Ben Paul's Media Base

Final Week

pengbenjie — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:44:30 +0000

Well, here it is: the last week of the semester. I wrote a piece on the climategate scandal and produced ones on the Massachusetts senate primary and outcry over the leaked ‘Danish texts.’

The capstone series finally ran this week. We give a presentation this coming Wednesday, and then I’m done until January.

I do have my portfolio site up, but am experiencing the media server issues that have been plaguing me for the past week. I’m working on a quick fix at the moment, but hopefully I’ll have a solution worked out within the next few days.

Finishing things up

pengbenjie — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:19:43 +0000

This week I wrote a piece on Honduras’ presidential election and produced ones on GM’s CEO resigning, the world’s reaction to Obama’s Afghanistan announcement, and the Swiss referendum to ban minarets.

The capstone project is set to run next week. We’re conducting a focus group today and getting ready to put together our final presentation.

Coming soon: an online portfolio. I’ve had a domain name and hosting service since October, but am just now making time to fight with Dreamweaver so I can complete the site itself. Should be up within the next week.

Break time

pengbenjie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:33:51 +0000

With Obama’s trip to China I was able to pitch (and then write/produce) a Newsy piece on the Sino-U.S. economic relationship. I also produced a few pieces earlier in the week.

We finished the KBIA series, but it likely won’t run until after the holiday. Right now we’re trying to organize the focus group, but again the break is going to delay things.

Chaotic Convergence

pengbenjie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:56:45 +0000

I wrote and partially produced a piece examining the controversy surrounding the new position of EU president, produced one on Hugo Chavez potentially preparing for war, and finished production for videos on the unemployment situation and the acquittal of two Bear Stearns executives. I also worked on loading pieces into Newsy’s CMS.

Plenty of Capsonte work: in addition to trying to finish up the main series I went with a fellow KBIA producer to supplement her radio story and recorded a panel discussion on Rwanda for the Missourian. In addition to producing those stories and creating a video tutorial for my Flash player, we’re still working on organizing a focus group of KBIA stakeholders to evaluate our work.

Culmination

pengbenjie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:14:39 +0000

A bit of a disjointed week: I did final production on a video about Obama campaigning for governor races and wrote/produced a piece on GM’s decision not to sell Opel.

Still trying to finish up the Capstone productions in addition to coordinating focus groups and other means of measuring the success thereof.

Pushing ahead

pengbenjie — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:32:33 +0000

On Monday I produced pieces on the Virginia man caught with his pants down and a potential rethinking of ‘too big to fail.’ I also tried to uphold the international potential Newsy possesses – typically neglected by staff members – in proposing/advocating, writing, and producing a script about the beginning of Radovan Karadzic’s genocide trial.

Capstone is moving along: the interview last week went well so now it’s just producing that script/video. We’re also hoping to find another arts interviewee in time to produce and run our final piece within the next two weeks.

Karzai, Cloud Seeding, and Video Compression

pengbenjie — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:50:41 +0000

Big week for Afghanistan: I produced a video on the fraudulent elections and then wrote and produced one on the imminent runoff election. I also produced a piece about Moscow’s plan to ban snow.

We’re working on finishing up the video series so it can run early next month: today we’re shooting what should be the final video. I’m also tweaking the format of the player and video files to allow for higher quality video, including an option to go full screen.

Flashes of movement

pengbenjie — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:35:15 +0000

At Newsy I wrote and produced a piece on a UN fact-finding report on Israel issued last week and produced one on Nicholas Sarkozy’s son’s rising political status.

Major progress in Capstone: I made significant changes to the Flash player, voiced the first radio feature we shot, and set up the last one for next week. Later today we’ll be going to Fulton to record one subject, for which I’ll be focusing on video.

Newsy of the Week

pengbenjie — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:11:58 +0000

A fairly busy span: I wrote a piece on Iran letting in UN investigators and produced ones about Obama changing his plans about Afghanistan, a woman returning her adopted child, and relations with North Korea potentially improving.Midterms began this week so I haven’t gotten too much done for Capstone. Some work on the player and a few coming interviews, but nothing beyond that. Hopefully more this week – an interview on Sunday and then more player/presentation work.

Germany, Flash, and a Birthday

pengbenjie — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:50:47 +0000

Only two stories this week: I wrote and produced a piece analyzing reactions to Angela Merkel’s reelection and produced a video about problematic floor mats in Toyota vehicles. (Also, check this story in Wired – looks like we’re catching on!)

Despite the relatively low quantity, I feel like I’m improving on both ends of the process: my scripts are getting tighter and more focused and I’m recognizing frame-by-frame ways to improve the FinalCut look.

Not much to report from Capstone: The video player is looking like it will be more complicated than I’d hoped, but that’s part of the learning experience. On the other hand, the content is amassing quickly – the first package will be done a week from today, my teammate has video for the next one, and we’re both working to set up interviews for the remaining pieces.

What I’m watching: Happy 60th birthday to the PRC. Say what you will about its policies, but the fact remains that in that span China has transitioned from a nation humiliated by European colonialism to a major world power. Could it have happened under the GMD (KMT for Wade-Giles enthusiasts)? Probably. Could it have been done without the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution/post-Hundred Flowers/etc. ? Who knows. Will China’s importance continue to grow? Stay tuned.