Stories That Tells By Itself Through Time.

The article, “Brainstorm-Multimedia Storytelling” shows the different ways journalists are able to portray a story of a unique person that would make the public interested in learning about them. There were 3 sections in the article. It was doing it by radio, the web and on television. Each had its pros and cons and the article helps to break down what should be done and what works for the viewers to actually watched and listen to the whole story.

Terese Romeo was a former gymnast that had a bright career ahead of her. Until she had issues with her wrist. After two surgeries, Terese’s gymnastic career was brought to an end. Since her brother played in The First Tee, she decided to join and found out that she was able to play the sport. It motivated her to get back into a sport and now she is signing with Mercer University, a Division 1 school for sports. Her story would be great to do in terms of how she thought sports was not going to be an option for her until she found The First Tee. The biggest tip I would take is to not rush the whole story. I have talked with her about doing the video and we have decided on what days we can do it and not just focus on one day to get everything done.

I think the more time you spend with that person, the more valuable information you can get and sometimes these are things that they usually don’t tell you if you were to do a normal one day interview. The video of the Seltzer man gave a lot of ideas on what to do with my beat project. I definitely want to incorporate pictures as well in the beat video project as part of my B-Roll. Maybe pictures of her doing gymnastics in the past. Since she had an injury on her wrist, I want to get a close up of her gripping the club. Sort of like a symbolic thing where she is still able to do sports even with that weakness. I want a close up on her swing and even her expressions on her face. She is a very confident person so that tells a lot in a person’s face and body language.

Evin Jenkins

Evin Jenkins is one of the kids who joined the The First Tee here at Tampa. He has been playing golf for about 7 years and he has learned so much from The First Tee.

Here is his story. Evin Jenkins

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Internet’s “Viral” Infection Caused by Emotions

Technology has been the new medium for people to tell a story to the public. The article, “These Scientists Studied Why Internet Stories Go Viral” explains how certain aspects of a video, article or picture attracts a lot of views.  Journalists are starting to use this platform to post their articles and current news that is happening in the world. Videos and pictures are the most common things that would go viral on the internet and it would be great to have my video to go viral and spread the word about the great things The First Tee of Tampa Bay is doing.

Emotion is the key to getting more views for a video or article posted on the internet. People want to see the inspiring story of a certain someone and that usually grabs the attention of viewers. My video is basically about an organization that helps kids to achieve their goals not only in golf but also in life. I am hoping to get a story of a kid who has achieved something from the first tee. It definitely will be about going to college and playing college golf. Or I can capture how they have made so many friends and are able to keep these connections till they are all grown up.

The ability to capture those little moments of the kids enjoying themselves with their friends during their practice and just their body movements. The interviews are the main part which can spread great emotion to the viewers. I will dig deep with my interview by asking them certain questions that brings out a different side of their personality and certain things they feel about what The First Tee has done for them. My whole story revolves around golf so it would be great to get a lot of action caught on viewed or captured by photos. These actions will keep the viewers engrossed with what is happening. It could also put in empathy within the audience as they get to feel the emotions that these kids are portraying from their actions and words. If the emotions and actions are shown really well, the video or pictures posted online will get many views and it will go viral if people start sharing it to the public.

Terese Romeo’s Life Journey Through The First Tee

Terese Romeo, a senior at Freedom High School is one of the kids who joined the First Tee of Tampa Bay. Terese is finishing up her high school year and has early signed with Mercer University for golf. Mercer is a Division 1 school located in Georgia. Terese has had the opportunity of playing at wonderful venues such as the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course in California which is the home of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am hosted by the Professional Golfers Association. Terese has even qualified for the Public Links Amateur, which is one of the highest rank amateur tournaments in the United States.

The First Tee has played a huge role for Terese and it has definitely helped her get into college. She followed her brother’s footsteps when he joined the First Tee 6 years ago. Not only did she learn about golf, she learned the basic rules of integrity and being a great person on and off the course.

I definitely learned a lot from her because I am not involved with The First Tee. I always wanted to know what it was all about and she gave a good insight to it. First Tee of Tampa Bay has definitely produced outstanding people such as Terese. The ability to build a kid to play golf and send them off to a Division 1 college to play golf is something that does not happen everyday. It definitely was inspirational to find out that there are ways to achieve certain things and Terese has definitely achieved her goal to play college golf.

