by Marsha Imaniara | Tuesday, 16 July 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Infographic: How Does Your Heart Work?
An assignment for Multimedia Reporting (Design) class with Jennifer Palilonis, BSU
by Marsha Imaniara | Tuesday, 16 July 2013
by Marsha Imaniara | Tuesday, 16 July 2013
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Multimedia Reporting (Photo) - Capturing Moments
An assignment for Multimedia Reporting class with Ryan Sparrow, Ball State University
by Marsha Imaniara | Saturday, 13 July 2013
Makenzie Jenkins and her grandmother were celebrating Fourth of July 2013 at Minnetrista Cultural Park, Muncie, Indiana.
Jason Brown, his wife and his daughters, Josephine (4) and Alexandra (2), were conversing while waiting for Fourth of July fireworks display to start.
A boy was chatting with his father and sister during a Fourth of July picnic at Minnetrista Cultural Park, Muncie, Indiana.
A mother was holding his sleeping son at a parking lot in Kentucky.
Mother and daughter were looking at fresh produces at Farmers Market, Minnetrista (7/13).
A little boy was crying in his stroller at Farmers Market, Minnetrista (7/13).
Environmental portrait: Tom, receptionist at The Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee.
by Marsha Imaniara | Saturday, 13 July 2013
Makenzie Jenkins and her grandmother were celebrating Fourth of July 2013 at Minnetrista Cultural Park, Muncie, Indiana.
Jason Brown, his wife and his daughters, Josephine (4) and Alexandra (2), were conversing while waiting for Fourth of July fireworks display to start.
A boy was chatting with his father and sister during a Fourth of July picnic at Minnetrista Cultural Park, Muncie, Indiana.
A mother was holding his sleeping son at a parking lot in Kentucky.
Mother and daughter were looking at fresh produces at Farmers Market, Minnetrista (7/13).
A little boy was crying in his stroller at Farmers Market, Minnetrista (7/13).
Environmental portrait: Tom, receptionist at The Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Eyes of Wonder - What is Fourth of July to Your Kids?
An assignment for Multimedia Reporting class with Suzy Smith and Adam J. Kuban, BSU
by Marsha Imaniara | Friday, 9 July 2013
MUNCIE, Indiana - Residents of Muncie looked bright and jubilant as they gathered in Minnetrista Cultural Park last Thursday (7/4) to celebrate the Independence Day with their family and friends.
Signs of bad weather did not interfere with the festivity of the annual Independence Day tradition. The Fourth of July event drew residents of all ages, wearing patriotic costumes, waving their Star-Spangled Banners and conversing with each other.
Among them was 9-year old Makenzie Jenkins. She showed off her Fourth of July spirit with festive, American flag-colored hat. Her favorite part of the Fourth of July was the fireworks, morning parade and candies. For Makenzie, the day means a happy time for America and for everybody.
"Hope and freedom too!" she continued with a confident smile.
Fireworks were also the highlight of the Fourth of July celebration for Aidan Widener (7). Aidan admitted that he did not know much yet about the Fourth of July. But he wanted to be a soldier.
"Because you can help your state or something," said Aidan.
Amber Widener, mother of Aidan, emphasized the importance of education and wished for other parents to do the same thing. She would begin introducing Aidan to the real significance behind the Fourth of July celebration as he reaches the right age.
A few meters from them sat Jason Brown with his wife and two daughters, Josephine (4) and Alexandra (2). This was the first year he brought his two girls to public celebration of the Independence Day.
The two girls looked dazzling in their patriotic dresses. Both were very shy, but they acknowledged their love for the Fourth of July celebration.
Although they had not fully realized the "hidden meaning" behind the celebration, their parents had started introducing the Fourth of July as "the birthday of their country" to them. For Brown, a very literal approach would be his first choice to educate his two daughters in civic education as they grow up and become more cognitive in their development stages.
"I don't know if kids really get that sense very early. We can say be proud of the nation, that's what's the Fourth of July is about," said Brown, "I hope to instill that upon them, and I don't even know how to start with that yet, and hopefully I do a good job, but I think for them right now is just happy and fireworks and celebration."
Fourth of July is indeed a good day to celebrate with families and friends. It is one day where all Americans can gather together and united. However, it should also be seen as a good opportunity to educate the future generation of the history and importance of the Fourth of July, along with the celebration.
In Minnetrista that night, the celebration concluded with the one thing kids love the most about the celebration: an exquisite display of fireworks.
by Marsha Imaniara | Friday, 9 July 2013
MUNCIE, Indiana - Residents of Muncie looked bright and jubilant as they gathered in Minnetrista Cultural Park last Thursday (7/4) to celebrate the Independence Day with their family and friends.
Signs of bad weather did not interfere with the festivity of the annual Independence Day tradition. The Fourth of July event drew residents of all ages, wearing patriotic costumes, waving their Star-Spangled Banners and conversing with each other.
