Soundslides1 Critique..brrr!

I am critiquing Saman’s soundslides called Muslim Women Celebrate Ramadan in Gainesville.

1. Well, first off I do think there is a story there. It is obviously a story about a celebration. The narration explains what the event is and the visuals complement and add to what she is saying most of the time. For eg: The pictures of the food are delicious! They actually give you a feel of what it must be like to be ravenously hungry the whole day and eat only after sundown.

2. It is not necessarily the narration of the event that draws me in or even the sequence of events. What is interesting is the image of the subject herself. She is someone who is obviously wearing make up so I am sure she is relatively modern. However, her headscarf, and I mean no disrespect, at least in the conventional sense is not something we ordinarily see in this part of the world. That is what makes me “curious” to know more.

3. I am a little undecided about the conclusion. The audio seems to wind things up perfectly. However, I am not sure whether I would like to see the picture of the girl praying as the last image, or of her being in a reflective mood (This is the original last one). Hmm, actually I would like to see the praying image last. I think that would make a perfect ending with the prayer chant.

4. It did not necessarily seem like a campus life story. Though she says she is a minor, it would have been a big help to the project if Saman had named the soundslides Muslim Women Students or something similar with “students” in it. However, there are some pictures of her on campus and with other students. Somehow most of the story seems off campus. Overall 65% (not profile) about Ramadan , 35% campus story.

5. Just as someone viewing the soundslide, I would suggest taking out 2 of the red eye picture. Sadly, they are nice pictures, but maybe she was just unlucky. I can imagine how much it would hurt to take those out if they were “perfect” shots. But they are a little jarring.

Also, I would have LOVED to see a picture of the subject in a cafeteria on campus when she says “It is tough to see other people eating”. I see a picture of her with a good expression related to the audio, but she is nowhere near any food! I would have loved loved loved to see that shot.

6. I LOVED the prayer pictures, and the audio going with it. I think they were the best part of the soundslides because they really convey the feel of the event.

Soundslides One- Done!

The basic inspiration behind my Soundslides 1 Story, was my own experience as the only Indian student in the Journalism Department at UF. When Rajul came in she was the only one in her department too! Only the second Indian in the entire college of Journalism. Knowing from personal experience I wanted to document the isolation Indian students feel, from their own community, who are mostly in the Computer Sciences. There is no one to fall back upon. I know for a fact that she was extremely unhappy initially. However, he husband’s support helped her get through the depression.

Ironically, it was her husband’s hesitation which put a spoke in my Project. Initially, she agreed to it. Later, when her husband got back from his conference in Canada, he was a little apprehensive about me coming into their home and taking pictures, or of taking pictures of them together. Oh well! All’s well..and here is the product. Enjoy!

http://plaza.ufl.edu/rati123/SoundSlides1/

My photo 1 attempts

These were the two pictures I liked from my Photo 1 assignment. One of them was not approved by Professor McAdams, as it did not advance the story, but I was really attached to it so I wanted to show it off.

This was the good one. This one was aimed at showing the subject looking lonely and lost in a crowd. It was actually quite accidental. I was supposed to meet with her in school, but ended up on the same bus with her. The bus was so crowded that she did not notice me for a while — until of course after this shot. But I loved this picture. It was a shot I wasn’t anticipating. It just happened.

This was the one I wanted to keep, but I don’t think I can. It was ideally supposed to be an introductory picture of the subject, which gave us a glimpse of the fact that she is a student and that she is married. The necklace she is wearing is a symbol of marriage. It is the American equivalent of a ring. However, Professor McAdams thought it wouldn’t advance the story too much so I may take it out.

However, this close up reallly had me wishing we were doing profiles instead. Ah! The agony of losing one good picture!

Nat Sound – Less is more?

I know we are all encouraged to use the best equipment possible to record interviews, but I made quite an interesting discovery while recording the nat sound for my interview. Before going any further, I must clarify that I am all for recording interviews with the best quality equipment. What I am talking about is the nat sound.

Before I bought my own recorder, I was experimenting with an old recorder borrowed from a friend. Some of the nat sound I recorded involved the sounds of a crowd. When I went home and heard the recording, I was disappointed. The sounds of the crowd were muffled. We had heard in class, time and again, the importance of clear recording.

However, one discovery I made was that the muffled effect provided by the old recorder was actually perfect for the background sound, under the voice of my subject. Another question was whether purposely using such a recorder would constitute an “unethical practice”.

I would be very interested in knowing if anyone else has had any similar serendipitous encounters while recording the nat sound for their slide show.

A question on interview questions

Preparing for the interview with my subject I was faced with an ethical dilemma. Am I, or am I not allowed to ask leading questions? Especially since we are trying to make the soundslides as ‘interesting’ as possible? Is there a degree to which I can push the envelope or is it just a plain old “No”?

What was interesting to me was, since I was focusing so much on the subject I was not thinking too much about what (the ethics of) questions I was going to ask.

So, I would definitely like to bring this up in class to know if there is a right or wrong answer.

Also, here is something from today’s reading http://www.visualedge.org/lessons/SoundStory.pdf “Don’t put words in people’s mouths. During an interview, you can ask someone to repeat something and speak in a full sentence, but remember that your job is to elicit a story, not build one based on your own preconceived notions. Don’t stage events.”

Does that mean the right answer is no?