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Terese Romeo at Tampa Palms Golf Course

Pictures Are The Icing On The Audio Cake

The article, “Planning Your Audio Interview” explains the methods and tips on how to produce a good audio interview or slideshow. Audio is essential to portray a story because it is told personally by the person itself. The ability to have good audio and pictures tell a story just as good as a movie.

The first tip I would use is to always make sure my camera and voice recorder works. It is important to make sure your devices work because it will be a waste to head over to do an interview and your voice recorder does not work. It may be a hassle to check everything but it is worth it to do so.

The second tip would be to do my audio interview at a proper area. My story is basically about golf and it should be outdoors. I think it would be great to have a little background sound such as someone hitting a golf ball but at the same time I would want the audio to be clear. I can interview my person outside the clubhouse. It is sill outside but there will not be a lot of people coming in and out.

The third tip I would use is to plan out the interview. Good questions lead to good answers so I want to make sure that I start off with simple questions so my person would not feel overwhelmed and as soon as we get into the interview, I will ask more complexed questions. This will help to build the story. Sort of like a good intro that will soon lead to a climax in the interview. I would probably ask them why they chose golf and start asking them why they chose the First Tee.

The fourth tip would be having a good opening and closing. To attract listeners, openings are the attention grabbers and I am hoping to get a good opener in my audio interview. Golf is known as a boring sport to some people so I will try to start off with a catchy opener. The closing of my audio interview would be the kids telling me what they have accomplished with the First Tee. I can get a deeper answer with that. It makes the audio interview more inspirational.

The fifth tip would be getting as many pictures as I can. The more pictures I have, the easier it will be to make a good audio slideshow. I am able to tell the story from the pictures and it makes more interesting for the listeners. They will not get bored just by listening the audio interview.

The First Tee At Tampa Bay

On Sept 18, I headed to Rogers Park Golf Course on Sligh Avenue to have a visit at The First Tee of Tampa Bay. My reason was to meet with the Executive Director of The First Tee of Tampa Bay, Ian Baxter. He gave a good insight into what the organization does. He started off with what I wanted to do and he said that he will be able to get me contact details of people I needed to work with in order to get my story. It did however take awhile to get that going but he is working to email me back with the contact details as soon as possible. In the mean time, I was able to grab a few pictures of the surroundings at Rogers Park, the practice grounds for The First Tee. I am hoping to see the kids this weekend to get some action shots as they were not there last week.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud is originally from Berlin Germany and it is known as an audio distribution platform. It started out as a platform to promote new and upcoming artist but now it has expanded to News organizations who have audio interviews which they would want to share with the public instead of being in print. SoundCloud has been the hub for big News Organizations such as CNN, LA Times and NPR.

SOUNDCLOUD PREZI

Ethics Abiding Journalists

The article, “Legal Guide For Bloggers” is the perfect manual for journalists to know where their boundaries stand when it comes to writing articles. In the first amendment, people are given the freedom of speech and freedom of press but there is a certain limit to how much a journalist is able to write in order to get a good story. Fair Use is a writer’s best friend. Fair use is when a journalist is able to use certain information from someone else’s work for their story. For example, a journalist is able to quote something from someone else’s blog and use it in their article as a reference. That is not a copyright problem and the journalist will not be punished for that.

For my beat project, I do not think that I will have copyright issues because The First Tee of Tampa Bay is a public organization. I had a discussion with the executive director of The First Tee and he has no problems with the materials and information that I will be using for my article.

The article, “NPPA Code of Ethics” explains on how you can be a good visual journalist. Learning the simple rules and techniques to capture an image for a good story, helps to prevent any issues with pictures being used incorrectly. Manipulating photos to gain benefit to boost up a story is not the right way of doing journalistic work. Not only is it unethical but it could end up a journalist losing their jobs. The best option to get a good story out of images is to get them in their natural state. Make sure that as a journalist you do not ask the person to do exactly what you want and in the end the story is just not original.

For my beat project I will let the staff know that I am here to video their program but I will not intrude with their work. I will sit on the side and just observe what they are doing.  I think if I do not get involved, sooner or later the children and volunteers will not even realize that I am there video taping them. That way, I can get the natural feel to the story. Also for my interviews, I will asked simple questions and not make it sophisticated, till they will not be able to give a great answer. I think if I kept it simple and allowed them to explain it, I will be able to get stories that I would not get if I were to bombard them with many questions.

