but it is tedious. Making sure that I put everything in the right order took some time. Once I tighten everything, it should come out a little smoother. I am really looking forward to what everyone thinks of this video. Hope it turns out to be good results!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The Ninth Floor
I looked at a couple of multimedia stories from One in 8 million and Mediastorm. When I viewed "The Ninth Floor" by Jessica Dimmock, I felt like I did not want to look at any other story. As a curious journalist who is always looking for more interesting news stories, I decided to look at one more and then decided there is no way I would write about anything else other than "The Ninth Floor."
This story is about three drug addicts: Jessie, Dionn and Rachel who lived in an apartment with a man named Joe Smith in New York City. The new roommates of Smith's were all drug addicts, which influenced him to also be a drug addict. Once Smith ran out of money to pay their rent, they were all evicted. All of them split up. Jessie was addicted to Heroin and Dionn and Rachel are on Methadone. Jessie was in and out of the hospital. She had trouble staying clean. There were photos of when she was in the hospital, she was doing morphine, which was her medicine. Dionn and Rachel were an item. They had a violent but loving relationship. The couple conceived a baby and luckily the infant did not have any Methadone in its system. Dionn went back to school and Rachel is watching the baby. The information said that the photographer followed these people for about three years. She followed them through the highs and lows of their drug addictions.
I loved this story because reading and listening about drug addicts always intrigued me. Even though drug addicts are everywhere, everyone is different. Drug addicts are people too. I would always think about how they are low lifes and I should not feel bad for them because they made their decisions. But at the same time, I always think that they have the potential to do great things if they quit their addiction and pursue on their dreams they use to have.
This photographer had a lot of different styles. She had a combination of the landscape portraits and the action shots (an instant which it was like a film). The photos were beautiful and very powerful. When I was looking at the photos, I cringed, I shivered and my eyes watered. There were photos of them inserting the needles into their arms, they were naked, having sex and some other disturbing endings. The audio added a lot to the story because while viewers see the photos, you can tell who is talking and their emotions they must be feeling as the interviews wore on. There were also captions on updates of the subjects.
I thought the photographer did a really good job presenting the subjects in their good days and bad days. I was not a fan of the photos of them being naked. It is not that I am offended by those photos, but I felt that they were unnecessary.
Overall, I thought it was a great piece of journalism. What I look for in a multimedia story is if I can relate to it, if my attention span can last longer than five minutes and if I feel more than one emotion. What was compelling about this work is that it took three years to put everything together. It showed that it took that much time and the journalist did such a good job editing everything to the T.
This story is about three drug addicts: Jessie, Dionn and Rachel who lived in an apartment with a man named Joe Smith in New York City. The new roommates of Smith's were all drug addicts, which influenced him to also be a drug addict. Once Smith ran out of money to pay their rent, they were all evicted. All of them split up. Jessie was addicted to Heroin and Dionn and Rachel are on Methadone. Jessie was in and out of the hospital. She had trouble staying clean. There were photos of when she was in the hospital, she was doing morphine, which was her medicine. Dionn and Rachel were an item. They had a violent but loving relationship. The couple conceived a baby and luckily the infant did not have any Methadone in its system. Dionn went back to school and Rachel is watching the baby. The information said that the photographer followed these people for about three years. She followed them through the highs and lows of their drug addictions.
I loved this story because reading and listening about drug addicts always intrigued me. Even though drug addicts are everywhere, everyone is different. Drug addicts are people too. I would always think about how they are low lifes and I should not feel bad for them because they made their decisions. But at the same time, I always think that they have the potential to do great things if they quit their addiction and pursue on their dreams they use to have.
This photographer had a lot of different styles. She had a combination of the landscape portraits and the action shots (an instant which it was like a film). The photos were beautiful and very powerful. When I was looking at the photos, I cringed, I shivered and my eyes watered. There were photos of them inserting the needles into their arms, they were naked, having sex and some other disturbing endings. The audio added a lot to the story because while viewers see the photos, you can tell who is talking and their emotions they must be feeling as the interviews wore on. There were also captions on updates of the subjects.
I thought the photographer did a really good job presenting the subjects in their good days and bad days. I was not a fan of the photos of them being naked. It is not that I am offended by those photos, but I felt that they were unnecessary.
Overall, I thought it was a great piece of journalism. What I look for in a multimedia story is if I can relate to it, if my attention span can last longer than five minutes and if I feel more than one emotion. What was compelling about this work is that it took three years to put everything together. It showed that it took that much time and the journalist did such a good job editing everything to the T.
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