Among them was 9-year old Makenzie Jenkins. She showed off her Fourth of July spirit with festive, American flag-colored hat. Her favorite part of the Fourth of July was the fireworks, morning parade and candies. For Makenzie, the day means a happy time for America and for everybody.
"Hope and freedom too!" she continued with a confident smile.
Fireworks were also the highlight of the Fourth of July celebration for Aidan Widener (7). Aidan admitted that he did not know much yet about the Fourth of July. But he wanted to be a soldier.
"Because you can help your state or something," said Aidan.
Amber Widener, mother of Aidan, emphasized the importance of education and wished for other parents to do the same thing. She would begin introducing Aidan to the real significance behind the Fourth of July celebration as he reaches the right age.
A few meters from them sat Jason Brown with his wife and two daughters, Josephine (4) and Alexandra (2). This was the first year he brought his two girls to public celebration of the Independence Day.
The two girls looked dazzling in their patriotic dresses. Both were very shy, but they acknowledged their love for the Fourth of July celebration.
Although they had not fully realized the "hidden meaning" behind the celebration, their parents had started introducing the Fourth of July as "the birthday of their country" to them. For Brown, a very literal approach would be his first choice to educate his two daughters in civic education as they grow up and become more cognitive in their development stages.
"I don't know if kids really get that sense very early. We can say be proud of the nation, that's what's the Fourth of July is about," said Brown, "I hope to instill that upon them, and I don't even know how to start with that yet, and hopefully I do a good job, but I think for them right now is just happy and fireworks and celebration."
Fourth of July is indeed a good day to celebrate with families and friends. It is one day where all Americans can gather together and united. However, it should also be seen as a good opportunity to educate the future generation of the history and importance of the Fourth of July, along with the celebration.
In Minnetrista that night, the celebration concluded with the one thing kids love the most about the celebration: an exquisite display of fireworks.
Multimedia Reporting (Video) - VOSOT
An assignment for Multimedia Reporting class with Tim Underhill, Ball State University
by Marsha Imaniara | Thursday, 11 July 2013
MUNCIE, Indiana - In television news programs, there are a number of ways through which news can be delivered. Among them are Voice Over (VO) and Sound on Tape (SOT).
In VO, news anchors read their lines over a video of the news reported. This means that the anchors' face are not shown during VO.
On the other hand, SOT refers to the parts of news that contain pre-recorded interviews. The anchor will not speak during this part.
When both combined, they can make a news package. One can start with a sequence of footages where the anchor does his/her VO and end with a pre-recorded interview (SOT).
An example to this can be seen in the video above.
by Marsha Imaniara | Thursday, 11 July 2013
MUNCIE, Indiana - In television news programs, there are a number of ways through which news can be delivered. Among them are Voice Over (VO) and Sound on Tape (SOT).
In VO, news anchors read their lines over a video of the news reported. This means that the anchors' face are not shown during VO.
On the other hand, SOT refers to the parts of news that contain pre-recorded interviews. The anchor will not speak during this part.
When both combined, they can make a news package. One can start with a sequence of footages where the anchor does his/her VO and end with a pre-recorded interview (SOT).
An example to this can be seen in the video above.
Friday, July 5, 2013
KubanKlass: Looking Back to Fourth of July Coverage
An assignment for Multimedia Reporting class with Adam J. Kuban, Ball State University
by Marsha Imaniara | Friday, 5 July 2013
MUNCIE, Indiana - SUSI BSU 2013 students from Malaysia and Indonesia joined the residents of Muncie in Minnetrista Cultural Park this Fourth of July as they celebrated the Independence of USA. Not only did they get to experience this grandiose event of the Americans, but also they got to be real journalists on this event.
On the event, SUSI BSU 2013 students were tasked to interview a few people and get a unique story of the Fourth of July celebration. I went with the direction of focusing on Fourth of July from the perspective of kids, working with the theme of "Eyes of Wonder".
It was a lot to handle, to say the least. I had to record interviews not only with my recording equipment but also notes, as well as capturing the event in pictures and videos. It was even more complicated with the very limited amount of time that we had due to the bad weather. We literally raced with time to get everything done before it was too dark and the fireworks display started.
I managed to interview four different families. However, only three went well: the Brown family, Aidan's family, and the Jenkins.
The first one, the Browns, consisted of the dad, Jason Brown; the mom; and their two kids, Josephine (4) and Alexandra (2). During the interview, the parents were both very friendly and expressive. It contributed a lot to the story I was covering. However, both of the kids were very shy and I could not get them to talk more than an unintelligible word. It complicated the situation as I was supposed to cover the story mainly from the perspective of the kids. However, I managed to get good natural sounds and sense of story here.
