Due: Last Day of Class. Story will drop one full letter grade for each 24 hour period it is late. A story turned in Wednesday that was an A will become a B and so on. On the last day, you will present your story to the class.
Minimum of five interviews and at least one documentary source (such as a government or nonprofit report, census bureau statistics, etc.) *No* CSUN professors can be interviewed for this story. (Professors at other universities are OK.)
Story must include video and text and should be posted to your class blog (post to blog of each team member) as well as to a citizen journalism site. Teams will consist of three members. If you are a misanthrope and cannot work in a team, you can do the assignment alone, but you cannot do *less.*
1. Video should
• be approximately 2 ½ - 3 minutes long.
• identify key interviewees with full names.
• spell correctly/grammatically any text in the video
• not include material that is copyrighted (if you use music, make sure it is creative commons, etc. Indicate in a note attached to your paperwork the source of the music).
• load and play properly.
• It can be first person, it can have “attitude,” but it should not be offensive. Check with Prof Wall if in doubt.
2. Text
• should be around 300 words.
• should contain additional, different information than the video — that is, it should complement rather than merely repeat. Quotes not used in the video version, for example, might be worked into the text version.
• should be written in appropriate online style (generally present tense and slightly less complex than print.)
• should include at least two working links, properly embedded (i.e., do not simply post a URL).
All work must be done by the team members and should not be pulling reporting done by someone else whether a professional or amateur. (Don’t cheat!)
Supporting research, including all interview notes, printouts of reports, websites, etc. must be turned in with your project.
Your place should be a place with “problems.”
*a neighborhood prone to wildfires (such as some in the hills near campus)
*a neighborhood prone to earthquakes
*a neighborhood with poor quality drinking water
*a neighborhood with mountain lions or other wildlife
*a neighborhood in the Hollywood or other hills that make getting emergency vehicles in difficult
*a neighborhood near the Rose Bowl or other similar venue (Dodger Stadium, Staples, etc) with lots of traffic and related problems
*a neighborhood near LAX (noise problems)
*a neighborhood in Hollywood (noise, traffic, etc.)
* a neighborhood near a freeway (pollution/health problems)
*a neighborhood with schools that have high drop-out rates and/or low test scores
* a neighborhood next to a beach with poor quality water (such as some in Santa Monica or nearby)
* a neighborhood with a lot of “B” restaurants (usually seafood, sushi or other similar foods)
Your grade will be based on the complete package. Areas that will be considered:
• Reporting. Did you interview enough sources? Get good quotes? Did you do enough background research to carry out the project? Locate strong documentary sources? Are there holes in your reporting?
• Visuals. Is your video interesting or static (i.e., one person behind a desk for 3 minutes is static). Do you use multiple scenes? Is the video lit well? Or are parts of the interviews/content too dark on upload? Is the camera shaky or did you use the tripod?
Do you use the zoom too much? Are the cuts between scenes clean (i.e, don’t cut off someone speaking without letting the words end, etc.)?
• Writing. Is the writing specific and vivid? Do you use conversational language? Written in an online style?
• Grammar/Spelling. Is your story grammatically correct? This includes punctuation, subject-verb agreement, etc. Are spellings correct?
• Supporting documents. Were these included in the package you turn in (interview notes, documents, etc.)
• Instructions. Did you follow the assignment instructions?
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