For my first actual post I have found some things that I hope to take a closer look at and build up to in the future. Consider these links a "this is what we are shooting for" sort of list. Hopefully over the course of researching for less complicated features I can take the knowledge I gain and combine it into something more like what I have here.
I decided that the best place to start would be what is considered in the industry to be the best, or at least according to the Nation Press Photographers Association. I took a look at the Best of Photojournalism 2009 awards and found some things that were particularly interesting.
I want to start with an idea that I have been thinking about a lot lately but haven't until now been done. Many papers have started posting web galleries and audio slideshows, some have posted videos from sister TV station or produced their own, but few have combined the two.
This story about Windsmiths has taken the two disciplines and used them together. This isn't that great of a story and it wasn't a NPPA winner but it is a good example. Their gallery "Faith and Competition" place 3rd in the Sports Audio Slideshow category.
A much better example of this technique, which for the sake of consistency I will call video-slideshows, can be seen in the entry that won the News or Feature Multimedia Package, "Cape Fear to down here." The package features several audio slideshows that are all worth watching but one in particular caught my eye. The second one from the left titles "A Living Profession" features a fisherman and his day on the water.
By utilizing still photos, audio, and video the story becomes more enticing and makes you want to keep watching. Sometimes when looking through audio slideshows I find myself feeling like they all look alike. In order to be effective a slideshow needs to have good audio, good photos, and they need line up with each other. Most people seem to have trouble with the third one.
"A Living Profession," however, keeps in mind the connection between what is being seen and what is being heard. It is design in such a way that makes you wonder what is coming next. Some sections could have been done with still photos but they use video. Others could have been done with video and they chose stills. By blending them together you get a much better sense of the pace of the fisherman's and you feel like you are right there on the boat.
Hopefully I can find a lot more video-slideshows like this one.
A final note before I finish and that is a link to the winner of NPPA category for Best use of Multimedia, "Thirst in the Mojave." It's pretty easy to see why this one, it might be the most incredible use of multimedia I have ever seen. A few things to pay attention to while you watch.
1) It's not just a video that plays while you watch and "learn" about the story, it is completely interact.
2) Whoever did the reporting for this must have been working on it for a very long time and desearves a lot of creadit. There is a ton of information here.
3) Sticking with the theme of combining techniques, unlike many other multimedia features I have seen this uses video, photos, interactive properties, audio, pop-up text bubble, and so on.
I really hope you check this out it is really cool.
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