02-29-08

I feel like I’ve been neglecting this journal. Since I wrote last time, I have just been cutting something that I record two weeks ago. A Univ. of Mich prof. spoke before the SJMC. There were 50-minutes of material and clips to listen to and first it was hard to isolate what I was going to keep. There were several fascinating segments to make into a story.

After my meeting with Kate Moos, I noticed that I had begun to stray away from the values or rules, or both, that I learned at NPR. Basically, I had forgotten to keep just what I needed to tell the story. Keep it simple. After I chose the best bit, it was easier, but then I found a different problem: how to transition from clip to clip? Did I want to voice between bits or not?

I don’t like tracking (voicing) more than I have to, more than twice at most. Tracking is its own pain in the butt – or I need to write that it’s a special skill that I’m still working at. It’s still too new to me – all the energy that I must put into it for me to sound interesting! It’s a broad vocal performance and I have only my subjectivity as the arbitrator of what was good.

Kate Moos noticed my obvious blind spot. I need a producer, someone I can trust to produce me. I need a set of fresh ears, thoughts and approaches to produce a great story.

When I report on Gordon Parks High School's dedication, that will be an interesting two or three steps up on complexity from what I’ve been doing. It will be the closest to what I did with Intern Edition. There will be many voices. I will include Park’s music and a student’s voiced poetry. I want to use the poetry; we’ll see if it makes the cut.