The second group consisted of Aidan (7) and his mom. In this case, they were both easy to work with. In the beginning, I thought I scared the kid away with my "intimidating" equipments. However, I managed to reposition them to make them less intimidating and the interview went smoothly afterwards.
The last one I interviewed was Makenzie Jenkins (9). She was very bubbly and bright. She gave all the answers that I could potentially use in my story. However, my equipment betrayed me at this point. Turned out, it was not working the first time. Therefore, I needed to re-record everything. And this time, she was not as excited to answer my questions. I tried to work my way around this by giving new questions aside from my old ones.
In the end, I felt grateful for everything that went well: for the cooperative interviewees, for being able to react to the unexpected, for managing to juggle the tasks, for being prepared thoroughly before the D-Day. However, I felt that it could have been better on the part of time management and re-checking equipment. What killed me the most was the fact that I lost my "decisive moment" with Makenzie, the bright girl whose original answers would have been so valuable to my story.
Nonetheless, I learned a lot from this experience. I learned that I can still manage to do quite well under pressure, but need to work on "smoothing" the process. I am positive that this will be valuable for whatever I work on in my future endeavor.
by Marsha Imaniara | Friday, 5 July 2013
MUNCIE, Indiana - SUSI BSU 2013 students from Malaysia and Indonesia joined the residents of Muncie in Minnetrista Cultural Park this Fourth of July as they celebrated the Independence of USA. Not only did they get to experience this grandiose event of the Americans, but also they got to be real journalists on this event.
On the event, SUSI BSU 2013 students were tasked to interview a few people and get a unique story of the Fourth of July celebration. I went with the direction of focusing on Fourth of July from the perspective of kids, working with the theme of "Eyes of Wonder".
It was a lot to handle, to say the least. I had to record interviews not only with my recording equipment but also notes, as well as capturing the event in pictures and videos. It was even more complicated with the very limited amount of time that we had due to the bad weather. We literally raced with time to get everything done before it was too dark and the fireworks display started.
I managed to interview four different families. However, only three went well: the Brown family, Aidan's family, and the Jenkins.
The first one, the Browns, consisted of the dad, Jason Brown; the mom; and their two kids, Josephine (4) and Alexandra (2). During the interview, the parents were both very friendly and expressive. It contributed a lot to the story I was covering. However, both of the kids were very shy and I could not get them to talk more than an unintelligible word. It complicated the situation as I was supposed to cover the story mainly from the perspective of the kids. However, I managed to get good natural sounds and sense of story here.
The second group consisted of Aidan (7) and his mom. In this case, they were both easy to work with. In the beginning, I thought I scared the kid away with my "intimidating" equipments. However, I managed to reposition them to make them less intimidating and the interview went smoothly afterwards.
The last one I interviewed was Makenzie Jenkins (9). She was very bubbly and bright. She gave all the answers that I could potentially use in my story. However, my equipment betrayed me at this point. Turned out, it was not working the first time. Therefore, I needed to re-record everything. And this time, she was not as excited to answer my questions. I tried to work my way around this by giving new questions aside from my old ones.
In the end, I felt grateful for everything that went well: for the cooperative interviewees, for being able to react to the unexpected, for managing to juggle the tasks, for being prepared thoroughly before the D-Day. However, I felt that it could have been better on the part of time management and re-checking equipment. What killed me the most was the fact that I lost my "decisive moment" with Makenzie, the bright girl whose original answers would have been so valuable to my story.
Nonetheless, I learned a lot from this experience. I learned that I can still manage to do quite well under pressure, but need to work on "smoothing" the process. I am positive that this will be valuable for whatever I work on in my future endeavor.
Multimedia Reporting (Video) - Learning to Sequence
An assignment for Multimedia Reporting class with Tim Underhill, Ball State University
by Marsha Imaniara | Friday, 5 July 2013
MUNCIE, Indiana - One of the most common media for story-telling nowadays is through video. It helps bring a story to life with the combination of audio and visual.
What you might not know is that there are many ways to make the video tell an even crisper story. One of them is by sequencing the shots you take into a complete story. Our goal is to create steady, sequenced video with meaningful, compelling natural sound.
Sequence is a series of shots that when edited together tells a story. In sequencing video, there is a number of important things to remember.
First, you need to know that there are three types of shots: wide shot, to provide context; medium shot, to give supporting information of what's going on; and tight shot to give details. This is not a rule of thumb, but it is common to sequence your video in the order of wide shot, medium shot, tight shot, and end with extra wide shot.
Secondly, you need to remember to avoid jump cuts. Never put wide and wide shot or medium and medium shot side by side because it sure will be a jump cut. At least fifty percent of your sequence should be shot in tight shots. Change in screen direction is also considered as jump cut.
And finally, avoid zooming and panning. Why? Because our mind and eye do not zoom and pan. It is unnatural, and therefore it distracts the audience from your story.
