On day one of this years Interactive Media Workshop, we learned a lot of interview skills as well as the usages of phone cameras, mainly the usage of Snapchat in day-to-day life for journalistic use.
The first thing that we did this week was learn about how to use and conduct a professional interview.
We learned that a good reason to conduct an interview is for writers block, it can give extra information needed for the writing being done. We learned many tools for good interviews, including smiling, silence, open-ended questions, superlatives (or extremes, meaning questions using the words “best” or “worst”), control (for the journalist to remember that they are in control. It is always okay to stop and ask questions), flow and details (or specifics).
A big tip for all journalists to take up is you must always pulling the thread. Andrew Conte said, a question you should always ask at the end of an interview is “is there anything that I should’ve asked you,but I didn’t?”
After the lesson on interviews, we headed over to the Duquesne Incline for a photo walking tour.
But first, we got a lesson on Snapchat photojournalism. We learned about the usages for Grids on our iPhone cameras, as well as the HDR and AF Lock functions.
When we got to the incline, we took a lot of pictures of the view of Downtown Pittsburgh from the Mount Washington Overlook.
Today, on day 2 of the interactive media workshop, we learned about more tips for interviews, we got a lesson from David Grande.
We learned about Comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, that the truth is out there and to always be fair and balanced. Those are the cores of good journalism. As well as research, interview and observation.
We learned not to engage, but to instead listen and be silent. Give them the uncomfortable tactics of journalistic interviews.
“The here, the now, but I’m gonna spell here this way… [hear]”, said Grande.
We learned about how we should always be quiet and listen, engaging makes you lose impact.
We should always resist the temptation to have a conversation, to ask short, neutral questions.
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug” (Twain).
We also learned this and the inverted pyramid. We learned about the lead and the body, the news peg and the who, what, where, when, why and how.
We also learned about the readers preferences, how they normally prefer shorter stories, that they will normally only read about the first two paragraphs and that you should always rank the importance of the information given. We learned that space isn’t consideration, but time is.
We learned that, “stories stop, they don’t end.”
Shortly after the lesson, we took a trip to the PPG Paints Arena and learned a lot of the reasons that the building is promoted and built the way that it is. We learned about the importance of hidden stories in the architecture of the building.
We learned about the jobs that you can get through the Pittsburgh Penguins and internships, we also learned about the PPG Paints taking over the Consol and all other economical decisions that were done.
They talked to us about all of the stuff that goes on in the building and everything that happens within the large group of people working there.
They told us to “find a job that fits our personality”, and that makes us happy.
