Tag: writing

I create, therefore I am

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating.” – Henri Bergson. Photo from a stop-frame animation by fotologic/flickr

TOPIC: Free

TO DO DURING THE BREAK: An original story of a standard that can be published on the Sydney TAFE Media news site. It can be told any way you like – a series of photos, a written story, a video, a radio podcast. Post your story on your WordPress and tweet the link (mention me – @babelfishes) when it’s done. NB: This is entirely voluntary – it’s not my style to set homework for holidays. But just in case you wanted something to do 🙂 )

Continue reading “I create, therefore I am”

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Let’s write!

Eyeball tattooing may have inadvertently been legalised by the NSW government. The practice can cause blindness. Photo: Paul Domenick/CC/flickr

Today you’ll put your new news writing skills into practice. You may write as many stories as you like, but at least two must be in inverted pyramid style (refer to last Friday’s News Conference post and the Style and Structure .ppts if you need a reminder).

Continue reading “Let’s write!”

Intro to features and longer stories

Photo: zetson/flickr, some rights reserved

Classwork for this week:

Take a look at a few examples of non-fiction writing or extended audio or video features (please see the resources below, or of course you may choose your own). Draw up lists which will show how each story differs in respect to the following elements:

  • story purpose
  • audience types and requirements
  • style
  • any links between word length or duration, style, audience, publication, and purpose
  • note especially how each story opens, and how it ends (very different from the inverted pyramid story)
  • other elements, such as photographs, illustrations, captions, supers, subtitles, headlines, and standfirsts (a ‘standfirst’ is a short paragraph that outlines the story to come)

RESOURCES:

Chris Solomon, outsideonline.com – Feet Lost and Found in the Pacific Northwest

Ruth Pollard, The Sydney Morning Herald – Grief grips Gaza

N.R. Kleinfeld, The New York Times – The Lonely Death of George Bell

Jon Ronson, The Guardian – Justin Bieber: One day with the most Googled name on the planet

The Electric Typewriter – 10 great articles by Tom Junod (read especially ‘Falling Man’)

Another one by Tom Junod, Esquire Magazine – Have you met The Lips?

Sarah Dingle, ABC Radio National – The Salvos: A matter of trust (.mp3 download link is above the image)

ABC Radio National – Researchers fear our sense of silence is changing as our daily noise builds

BBC News Magazine – The girl who gets gifts from birds

upstart magazine – 100 articles that every journalist should read

 

COMPLETE FOR CLASS NEXT WEEK:

Start to develop ideas for your own extended feature story (written, audio or video) and write an outline of each idea. The story you decide upon will be the one you complete for your assessment in this subject. Part of the assessment asks you to pitch the story to a media organisation or website to be published.

Your completed feature will be at least 1,000-1,500 words (written feature), or five minutes’ duration (audio or video).

Your story outline should include:

  • the publication you’re aiming for, and a description of its audience
  • the purpose of your story
  • the voice, tone, and style you plan to use
  • the type of story, e.g. profile, background story (political, science, health, education)
  • the names or occupations of people you will interview
  • where you will conduct research for the story
  • how you plan to organise your information (i.e. how you will organise files and research, and how you’ll back up work as you go)

Opinion pieces will not be accepted for this assessment. You will need to interview at least three people for your story, and show evidence of research in places other than the Internet.