Ever want to fly?

For lack of better word, this post will be all about flying, flying through an assignment and flying through a 60 Minutes story.

This last week was not too terrible for me as far as how busy I was. My convergence group managed to put together our story after getting our ideas rejected about four times. When we finally were approved Monday morning leaving us only 4 days to work on a week-turn story. We got lucky and managed to research and set up all our interviews quickly. Luckily for us, everyone we needed to talk to was available and willing.

Our story was on medical marijuana, looking at how the new federal guidelines will not affect Columbia's ordinance. We also took the time to find out how legalizing the possession of medical marijuana in a state that doesn't allow it has worked since it has now been five years since it was implemented.

We quickly found a great source to be our main character around the story. She has multiple sclerosis and has to uses the drug every evening before going to sleep to help control her muscles. She was easy to find, and very open. The part that was difficult in this story was trying to figure out how much about her we wanted to tell and exactly how because the topic is so controversial and illegal in the rest of the state.

The biggest concern came with how she gets the marijuana. Since the law only allows possession of medical marijuana, she still can't legally buy it in any way. She briefly mentioned that she gets hers through the mail, but mentioning this in our story might get her into trouble, but it does bring up a good point. Safety of the product, working with the black market and sending it all through the US postal service added an interesting aspect to the story.

In the end we decided that mentioning how she got it was irrelevant to the rest of the story, so we stayed with saying that she gets it from the black market, but not saying how. This may have been a mistake, because the small fact did add an extra "umph" to the story because getting the marijuana is something she still has to be cautious about.

The next step, advocates say, is making it legal to buy the marijuana for medical purposes, and having a safe place to buy it, as in NOT in the black market. This alone should have led me to explore where and how she gets the marijuana further.

"Birdmen" - 60 Minutes

Steve Kroft went to Norway to follow a group of skydivers that use special suits that allow them to glide longer than a typical free fall.

The video alone for this story is incredible. They had cameras hooked up to the bodies of the divers, they had cameramen on the edge of the cliff, in a helicopter and on the ground. They had to have done several jumps to get all these angles.

Had they not had the cameras hooked up to the bodies, the video would have been boring and less dramatic. You would not have been able to feel the speed. The quality of the picture from those cameras were also, surprisingly, very, very good. Usually when they hook up video camera's to skydivers the picture seems very amateur. They did a good job of setting the cameras up in a great position.

The quotes were fine but nothing great. It was definitely the video (not to mention the Norwegian scenery) that made this story.

Never too much?

This past couple of weeks I spent learning a lot of lessons the hard way. Granted, I have been told you aren't professional until you've made every mistake twice (and learned from it) but still, it was frustrating.

My first mistake, or ultimate challenge, however you want to look at it, was giving myself a ridiculous schedule this semester. Unfortunately the end result was me being a caffeinated zombie walking through what I called a life. I am now certain that life is more than being one step ahead of myself, so I can graduate and get to Wales faster, where a one-year graduate program on intercultural and global politics (emphasizing in war and conflict) and, oh yeah, my Danish boyfriend await me. I need to take more time to myself, actually get sleep, and enjoy a little bit of the social life that comes with college. I already feel like I'm three to four years older than I am so there's no reason to push it further.

Don't get me wrong, I love a challenge and I love proving people wrong that I can handle a lot and do well at the same time, but I think I may have outdone myself this time. Needless to say, I broke down a bit last Monday, but managed to talk to enough people and take enough time to myself this weekend to make-up for it. I'm never afraid to ask for help when I need it, but I am still too stubborn to drop any job, class or organization, and I plan to finish the semester full force.

My second mistake led me to learn to put my own work before friends' work. In short, I go out of my way too often for people. I am often told that I'm too nice and shouldn't put up with a lot of things that happen to me. I am a believer in what goes around comes around, but I am probably too much of a doormat sometimes, and I have a feeling that if I keep that up, I will be consistently giving away story ideas, stand-up ideas, script ideas etc. for friends going through "emergencies." I have to remember to get my own stuff done first and remember that in the end, if I keep that up, I may as well be giving away my career to someone else so they can take credit. Note to self: keep my good ideas for myself and learn to say "no".

I also feel like I am getting much better at seeing my final product sooner in the process of putting together a package. I am getting better at shooting all the elements I need, thinking ahead, and planning out my story in my head ahead of time.


Story for this blog: Gopher stadium

After the Minnesota Gophers got ready for and played their first game, I was lured to a long-form story that several of KARE 11's journalists put together. In short, I loved it. The story was wrapped around a few very interesting people, the creativity with the editing was really good and I felt a sense of being there.

I have always respected KARE 11 for their work and I think this story is a good example of why. I'll start at the beginning. I love that they used the young kid jumping in front of the camera. Normally that would be extremely cheesy, but when trying to show the excitement of the fans I think it fits in and adds to the story, showing a range of age and excitement.

I love the editing where they put shots of drums and aerial shots of the stadium setting an exciting mood for the viewer, like something big is coming up, and for the fans at the game, that's exactly how it was. They go through several people and try to get all senses from tasting to seeing to hearing to practically feeling the experience of getting a new stadium.

I love the shot where the photographer must have been riding in the back of the fan's truck as he pulls into the tailgating lot with the Gopher flag on top flapping in the wind.

At about 2:05 in the video, they do an interview with a man in the nose bleed seats. I like how they framed it. He is still in the moment of watching the game and his son next to him is still intently staring and experiencing the game. It's like we're right there with them at the game with the interview taking place within the context of all of it. And they covered more than all sides of the fan's stories from old to young, and from fans in the front row to those not even sitting in the stadium and they talk to an announcer and to a past player as well. That's what I think what makes this story so interesting, the array of people in it.

I also love that the sequences used throughout the piece are from several distances and angles that are impossible with only one photographer. I also love the use of photographs, emphasizing big moments of the game and slowing them down for viewers to see. I think the change of pace is okay in this case and the first time I watched it, I didn't feel like I noticed they were photographs. They flowed, except the photo of the first field goal and points of the game, that one may have hung around a bit too long. However, this story was very inspirational to me and it's great to see what journalist can put together as a larger team than we are used to working with.