It's Never Too Early to Start Thinking About the Final Project

This semester, the final project is all about you and your dream digital media project.
If you had the money and the staff to launch a digital media outlet or to create an app or to do something that no one in the communications field has ever done before, what would it be?
You need to think outside the box. You will have to create a prototype. You will have to answer some basic questions about your idea.
Here's a good example of thinking different. KCRW is the Public Radio station in Santa Monica. It just launched a YouTube channel that "will stream themed video playlists curated and hosted by the station's DJs."
That's right. Radio DJs curating (collecting and using their judgment and news sense to customize and present the material) video.
Check out the video and start dreaming of what you can do. This is the first step in becoming an entrepreneurial journalist.

Notes and Links for Guidance on Final Project

What is a multimedia story?

A multimedia story is some combination of text, still photographs, video clips, audio, graphics and interactivity presented on a website in away that complements each part, but does not repeat content. .

So instead of having a text version of a story accompanied by a video clip that essentially tells the same story, different parts of a story are told using different media. The key is using the media form - video, audio, photos, text, animation - that will present a segment of a story in the most compelling and informative way.

What isn't a multimedia story? 

CNN, the Washington Post and MSNBC.com are examples of multimedia sites. They have text. They have video clips. They have audio. They have still photographs. They have interactive graphics. But the main stories on these sites are often produced in either text or video or audio to stand alone. Photos are used with  text often  photos the same way they would be used  in a newspaper or magazine. The video is usually the same version that appears on television. Rarely are video, text, still photos, audio and graphics integrated into the same story. Usually, they are stand-alone stories, each produced for a different media about the same subject, that are then aggregated into multimedia packages.

That's not what we want to do in the final project.

Storyboarding

Why do a storyboard?

A storyboard is a sketch of how to organize a story and a list of its contents.

A storyboard helps you:

• Define the parameters of a story within available resources and time 
• Organize and focus a story 
• Figure out what medium to use for each part of the story 

How to do a rough storyboard

Divide the story into its logical, parts, such as:

• an opening paragraph, that tells why this story is important 
• snippets of profiles of the main person or people in the story 
• time, place of the event or situation 
• examples of a process or how something works 
• pros and cons (this is good if you are going to tackle an issue)
• the history of the event or situation 

Here are some examples of good multimedia storytelling:

Story Shell: (Classic NPR Style) Hurricane Katrina Aftermath

Story Shell: (Narrative emphasis) JD Learns to Cook

Issues Shell: Protest Movements in Oakland

Story Shell: Guerrilla Art Galleries in San Jose