Choose a digital project

30 free ideas for digital producers

1. Amazing real life stories.
2. Stories about items (typewriter/telegram) going obsolete.
3. Stories of the euphoric days of new found freedom of your country.
4. Missing links and exceptions
5. Profiles of people who make a living pretending to be someone else; even 'bahrupiya' tradition/artists.
6. Collect stories about  maiden ventures of people.
7. Journeys that revealed the life to me.
8. Recall moments: a turning point or watershed period for nation or people.
9. Pulse of the nation.
10. Elderly people share one piece of advice they’ve learned in their many years
11. Investigate how easy it is to plant a tree in a public place (apparently not very)
12. Run for Panchayat/MLA in the next election and make a documentary about it.
13. Visit every World Heritage Site in the country and document: In Haryana, sites of archaeological interest may be covered.
14. A collaborative piece where people across the city find out where their waste goes.
15. A website where people are counselled for problems related to career.
16. Competitions to bring people from around the world together to solve a big problem – crowd sourcing problem solving
17. A platform to show news packages from around the world..how have different countries covered the same event?
18. One leader who is less talked about.
19. Documentary on Folk tradition of your state/ community.
20. Films about people who do a dying trade (blacksmith/wood turner etc)
21. If we could build the internet from scratch, with everything we’ve learned, what would it look like?
22. Repackage old themes in visual and engaging way
23. Taking a story that offers two-sides of the same coin; presents the alternative point of view on an issue; Use splitscreen to show two sides to an argument
24. Investigate how people abet and support corruption in the government?
25. Tell a story using comic strip.
26. A celebration of unconventional solutions to problems
27. A visual rundown of all the different types of material and  how long they take to decompose
28. Take someone who’s in a bad place in their life on a creative journey.
29. Get 15 brilliant people from completely different industries together to try and solve a problem in a weekend. Document it.
30. Stories about ethnic groups or ways of life becoming obsolete.

Adapted from Source: https://adamwestbrook.wordpress.com/2012/09/03/30-free-ideas-for-multimedia-producers-and-digital-storytellers/

Digital Storytelling: editing

Adam Westbrook // ideas on digital storytelling and publishing

The five principles of editing

Posted in Online Video by Adam Westbrook on April 21, 2011

Image: Wikimedia Commons

In 1920 film was still very young, but growing in popularity.

As a new industry grew, practitioners raced to understand this amazing new medium and how it worked. Back then there was no precedent and there were no rules about how a shot should look or how a piece should be edited together.

Sound familiar?

But the early film makers did such a good job of understanding the medium, by the end of the 1920s the basic tenets had been laid down – and are still used by us today.

I recently discovered this Russian chap called Vsevolod Pudovkin who started making films in 1920. A few years later he penned a book calledFilm Technique and Film Acting: inside are five editing techniques. Reading through them, you realise there are plenty of tips and tricks online video journalists can take on board, nearly 100 years later.

Pudovkin’s 5 principles of editing

Pudovkin’s techniques describe several ways editing can be used to enhance the viewer’s understanding of a story, and they’re all designed to create a specific reaction from the audience, something he calls relational editing.

01. Contrast: cutting between two different scenarios to highlight the contrast between them. As an example, Pudovkin suggests moving from scenes of poverty to someone really rich to make the difference more apparent.

.02 Parallelism: here you can connect two seemingly unrelated scenes by cutting between them and focusing on parallel features. For example if you were shooting a documentary about fish stocks in the Atlantic, you could cut from a trawler being tossed about in the ocean to a family chomping down on some  fish’n’chips – in both scenes drawing our attention to the fish: the object that connects them. It creates an association in the viewers’ mind.

.03 Symbolism: Again, more intercutting, you move from your main scene to something which creates a symbolic connection for the audience. Pudovkin (living in Soviet Russia) suggested cutting between shots of striking workers being shot by Tsarist police and scenes of cows being slaughtered: in the audience’s mind, they associate the slaughter of the cattle with the slaughter of the workers.

.04 Simultaneity: This is used lots in Hollywood today: cutting between two simultaneous events as a way of driving up the suspense. If you’re making a film about a politician on election night, you might cut between shots of the vote being counted to shots of your main subject preparing to hear the result. This extending of time builds anticipation.

