The deportation report from the Washington Post doesn’t seem to be working, but I will try again later.
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Here are my initial comments on the Displaced to Kabul soundslide from the New York Times.
The pice benefits from, actually it survives on stunning photography taken at the site, rendering other elements almost un necessary. Although it is outlined in the voiceover, the photos in black and white help to accentuate the desolate and desperate scene being portrayed. I am not a photographer by any means, so I will not attempt to analyze this element further.
The piece could benefit from some background sound from the site, even if subtle. It is not unreasonable to expect this since someone had to have been at the site to take the photographs, and I’m pretty sure audio recording equipment would have been available to a Times photographer or reporter. I should emphasize the subtlety of the background so as it does not take away from the photos themselves, only makes them feel a bit more dynamic.
The voiceover is generic and overly factual. This is aurally treated as a news copy story and visually treated as a feature. The piece would be better if driven by a character, and even better if clips from an interview with the character are used to drive the story.
Still, the voiceover is well read and works smoothly with the visuals. The format is also very simple, stylish, and user friendly. It can easily encorportate the changes I’ve suggested.
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The Reach of War soundslide from the Times takes one of my audio suggestion by having specific characters drive the story with interview clips, which is far more compelling and authentic than any voiceover. There is no background sound, but in the circumstances, it would have been difficult as it seems the visuals were numerous and from many different locations.
The photographs were not as stunning as those in the first soundslide, although their content was equally compelling. They helped direct the storyline, as they seemend to follow the narrative in the clips. In this sense, they felt more like still b-roll shots put over the clips rather than photos with clips or audio that accompany them.
The only thing i would change is the pacing of the soundslide. It moved awefully quickly, both visually and aurally. There was little room to breathe in this intense seven minutes of content. It was paced like a TV news report when it was really an online profile of the experiences of wounded veterans.
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