Day 5: Beyond Writing
As the midpoint of the program came upon us, we began our day slowly. After getting organized, we sat around the large conference table in McKeon Hall as Ari Goldman played us a gentle tune called “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos” by Woodie Guthrie. The song tells a story of a 1948 plane crash in California. The flight, carrying an American crew and a group of illegal immigrants, was en route to Mexico to deport the immigrants. The plane tragically crashed. The radio and newspaper released the names of the crewmembers, but simply called the 29 Mexicans “deportees”. Although seemingly unrelated to journalism, the song had many connections with what we were learning. “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos” is written in a LIRQS (lede, impact, react, quote, scene) style, which is a format that journalists use to write articles. The song also uses devices to make it more personal, for example, using Spanish lyrics: Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria. Writing and song are more connected than we ever expected.
After our informative discussion about song and journalism, we dove into a conversation about ways other than writing we can use to tell a story. Jihii Jolly presented us with a video documentary about people in nursing homes with Alzheimer’s disease. The film, created by the San Francisco Chronicle, gives a heartbreaking look into the daily lives of elders affected by the disease. Though saddening, the video provides the viewers some comic relief, as it cuts to a woman singing her favorite song while smiling and giggling. We learned that video journalism is just as effective as writing. Video journalism makes stories more visual and clear to its audiences. If a topic is confusing, video journalism can break down the confusing material into something more gentle and easy to absorb for visual learners.
Following Jihii’s presentation, Evan Simko-Bednarski shared some works of photojournalism with us. Like video journalism, photojournalism makes stories more intimate. He showed us a photo essay from LIFE Magazine called “‘Country Doctor”. The 1948 series tells a story of a doctor, the only one within a 400 square-mile-radius. Each frame gives, as Evan calls it, “a sense of chaos of his life,” each picture depicting the doctor with different patients in hectic settings. Photojournalism can physically show a viewer a situation instead of describing it in words. Photojournalism cuts out the middle man. “Photojournalism has a high sense of intimacy”, Evan says. “Very private moments are made public.” It is evolving and improving everyday, enhancing the viewer’s experience more and more.
New means of sharing information are created everyday. Whether new a new camera is created to make videos sharper, or programmers create more advanced photoshop tools, sharing stories gets more personal and less general. By describing stories of individuals, groups are not as generalized, like the deceased immigrants in the plane crash were. As Evan explained, “Combining photo, video, and writing can help to get more personal and not group people together.”