.05 Leit motif: This ‘reiteration of theme’ involves repeating a shot or sequence at key moments as a sort of code. Think how Spielberg uses a ‘point of view’ shot in Jaws showing the shark looking up at swimmers. The first time he does it creates a visual code for “the shark’s about to attack”. Every time we see that underwater POV we know an attack is imminent. He has allowed us to participate in the decoding.

You can read Pudovkin’s five principles in full in this Scribd copy of his book – pages 74-78.

So can video journalists use these techniques?

Image Credit: Adam Westbrook

Well clearly we don’t all make films loaded with symbolism in the way movie directors do; nor do we have time on screen to build anticipation through simultaneous cutting. However Pudovkin’s five techniques tell us something deeper and more significant about visual storytelling.

Because sound hadn’t been invented when he, Fritz Lang, Eisenstein et al first picked up a camera, they developed a real understanding of visual storytelling. They had to. If you couldn’t tell a story solely in pictures you couldn’t tell it at all. So they constantly invented ways to manipulate camera, edit, props, rigs and lights to get a message across. What they created was a form of ‘picture-telling’ where the audience are invited to participate in spotting and decoding subconscious messages.

This, I think, has been lost in the debate about the future of video and journalism, and possibly from the craft altogether. Instead we rely on dialogue to tell our story, and (at our worst) plaster pictures over the top.

When we move beyond straight point-and-shoot reportage and we want our viewers to understand a story, to relate to it, to care – the cameras in our hand are more than neutral observers: they are powerful tools, more often being left unused.

You wouldn’t learn the intricacies of 3D animation without first being able to draw – so why do we pursue video journalism without learning the basic building blocks of visual storytelling?

Source: https://adamwestbrook.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/the-five-principles-of-editing/

Five-Box approach including Nut Graph

Helping Writers Take Charge: Five Tools for Editors

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By Chip Scanlan • November 29, 2002

A Serial Workshop: Day Five

Five Boxes to Build a Story Fast: A Suggestion from Rick Bragg

Pulitzer winner Rick Bragg of The New York Times says he doesn't outline his stories, but he does preach the value of the "five boxes" method of story organization. In an interview in Best Newspaper Writing 1996, Bragg described how he learned it from an assigning editor, Pat Farnan of the St. Petersburg Times, who advised him to draw five boxes:

1. The first box, the lead, contains the image or detail that draws people in the story.

2. The second box is a "nut graph" that sums up the story.

3. The third box begins with a new image or detail that resembles a lead and precedes the bulk of the narrative.

4. The fourth box contains material that is less compelling but rounds out the story.

5. The fifth, and last, box is the "kicker," an ending featuring a strong quote or image that leaves the reader with a strong emotion.

Fill the boxes with bulleted lists of information, quotes, statistics and you have an instant outline.

The five boxes approach is the easiest method for quick organization of material. Using the boxes you can select and arrange information, settle on the beginning and ending of the story and decide what the story is about. Armed with this rudimentary outline, you can flesh out your story. It breaks the story into components that can be developed and refined.

"Even if you just completely scramble it later on, at least it got you rolling," Bragg said.

Although Bragg doesn't outline his stories, you can find echoes of the "five boxes approach" in the package of stories that won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing and the ASNE award for non-deadline writing in 1996. 

Creative Writing

Creative writing is primarily imaginative. It is not strictly utilitarian or purposeful, though it may aim to please or thrill. Usually, it is informal kind of writing and the writer has great poetic license or at least, the freedom to experiment with form and even grammar.You can choose from amongst a host of genres beginning with poetry and going on to the contemporary popular graphic novel/comic .

Here are a few tips for creative writing:

1. Think out-of-the-box.

2. Even if you create characters that are outlandish, they must have traits that are identifiable. The readers should strongly feel for their chosen character.

3. Let the story emerge in a ‘quest’ and be sustained by a number of quests – every character must desire, wish, search or look for something.

4. Incidents illustrate the character and characters determine the incident.

5. Avoid too much suspense, there should be adequate information with the reader to enjoy the story and empathize with characters.

6. Have an ideal reader in mind.

7. Let incredible things happen to the characters, however, ordinary.

8. Experiment with point of view, frequency, duration and chronological order to create interest.

9. Understand the power of author’s tyranny; authors can create their own sequence of events, 

irrespective of real-life occurrences.

