Welcome to MCJ300, students

Welcome, students!

I am looking forward to teaching this class this semester and getting to know each of you. As you know, this class focuses on multimedia storytelling, which I define quite broadly to include a variety of platforms. Video. Audio. Photo. Blogging. Social Media. Web-based stories.

This blog will be a spot to share your ideas on telling stories using a variety of formats, technologies, and tools. For you, it’s a place to showcase examples of the type of work you hope to achieve. It is also a place post questions, help each other, start discussions about multimedia storytelling, and display your own work.

Part of the reason I started this blog was to give you a way to highlight multimedia work you like — so that you can learn to emulate what you like about it. So to kick things off, here is a multimedia video I’d like to share. It think it illustrates how to seamlessly combine interviews with action shots. It also does what a good multimedia story should do: Tells a story better than it could be done in another format.

Part of a journalist’s job is to know which storytelling methods and tools will work best to tell particular stories. My husband, Peter Chen, shot and edited this video when we both worked at The Post-Standard in Syracuse, NY.

WARNING: This video is not for the faint of heart. It gets a bit gross, so don’t watch if you have a weak stomach.

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