CNN iReport Critique

What I liked:
-They give you a tour of the website when you first sign up
-The explore tab gives you latest iReports, editors picks, featured iReporters, a location finder, and more.
-Easy to navigate
-Built into CNN's regular website
-Very in depth "Contact Us" page
-Assignment desk gives you an opportunity to write stories with some ideas they have given

What I disliked:
-The "main" screen doesn't have very much going for it. All it really shows is when TeamiReport favorited a new iReport and a little bit of your profile information on the side.

Overall, I think it is a good idea because it gives people an opportunity to be able to learn how to create good stories, and have a forum for them to be viewed.

Audio Slideshow-Red Tin Box

For our audio slideshow project, we decided to focus on Red Tin Box. Red Tin Box has been a band since 2011, and met at Lyndon State College in common Music Business Industry classes. Ever since then they have taken steps to creating music, gathering a fan base, and performing. Up until this 2013-2014 school year, they played mostly local and college venues and events.

Just recently, the band went on their first tour during Lyndon’s October break. Mike, one of the band members, worked alongside Tyler Kittleman. Mike wanted help setting up a tour, and turned to Tyler for assistance. Throughout the tour, Tyler eventually took on the position of band manager, fulfilling a personal goal of his own. They travelled to various locations in Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, 

Massachusetts, Washington DC, and Virginia.

Tiana Thompson, a Lyndon State Student, went to Higher Ground in Burlington on Red Tin Box’s last tour date to see them perform. Tiana is a huge fan, and is a symbol for the loyal fan base that Red Tin Box has acquired at Lyndon. Tiana and the band members share a relationship based on the bands twiiter page, and interact regularly.

Kittleman took on the jobs of general manager, tour manager, and production manager all in one. “I’m basically like all of their dads, I’m their daddy,” said Tyler. He describes his job as driving them around, booking their shows, and making sure they get there on time. “I make sure they comb their hair, I make sure they’re wearing the correct suits because you don’t want to watch Garret come in with dog poop on his boots…gotta make sure they look nice,” said Tyler.

Tyler and Mike sat down to figure out the tour, and Tyler decided he wanted them to play a show every night of the week. Tyler felt a sense of accomplishment in himself and the guys for being able to play a venue every night of the week. The guys wanted to stop and see their girlfriends, but Tyler said no, “This isn’t a girlfriend tour, we want to make this into something.”

Tyler personally sees himself staying with the group after college, and the real question he faces is if they want to stay with him. He hope they can continue to see eye to eye after graduation, and he can continue to work for them. Tyler sees Red Tin Box going pretty far, and would like to be a part of the success and the experience.

Both members of our group contributed:

Photos: Rachel Veitch and Red Tin Box

Photo editing: Rachel Veitch and Camille DeLongis

Audio: Camille DeLongis and Rachel Veitch

Soundslide Editing: Rachel Veitch and Camille DeLongis

Text: Camille DeLongis and Rachel Veitch

Music: “I Killed the Captain” by Red Tin Box

Synopsis - Audio Slideshow Project

For our project we would like to highlight Red Tin Box. Red Tin Box is a band here at Lyndon who play many different events both on and off campus. We would like to do our slideshow on the band so we can share the story of how they got started, what they have been doing and are currently doing, and where they plan to go in the future.

It would be an attention grabbing piece because so many students here are interested in the band.

We plan to have an interview the band for sound bites to incorporate throughout the slideshow. We are going to ask them to play a song for us for additional audio. We would take pictures of both the interview and the performance.

For this project, Camille will be interviewing the band and recording audio of the interview and performance, ad Rachel takes the pictures. We will be working together to create the four hundred word accompaniment.

For our accompaniment we will be talking about the tour that they just went on over October break. We may also interview their manager for his perspective on the tour, and a fan who went to one of the shows, for the four hundred word story.

Slideshow & Photo Gallery Critiques

Photo Gallery:
This photo gallery serves as a "How to be a good wedding guest" guide.

It uses pictures to show what it is describing, and captions to explain it.

For example, one picture was of guests seated at the ceremony, and the caption is "Make sure you arrive on time so you don't walk in after the bride."

These tools worked well to make the gallery have a good storytelling technique. From start to finish, you are told the 'story' of how to achieve being a good wedding guest.

I believe it does a decent job compared to other slideshows and photo galleries because it has an easy to follow, coherent story.

There is no audio, and I think it did not make much of a difference, and the overall 'story' was just as good.

Slideshow 1:
This slideshow serves as a journey through the Bristol International Balloon Festival.

It uses pictures to show the balloons, the people, the filling process, the balloons in the air, and the landing process.

This slideshow had audio. A woman narrated some of the slideshow to tell the watcher what was going on, and it used natural sound clips from the festival.

These tools worked really well because you visually got a good sense about what goes on at the festival, and the audio tells you what is going on and what the festival is about, using natural sound that actually tells the story and makes you feel like you are there.

I think this did a very good job, maybe better than many slideshows because of its integration of narration, natural sound, and pictures.

Slideshow 2:
This slideshow serves to show the different women of Woody Allen's films.

It uses only pictures to show the different women that he worked with.

The slideshow did not have audio or captions.

These tools worked well, showing a very simplistic slideshow, while still telling the story of the women he worked with. I think that it tells everything it needs to with just the photos, which is the ultimate job of the photographer-to be able to tell the story using the picture alone.

I think compared to the photo gallery and first slideshow, it worked very well.

Slideshow Practice