10. Play with your own power and knowledge as an author- you can know as much or as little about what is going on in the character’s mind.

11. You can use devices such as parallelism to create contrast, highlight similarities or to comment on the action. Irony in situations and statements may be revealed.

 12. Use metaphors to evoke great pictures in the mind of the reader.

13. Use the various meanings of one word to create amusement.

14. Use archetype and stereotypes but then challenge those.

15.Use humour.

16. Fall and rise of a character or his/her fortunes has been the essence of much classical writing, giving a cue to the modern day writer.

17.Stories emerge from challenges-very ambitious ones that either failed or became exemplary of human prowess.

18. The subjective and the objective may be brought at loggerheads to question perceptions.

19. Begin,’ in media res’-in the thick of things.

20. Write with a spirit-invoke the muse!

(Also see tips by novelist Kurt Vonnegut)

7Cs of Communication

The ‘7 Cs of Communication’ are:

1.     Clear: The text should clearly state its purpose or objective.

2.     Concise: Besides, being crisp, the text should be comprehensive, that is, all-encompassing. It should convey the whole concept.

3.     Concrete: It should have examples that are definite and evoke images that aids understanding .It should appeal to the imagination and create an outline of the given object or subject.

4.     Correct: The information should be factually and grammatically correct. Even imaginative texts need to be correct in terms of grammar. This builds credibility and faith in the reader.

5.     Coherent: There should be a logical flow in the text and each part should adhere to the whole. It should follow the tempo of the organic whole.

6.     Complete: The text should have a perceptible beginning, middle and end. The text should not close abruptly. Solutions are expected at this stage, if the text emerged out of some issue or problem. Apart from giving necessary details, the action required from the reader should be stated.

7.     Courteous: The tone should be polite and never offend the reader or be distasteful and unpleasant. A quality critical essay never attacks individuals but offers a clear analysis of the situation or problem.

There are a few variations of the 7 Cs of Communication:

Credible – That which you can believe is 'credible'. Good grammar and definite information builds trust.

Creative – Fresh perspective on chronic issues or alternative ways to deal with existing problems always make the text creative and imaginative. Great examples and analogies aid comprehension and understanding; simplifying complex problems through illustrations from routines.

History of TV in India

http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/television/the-world-came-home-2932048/

Journalism and Mass communication course-news update: August 8, 2016 second counselling

MA(Journalism and Mass Communication)

2nd counselling: 8th August, 2016


Applications to be accepted till 7th August for the second counselling.

During the second counseling to be held on 8^th August, admissions will be first conducted out of applications received earlier and thereafter, applications received after the first counseling may be entertained.

Eligibility :50 percent in graduation from any discipline. 

Seats allotted on merit basis.

A photo feature on history of cinema: turning points( to be completed)

The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. The Kinetoscope was designed for films to be viewed by one individual at a time through a peephole viewer window at the top of the device. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector but introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before the advent of video, by creating the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter. A process using roll film first described in a patent application submitted in France and the U.S. by French inventor Louis Le Prince, the concept was copied by U.S. inventor Thomas Edison in 1889, and subsequently developed by his employee William Kennedy Laurie Dickson between 1889 and 1892.

The Lumière (pronounced: [lymjɛːʁ]) brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas [oɡyst maʁi lwi nikɔla] (19 October 1862, Besançon,France – 10 April 1954, Lyon) and Louis Jean [lwi ʒɑ̃] (5 October 1864, Besançon, France – 6 June 1948, Bandol),^[1][2] were the first filmmakers in history. They patented the cinematograph, which in contrast to Edison's "peepshow" kinetoscope allowed simultaneous viewing by multiple parties.

Their first film Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon (1895) is considered the "first true motion picture."

Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon (French: La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon), also known as Employees Leaving the Lumière Factory and Exiting the Factory, is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed and produced by Louis Lumière. It is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made,^[1] although Louis Le Prince's 1888Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years.

Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar (15 March 1868 – 20 February 1958) (Marathi : हरिश्चंद्र सखाराम भाटवडेकर), also known as Save dada, was the first Indian to make a film (motion picture) in India."The Wrestlers" was shot during a wrestling match in Mumbai and was the first film to be shot by an Indian.