Photos and Videos Speak A Thousand Words

David LaBelle’s video “On Storytelling” gave a good view on how I can expand on telling a story through pictures and videos. I hope that my beat project would give an inspirational word to the public. Hope can be a good vibe to spread the word on what the The First Tee of Tampa Bay is doing for the kids in the community. Not only are they educating these kids with skills that are not often thought, but the learning of making friends and bonds with different people. Photos such as kids laughing and smiling while they are participating in the program. Or even pictures of the volunteers enjoying the company of these kids who enjoy being there. What could show the how the program works is pictures of volunteers ready to help and teach these kids the fundamentals of the game of golf. I would definitely sit by the side and observe. When you do not interfere with their session with the kids, naturally they would not even realize that I am there. People will act normally and you can see the genuine heart these volunteers have. That would definitely show a great image.

CNN Photojournalists shared a little insight to what they recommended to use for good photography. One of the tricks I learned was using natural light and making sure to take the shot with good amount of light and not have at a dark area. But make sure that my back faces the sun so it would not cause a glare. This helps the viewers to see it better and not making picture dim. One of the tricks I used the most was taking loads of pictures. I would easily take 5 to 6 pictures of the same thing. This was to make sure that if I had a poor looking picture, I have 5 more options to pick from in order for me to use it. Once you have chosen, then you can delete the bad ones.

Since my project is going to be mainly outdoors, I will have unlimited natural light to take the pictures I need. I definitely will take a lot of action photos because some could be blurry from the sudden movements the kids make.

Franziska Bährle’s WordPress blog showed 10 different tips to shoot good videos for journalism. She explains the basic simple steps for people who have not done it before to easily grasp the techniques. One of the most important things I learned in order to do a good video was to always put the camera on a tripod. It helps keep the video camera steady and get a better shot. I always think about what I really want to film for my project. That way, I save battery life, memory space and also less problems in trying to sort out the clips I have taken. The most important thing to remember is that to always check your equipment before going out on the field. It’ll be a waste if you drove all the way there and your equipment does not work.

I will make sure that when I am filming them taking a golf swing or just interacting with the the volunteers, I hope to take videos at different angles so it would not be boring. I definitely will incorporate B-Roll into my video so there will be pictures and short clips to create a unique video.

The Tampa Bay First Tee Pitch Memo and Storyboard

  1. My beat project will be about the First Tee of Tampa Bay.

    Storyboard for the beat project
    Storyboard for the beat project
  2. My niche will focus on the kids who are underprivileged, get to play a sport that is uncommon like golf. Focus on the differences from the generic sports such as football, soccer and everything else compared to golf.
  3. Making a change with underprivileged kids through the game of golf.
  4. The golfing community and also non-profit organizations. I think the content would be more suitable to people in the late 30’s and above because golf is a sport that can be related more towards the older generation. Whether there are success stories out there and whether the organization is doing well.
  5. I would talk with the golf professional that works at the First Tee. The regulars at the golf course who see the kids all the time. Hoping to talk with the kids that are involved and see what they think. Parents would be a good source to see what they think about the organization and how it is helping these kids. I would try and talk to Connor Carlton who is an avid volunteer for The First Tee and balances going to school as well.
  6. I definitely want to get an action video of the kids hitting golf balls and also a volunteer who helps with their swing. Pep talks that are given to them before they go out onto the course to play. Action shots of the kids enjoying the game. The location will definitely be at the golf course.
  7. A photo of a kid hitting a golf ball. Volunteers helping the kids would be good to have. Kids interacting with each other and enjoying the game.
  8. I think I can use photos as an artistic way to portray the story because if I were to get a good shot of the kids enjoying themselves and learning at the same time, it tells the story by itself. The fact that these kids are supplied with golf clubs which tend to be expensive and have the opportunity to learn the sport that is uncommon among the underprivileged, says a lot.
  9. Maybe a picture of when the first tee opened up in Tampa. The First Tee of Tampa Bay  was one of the first Chapters of the First Tee and a picture of that would be good to use. It shows how far the organization has come.
  10. Audio in a video of an interview would be good to have. It gives sort of a narrative towards the story.
  11. Maybe with the number of kids that have started joining The First Tee. That would show how the organization has grown. Positive reviews from people would help.
  12. I think having a map would help to show where it is located. It shows the demographic of people that stay there.
  13. I think the history of the First Tee of Tampa Bay would be important to have because it was one of the first chapters of the organization. It could also show how all the major professional golfers associations are all on board with the organization.
  14. I hope that my beat project would turn into something inspirational and that there are different ways that the community can reach out to help these kids.