Have fun learning sequencing!
by Marsha Imaniara | Friday, 5 July 2013
MUNCIE, Indiana - One of the most common media for story-telling nowadays is through video. It helps bring a story to life with the combination of audio and visual.
What you might not know is that there are many ways to make the video tell an even crisper story. One of them is by sequencing the shots you take into a complete story. Our goal is to create steady, sequenced video with meaningful, compelling natural sound.
Sequence is a series of shots that when edited together tells a story. In sequencing video, there is a number of important things to remember.
First, you need to know that there are three types of shots: wide shot, to provide context; medium shot, to give supporting information of what's going on; and tight shot to give details. This is not a rule of thumb, but it is common to sequence your video in the order of wide shot, medium shot, tight shot, and end with extra wide shot.
Secondly, you need to remember to avoid jump cuts. Never put wide and wide shot or medium and medium shot side by side because it sure will be a jump cut. At least fifty percent of your sequence should be shot in tight shots. Change in screen direction is also considered as jump cut.
And finally, avoid zooming and panning. Why? Because our mind and eye do not zoom and pan. It is unnatural, and therefore it distracts the audience from your story.
Have fun learning sequencing!
Friday, June 28, 2013
KubanKlass: Preparing for Big Story
An assignment for Multimedia Reporting class with Adam J. Kuban, Ball State University
by Marsha Imaniara | Friday, 28 June 2013
Picture source: http://www.kensingtonacademy.com/english-courses/exam-preperation-courses/
MUNCIE, Indiana - Americans will celebrate their Independence Day in just a couple of days. As the Fourth of July approaches, so does our final assignment to cover the big story.
When preparing for such a big story project, there are a number of things that I would prepare to get ready.
First, is to do "the homework". I personally think that it is very important to be knowledgeable about the event we are about to cover. Therefore, a preliminary research is required. Yesterday, I started to try and find more details about the Fourth of July and its history. I also did an additional research about sample stories on Fourth of July celebration. This preliminary research gave me a pretty clear picture of what to write and what angle I should take to make my story fresh and not cliché. I acquired information that would help me structure good questions later. The "good questions" should not revolve around trivial or widely known facts, because I would have known about them already.
Then, it is time to structure my questions. I will first list all the questions that I want and need to know the answer to through the interviews. After that, I will arrange the questions into sequence that I deem suitable to build the story. The sequence will not be a fixed one though, it will still give me room to re-organize and add follow-up questions when needed.
Third of all, I will practice to master my interviewing skill! As awkward as it will be, in-front-of-the-mirror practice is one of the items that are on my checklist. When possible, I will also have joint practice with my other SUSI friends. This will at least prepare me to interact with people comfortably and to react naturally to whatever may come.
And finally, a technical preparation will be in order. Since the audio equipment is pretty new to me, I will practice to get used to the equipment in the field. I will also do last-minute check-ups to make sure that it is up and ready to go.
And that's it! That is what I will do to prepare to cover big stories such as the Fourth of July celebration. Just remember, preparation matters.
As Benjamin Franklin put it, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."
by Marsha Imaniara | Friday, 28 June 2013
Picture source: http://www.kensingtonacademy.com/english-courses/exam-preperation-courses/
MUNCIE, Indiana - Americans will celebrate their Independence Day in just a couple of days. As the Fourth of July approaches, so does our final assignment to cover the big story.
When preparing for such a big story project, there are a number of things that I would prepare to get ready.
First, is to do "the homework". I personally think that it is very important to be knowledgeable about the event we are about to cover. Therefore, a preliminary research is required. Yesterday, I started to try and find more details about the Fourth of July and its history. I also did an additional research about sample stories on Fourth of July celebration. This preliminary research gave me a pretty clear picture of what to write and what angle I should take to make my story fresh and not cliché. I acquired information that would help me structure good questions later. The "good questions" should not revolve around trivial or widely known facts, because I would have known about them already.
Then, it is time to structure my questions. I will first list all the questions that I want and need to know the answer to through the interviews. After that, I will arrange the questions into sequence that I deem suitable to build the story. The sequence will not be a fixed one though, it will still give me room to re-organize and add follow-up questions when needed.
Third of all, I will practice to master my interviewing skill! As awkward as it will be, in-front-of-the-mirror practice is one of the items that are on my checklist. When possible, I will also have joint practice with my other SUSI friends. This will at least prepare me to interact with people comfortably and to react naturally to whatever may come.
And finally, a technical preparation will be in order. Since the audio equipment is pretty new to me, I will practice to get used to the equipment in the field. I will also do last-minute check-ups to make sure that it is up and ready to go.
And that's it! That is what I will do to prepare to cover big stories such as the Fourth of July celebration. Just remember, preparation matters.
As Benjamin Franklin put it, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."
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