H. S. Bhatavdekar's later films also were all reality films, with "Local Scenes...", "Sir Wrangler..." and "Delhi Darbar..." being of historical significance; since important personalities like R. P. Paranjpe^[5] can be seen landing in India from a ship; and the proceedings of the Delhi Durbar (Delhi Royal Court). Bhatavdekar also filmed Lord Curzon at the coronation of King Edward VII in Kolkata (Calcutta) in 1903.^[1] Bhatavdekar can be considered the first documentary filmmaker of India,^[1][2] with his films India's first newsreels

The first Indian film released in India was Shree pundalik a silent film in Marathi by Dadasaheb Torne on 18 May 1912 at 'Coronation Cinematograph', Mumbai. Some have argued that Pundalik does not deserve the honour of being called the first Indian film because it was a photographic recording of a popular Marathi play, and because the cameraman—a man named Johnson—was a British national and the film was processed in London.

A scene from Raja Harishchandra(1913), first full-length Indian motion picture

Producer-director-screenwriterDadasaheb Phalke, the Father of Indian Cinema.^{[8][9][10][11]}

AVM Studios in Chennai, India's oldest surviving film studio

The first full-length motion picture in India was produced by Dadasaheb Phalke, Dadasaheb is the pioneer of Indian film industry a scholar on India's languages and culture, who brought together elements from Sanskrit epics to produce his Raja Harishchandra (1913), a silent film in Marathi. The female roles in the film were played by male actors.

Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, known as Georges Méliès (/meɪˈljɛs/;^[1] French: [meljɛs]; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938), was a French illusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was an especially prolific innovator in the use of special effects, popularizing such techniques as substitution splices, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted color. It was also the first filmmaker to use storyboards. His films include A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904), both involving strange, surreal journeys somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy.Georges Méliès built one of the first film studios in May 1897. It had a glass roof and three glass walls constructed after the model of large studios for still photography, and it was fitted with thin cotton cloths that could be stretched below the roof to diffuse the direct rays of the sun on sunny days. Beginning in 1896, Méliès would go on to produce, direct, and distribute over 500 short films. The majority of these films were short, one-shot films completed in one take. Méliès drew many comparisons between film and the stage, which was apparent in his work. He realized that film afforded him the ability (via his use of timelapse photography) to "produce visual spectacles not achievable in the theater.

The scene in which the spaceship hits the Moon's eye would go on to become one of the most famous and iconic images in cinematic history.

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (/ˈaɪzənˌstaɪn/;^[1] Russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн; IPA: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn]; 22 January [O.S. 10 January] 1898 – 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director and film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is noted in particular for his silent films Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1928), as well as the historical epics Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944, 1958).

Ivan the Terrible (Russian: Иван Грозный, Ivan Grozniy) is a two-part historical epic film about Ivan IV of Russia commissioned by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, who admired and identified himself with Ivan, to be written and directed by the filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein. Part I was released in 1944; however, Part II was not released until 1958, as it was banned on the order of Stalin, who became incensed over the depiction of Ivan therein. Eisenstein had developed the scenario to require a third part to finish the story but, with the banning of Part II, filming of Part III was stopped; after Eisenstein's death in 1948, what had been completed was destroyed.

David Llewelyn Wark "D. W." Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948),^[1] known as the "Inventor of Hollywood,"was an American film director, writer and producer who pioneered modern filmmaking techniques. He is known for his groundbreaking films The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance (1916).^[2]

His film The Birth of a Nation made use of advanced camera and narrative techniques, and its immense popularity set the stage for the dominance of the feature-length film in the United States. Since its release, though it has been critically acclaimed, the film has sparked significant controversy surrounding race in the United States, focusing on its negative depiction of African Americans and its glorification of the Ku Klux Klan. Today, it is both lionized for its radical technique and condemned for its inherently racist philosophy.

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE, (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980)^[2] was an English film director and producer,^[3] at times referred to as "The Master of Suspense".^[4] He pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres. He had a successful career in British cinema with both silent films and early talkies and became renowned as England's best director. Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939^[5] and became a US citizen in 1955.^[6]

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a recognisable directorial style.^[7] His stylistic trademarks include the use of camera movement that mimics a person's gaze,^[8] forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism.^[9]In addition, he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative forms of film editing.^[9] His work often features fugitives on the run alongside "icy blonde" female characters.^[10][11] Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of murder and other violence.

Source: Wikipedia