I viewed the SoundSlides of Clinton, Edwards and Huckabee. I, too, am amazed at just how much information can be packed into 3 to 5 minutes of images and narration. While I appreciated the amount of information and the recounting of Clinton’s upbringing and political coming of age, I still wanted what I believe only writing and analysis can bring to a subject. So the question were these pieces accompanied by text? Or were the slides primary story? I suspect that more and more people are satisfied to view only the slide show, without reading any text.
The absence of audio in the Edwards piece was not that useful. Just practically speaking, you had to read and view the slide simultaneously. While filling in, I appreciate the presence of a voice reporting and guiding or walking me through a balanced look at what the images tell.
In the piece on France’s marginalized peoples in the housing projects, the use of the hip-hop music with its blasting base contributed, I feel, to bias. Poor urban populations are commonly portrayed in the context of loud music, rap, etc., which sometimes takes away from our ability to see them as every-day people like ourselves. In short, the music, in this case, adds an angry, stereotypical context that can drown out or eclipse the real voice of people speaking their truth. However, I liked the use of speed and the rectangular slicing of the powerful images to reveal the degrading conditions in which people live. They captured the tenants’ feeling of being treated like chickens in a warehouse.
Overall, though, these elements of entertainment and graphic bedazzlement took something away from the reporting merits, in my view.
Charlise 02/05/08
I just got down reviewing the four campaign '08 slideshows from this week's readings, and I have a very basic observation -- isn't sound great! In reviewing the Clinton and the Huckabee slide presentation with audio, I found myself really enjoying them! Hearing the commentaryabout Hillary as I saw pictures of her childhood home, her grade school photos, her college photos...helped bring her alive! Likewise with Huckabee...combining the two senses of sight and hearing, made me want to watch both presentations in entirety. However, in reviewing the Romney and the Edwards' presentations, I was a little less enthused. To be honest, if there would have been more slides than what was actually included, I can't say whether I would have went through the entire presentation. Without having the sound, I just didn't find the presentations as interesting.
This is just merely an observation of one aspect of this week's reading...not rocket science or anything... But I wonder, has the advancement of technology made our society (or at the very least me) crave a much more multi-dimensional approach to communicating about a topic? I think so...at least when it comes to me!
G. Feldmann, 2/3/08
I would have to agree with the 'crave effect', and as noted, the addition of sound to those slideshows just added a second dimension to the entire project. I was also much more intrigued with the audio slideshows rather than the photo/caption combination. I was thinking more about it all, and by viewing a slideshow with audio, the audience is in effect “told” what to think and has a pre-made “story” strung together. Yet by viewing a slideshow on its own, the viewer can, in a way, formulate their own story and craft their own thoughts and opinions on each photo. It seems the audience is not as “restricted” in their thought process. But then again, audio is wonderful to narrate scenes where there is more than meets the eye, is an event/person that is relatively unknown, or is a more involved story. It can be a great educational tool for learning new things, ideas, places and people, and I would say captures attention much better than a show with no audio at all.
Christie - 2/4
I would agree with you guys about the story being dictated by the sound. Michelle forwarded me this great site that includes speed dating for candidates. The dialogue is so good that you can really only understand the story through it. Many of the images are fairly generic - but effective. Its amazing how much information they pack in to these clips. The link is: http://www.videojug.com/film/speed-date-the-candidate-barack-obama
Sarah C. 2/5
Quick observation. I noticed while reviewing the assigned slideshows that it may not be so easy to properly narrate slide shows. Either that or the narrators are unfamiliar with the “see dog, say dog” rule.
Many times the narrator was talking about a cat when we were seeing a dog on the slide. I noticed it a good bit, although usually narrators eventually seemed to get back on track. In particular I felt that happened a lot on the Edward R. Murrow-like tour of London. It was an interesting show, but the narrator often was talking about something other than what I was viewing.
I guess this tells me to tread carefully when I’m picking the photos to use, not to mention I’ll need a script that is well-thought out and well written script and that matches well with photos.
Has anyone put any of these things together previously? If so, I’d be interested in your take on what I observed.
tc brown 2/05
I viewed the SoundSlides of Clinton, Edwards and Huckabee. I, too, am amazed at just how much information can be packed into 3 to 5 minutes of images and narration. While I appreciated the amount of information and the recounting of Clinton’s upbringing and political coming of age, I still wanted what I believe only writing and analysis can bring to a subject. So the question were these pieces accompanied by text? Or were the slides primary story? I suspect that more and more people are satisfied to view only the slide show, without reading any text.
The absence of audio in the Edwards piece was not that useful. Just practically speaking, you had to read and view the slide simultaneously. While filling in, I appreciate the presence of a voice reporting and guiding or walking me through a balanced look at what the images tell.
In the piece on France’s marginalized peoples in the housing projects, the use of the hip-hop music with its blasting base contributed, I feel, to bias. Poor urban populations are commonly portrayed in the context of loud music, rap, etc., which sometimes takes away from our ability to see them as every-day people like ourselves. In short, the music, in this case, adds an angry, stereotypical context that can drown out or eclipse the real voice of people speaking their truth. However, I liked the use of speed and the rectangular slicing of the powerful images to reveal the degrading conditions in which people live. They captured the tenants’ feeling of being treated like chickens in a warehouse.
Overall, though, these elements of entertainment and graphic bedazzlement took something away from the reporting merits, in my view.
Charlise 02/05/08
Wiki 2.5.post
The Obama speed dating thing was amusing. That and the more serious slide show candidate readings/posts for this week’s class, do show off the power of sound to keep me engaged and add depth and understanding to a subject. I found the Huckabee slideshow with clips of the candidate’s voice stronger and more engaging than the one about Hillary that had only the dry-sounding reporter’s voice. Even the soundless slideshow of Romney and his connection with his dad seemed stronger than the Hillary piece. It might be because there was no distraction of dull sound. I think the silence, in lieu of poor quality sound, and strong pictures made it easier to focus on Romney and his father’s legacy, which I hadn’t known about before.
I did finish the entire candidate slideshow series thinking I had new insights, which were different from what I’ve gleaned from print, about all of the subjects – Hillary’s political beginning’s, Huckabee’s Arkansas roots, Romney’s childhood and Edward’s fading candidacy.
n Michelle Kearns, 2/4/08
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.