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PART I1I SHARING YOUR WORK
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story-driven slide shows
Story-driven slide shows feature narratives locked to sound tracks. They come in two flavors: journalistic and anecdotal.
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CHAPTER 5: SLIDE SHOWS
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A raconteur is someone who excels at telling anecdotes. These are most often very personal accounts of first-hand experience.
journalistic reporting
Journalism reports on human affairs—people, events, places, and things. You don’t have to work for the New York Times or National Geographic to be a journalist. We are all reporters who cover the important events in our lives. But few of us act like good journalists. We don’t take the time to think about either the scope of coverage or the specific details.
Amani Willett
Trained reporters look for a “hook” to grab their audi- ence’s interest. And right from the beginning, they hunt for a satisfying way to end their report. Here are some other things to keep in mind:
voice and tense: Do you want to include your own voice as an active observer? There is the third-person, past-tense approach: “The bikers assembled at dawn.” Or there is the first-person, present-tense approach: “I am shivering as I join the other riders.”
Everyone likes a party. We find any excuse to gather and have fun.
But it’s not easy to document these events in a way that catches the quality of the event and sidesteps all the clichés. The slides here were shot by a really accomplished photographer, Amani Willett, at the Las Vegas bachelor party of a college chum. This sample contains about a quarter of the material, yet it demonstrates a number of solid journal- istic techniques.
3. Build to central event. Both the selection of shots and their dura- tion should build in some way. The largest part of the show follows contours of the party (shots 7 through 10).
one represents many: This is a classic gambit: select one person to stand for the experiences of larger groups. U.S. presidents do this when they address Congress by pointing to a few unsung heroes sitting in the gallery and looking awkward.
Here are five tips for getting good coverage of an event:
4. Look for details that say a lot. Artsy details reveal character and provide little breaks between different parts of a slide show. The pho- tographer shot himself stalking good pix, and he spotted provocative architectural details (red wall, and empty corridor) to use in transitions or to fill in a sequence.
pros and cons: Good journalism always seeks to tell all sides of a story. Try to be a neutral observer, even at events where you are an insider.
1. Set the stage. Start shooting before things start. Here the photog- rapher establishes Las Vegas and introduces the bachelor (shots 1, 2, and 3, top row).
5. End with a flourish. Your slide show audience should know it’s at the end. A last signature slide is essential.
calls to action: A slide show can be a rant or a plea or a cautionary tale. It can involve a very specific call to action.
2. Choose “B” characters. Try to build short sequences around one or two people who are not at the center of the story. Here a running joke evolve around a friend who did a lot of sleeping (shots4, 5, and 6).