Multimedia journalism - first impressions and lessons learned

Working with multimedia is far more interesting than working with just a single meduim. Last year I specialised in Radio and by the end of the year i found myself getting bored with it. It became monotonous going out getting a story, editing it, playing it. By working with multimedia it creates so many dimensions to the story. I really enjoyed working with the visual part of it. As a former radio student it was awesome to see a story coming alive visually. I can see now that so much of what we see can give so much information about something that sound might not necessarily show.

But I did grasp how using different mediums complement one another and give added meaning. The photostories needed sound in order for them to have some sort of meaning or relevance. Sound also plays a powerful role in how something visual is represented. For instance the hypnotist photostory by itself with no sound just looked like a bunch of people hypnotised. But then we added a narrtive of Steph speaking in the way that he puts people under. Then we added a backing track of weird, dark almost gothic music. All of a sudden the photostory became creepy and almost sinister. It was great! Its amasing how you can change the mood of a piece and ultimatley the way people perceive something just by adding sound.

Working with multmedia is log process. Because we not limiting ourselves to one medium like the other specialisations it takes a lot more time in creating a packaged story. The writing has to be perfect, the pictures, the sound. All the different mediums also have to gel together and flow with one another.

So far I have had a good experience working with the different mediums. It makes creating a package so much more interesting and eclectic. Also I like that I am learning new skills and broadening my knowledge.