On audio slideshows and video, part two
I tweaked some sensibilities with my measley one-paragraph post about audio slideshows yesterday, and my longer video post. The comments I received online and off deserve a follow-up.
1. First of all, I’m impressed (and perplexed) that so many people seem to care about my piddling little opinions.
2. I’m not devaluing still photography. I started in college as an aspiring photojournalist, and I have boxes of photos, an internship, cannisters of rotting film and an insignificant award or two to show for it. It’s only because of a quirk of fate that I chose the writing track. I’ve always valued visuals, and always will. Still photos obviously are key to news and storytelling, online and off.
3. Photographers reacted to my post about boring audio slideshows as if I were attacking the profession. That’s unfortunate. Because a defensive, snarky, head-in-the-sand attitude is not the way forward. Imagine if the newspaper industry reacted this way when people started telling us that newspapers were boring. We’d be in big trouble. Oh. Wait. Nevermind. That’s already happened.
I’ll clairfy what I meant about slideshows. From my perspective as a viewer, I’m seeing a lot of slideshows out there that are starting to look and sound the same to me. They have the same tone and pacing and look. And it’s getting old. It’s as if a lot of folks are drawing from the same audio slideshow textbook. In some cases, the subject matter doesn’t seem to warrant an audio slideshow. My sense is that some papers are starting to produce slideshows just because they can. Do regular readers share my opinion? I don’t know. Are my views skewed because I consume a disproportionate amount of media? Perhaps. Is video a better alternative? In some cases, yes. Like Howard, I personally tend to favor video. But in many cases, video doesn’t work or isn’t worth the time.
I’m not indicting all slideshows or multimedia. Far from it. There is great — even truly exceptional — stuff out there. My colleague Richard Hernandez points us to some of it. And I’m proud to work with the people who built and contribute to this site. I want to see more of it. And I want to see more variety. As I told a colleague, “I just think that in general, the industry needs to get more creative with slideshows and not let them become a crutch.”
As for my blog post imploring photographers to embrace video, I’ve had a slight change of heart. There are clearly a number of still photographers who are wholly dedicated to still photography and want nothing to do with video. So be it. While I still think photographers have a lot to offer newspapers as they embrace video — be it advice, encouragement or active involvement — it’s also apparent that many papers are doing just fine without the photogs being involved. Whatever works.
03 Jan 2007 Michael
The medium moves so fast that we cant afford to get stuck in a rut with things like audio slideshows. That change of pace is really challenging comfort zones as well as the demarcation between newsroom roles. We need to enage with that challenge
So, don’t be suprised that the posts generated so much interest. You said what a lot of people have been thinking but maybe not saying outside of the industry blogs. In this climate people will be attratced to that, ready of a debate.
Keep the opinions coming. It’s a debate we need to haev to keep us moving forward
[...] Update: Michael has posted a response to the comments prompted by the blogs I mention below. [...]
Good post. I enjoy the dialogue.
I agree with this clarification. Richard may have been joking in his comment on your last blog post when he said he was tired of words, but he does express the sentiment of many people who use the internet. I think video sites like YouTube are popular because they are strictly visual. Similarly, people don’t like movies with subtitles because they have to work too hard to watch.
I think photo/audio slideshows can be just as entertaining as video, and if well done, immensely more powerful. You are right though, newspapers should show some restrait and make sure the story warrants a slideshow. A lame story is a lame story. Adding audio won’t magically make it better.
These soundslides will get better as newspapers advance in their transition from print to web publishing.
Yes, slideshows can be boring…and I think (this is just a guess) it may be because the photographers line up their photos and let the editing program run it. They are not listening to the beat of the music, the cadance and content of the interviews as video folk do.
My biggest fear with still photogs moving over to video is that we will loose something unique and powerful - the vision of great still photographers who are able to define precise slices of time. I hear that some newspapers are looking at handing camcorders over to still photogs and using the video on the website and frame-grabbing from the video for stills. Two things wrong with this: you end up with all horizontal photos and you turn your photo staff into technicians plagiarizing from themselves.
If newspapers want video, they should look at the many talented videojournalists out there - coming out of college and currently working in the broadcast industry. Why reinvent the wheel? Broadcasting is dying, although not as quickly as print media. We are all going to have to be fully committed to the Internet eventually.
Finally…as much as still photographers say they are neutral (and I know they are), often their images evoke an attidute…a position. Too often this comes from knowing that there is a reporterr who will report both sides while the photographer seeks strong images. Too often these images are one-sided because the photographer is covering an event or focusing on a particular issue. Broadcast photogs generally are mandated to get information from both sides to include in stories…interviews and visuals. Not always done, but that is the rule.
Now if you’ll excuse me…I’m gonna copy this and paste it to my blog…meant to leave a short note and left a lecture.
[...] Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 in Uncategorized The following was left as a comment on Micahel Bazeley’s blog. Began as a comment and grew into a lecture. [...]
[...] But they’re not the be-all, end-all of multimedia journalism - they’re the very beginning. Michael Bazeley captures what I’ve pondered about how audio slideshows can go wrong: They’re often cliche, and they often don’t really help tell the story. They’re threatening to become novelties. [...]
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