Your slideshow assignment and SoundSlides

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Feb 242012
 

In this course, we use SoundSlides Plus to create audio slideshows. 

We will go through the entire process together from the beginning to the end in class next week, but for your future reference, here is what you need to do for the assignment.

Instruction

1. Create a project folder under your name and student number (e.g. masato012345)

2. Audio: Your audio file must be in mp3 (64 kbps/mono) format and saved in the project folder

  • Remember that sound quality is part of the assessment. Wear a headphone and pay attention to details when you record your interviews and ambient sound.
  • Edit carefully. TRT (total running time) must not be longer than 2 min. 30 sec.
  • Adjust the level. Normalizing might help.
  • Make sue that your edited monologue does not misrepresent your subject in any way. Also, be aware of the ethical issues when you are mixing voice track and ambient sound.
  • Do not add any background music in the post production unless your are certain that it is copyright and royalty free.
  • You need a mp3 file encoded in mono at 64kbps. The easiest way to do this is to save the file in WAVE format in Audition in the lab and then covert it to mp3 by using iTunes at home (or on your laptop), perhaps.

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How to embed audio files on your WordPress.com site

 How To  No Responses »
Feb 242012
 

Here is the official instruction from the WordPress.com service. The simplest is perhaps the method number one — upload the mp3 file on the internet and then embed the file on the website.

You can use a web-based storage service called minus to achieve this. Or, you can also use similar services like DropBox (use the public folder to store the files).

Alternatively, you can also use SoundCloud, which will give you a different audio player on your website (method number six). And this is the method we tried yesterday. It looks nicer and you can also include images.

Audio editing applications

 How To  No Responses »
Feb 212012
 

In the class what we use to edit sound is called Adobe Audition, but you can also try a free audio editor called Audacity if you don’t want to come to the lab whenever you need to edit an audio file; and yes, Garageband is another option for Mac users. Just for your information, here is a list of some helpful web resources for you to learn how to use the software.

The other software worth mentioning here is called “Hindenburg- Journalist” and it looks very promising, although it is not free and I have not yet personally tried it out yet.

If you didn’t like Audacity’s interface, you may want to try this application instead. There is a very detailed review of this software by Transom.

Some online journalism educators also mention this software once in a while on their blogs. So, I guess it’s worth checking it out.

Slideshow story ideas

 Notes  No Responses »
Feb 162012
 

You will also need to be ready to discuss your story ideas in the next week’s lecture. Here are some tips and requirement for the audio slideshow assignment.

  • It must be a visual story. Remember that we are trying to pick best medium to tell a story in this course. If your story is not visually-oriented, there is no point of using photos.
  • It must be a character-driven narrative with integrated ambient sound. In other words, your story must be told by the voice(s) of the person(s) in the story.
  • Keep in mind that even if you have stunning photos, if the audio quality is poor, your story wouldn’t be good. It’s very important to have a good interview strategy for recording and a plan for sound gathering.
  • The project should be not more than 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
  • We will publish your story on the Westside Stories with accompanying text which should be about 300 words.
  • Your interview can be done in any language but if not in English, you will need to give subtitles.
  • Try to bring out the human aspect of the story. The bigger picture can be told and explained in the text. Make your slideshow up-close and personal.

Note: The Westside Stories is a hyper-local news website for the local community (HKU’s neighborhood). It covers key persons, venues, events, issues and concerns of the community.

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