NMJ590 Multimedia Reporting

“To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.”

That quote is actually the motto for LIFE magazine. It’s one of my favorites. It also comes from one of my favorite movies, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In the movie, Walter, played by Ben Stiller, is tasked with tracking down an elusive freelance photographer who is supposed to have an important photograph that is needed for a story in LIFE magazine. His journey takes him all over the world getting caught up in intense, and sometimes dangerous, situations. The journey becomes the reward for him as he pursues the seemingly impossible task. He pushes on, determined.

This is how I’m feeling about my Full Sail journey right now. I’m getting so much closer to the end, and I have to remain focused and motivated.

This past month the Multimedia Reporting class has helped me stay on target and keep moving forward with my work. There were a few setbacks with some of the stories I worked on, but it was all a great learning experience.

The three goals I had initially planned for this class were to, first, identify a key issue in my beat of wildlife conservation and put together a multimedia story about it, second, select an innovative media leader and learn how they use new media, and third, find out which technology is most effective in the new media field. I definitely knocked out the first one in the first week by doing a follow up story about invasive crayfish. The second goal I’ve been doing for a while now. I work with an NBC correspondent named Gadi Schwartz who has perfected doing important news in a condensed version for social media. The third goal I have also been thinking about quite a bit throughout the whole degree program. I feel my photo and video skills are the most effective mediums in my work. It’s easier to convey information quickly using these visual elements.

The class has prepared me for my journalism career by helping me further understand how to properly put together comprehensive and professional multimedia news stories. I really liked the follow-up assignment. It got me back out in the field with people I had previously done a story with, which helped deepen our professional connection and trust. Having this network will be a valuable resource I can use to create future content.