Storytelling – Page 10 – Latest News from MediaStorm

New MediaStorm-MAG Release ‘Surviving the Peace: Angola’

Post author:Lisa Jamhoury
Post published:February 6, 2013

We are pleased to share Surviving the Peace: Angola, our most recent client project produced with the Mines Advisory Group (MAG). The second project in the Surviving the Peace series, Surviving the Peace: Angola tells the emotional story of Angolans living in the shadow of landmines and unexploded ordnance more than a decade after the conflict officially ended. This piece—the first MediaStorm project shot on Canon’s newly released C300 camera—was shot and produced in a style that would create a tense, uncertain mood. To detail the story of the Angolan Civil War, MediaStorm's motion graphics designer developed a graphics package that includes archival news reports, creating a fascinating look into Angolan history. MAG will be using the film to raise funds and awareness for their demining program in Angola. Learn more about their upcoming events by subscribing to the MAG newsletter. Project Synopsis: After 30 years of civil war, the Angolan people…

Infected or Affected: A Photographer’s Multimedia Project

Post author:Lisa Jamhoury
Post published:February 4, 2013

Matthew Lloyd, a London-based editorial and commercial photographer, recently went to South Africa to create a project about AIDS for Bishop Simeon Trust. He’s mainly a still photographer and didn’t originally intend for the project to be multimedia heavy. When he arrived to shoot though, Lloyd felt multimedia was the right medium for the project. The project he created, Infected or Affected is a moving multimedia piece that puts a face on the harsh statistics that are a reality in South Africa today: One in two women are raped, one in three girls complete secondary school, 12 percent of the population has HIV/AIDS. Having done only some short multimedia pieces in the past, this piece is the first in-depth multimedia project in his portfolio. He shot and produced the project on his own and used the MediaStorm Online Training videos to help him through the process. He learned a lot about the…

The Ways: Sharing Contemporary Native Culture Through Story

Post author:Lisa Jamhoury
Post published:January 23, 2013

Finn Ryan, a producer, educator and March 2011 MediaStorm Storytelling Workshop participant is a big believer in the importance of storytelling in education. His 2010 project, Climate Wisconsin, which uses multimedia and interactives to explore local climate change impacts, received significant attention when it was published, including a regional Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement for Informational/Instructional Programming. His most recent project, The Ways, produced with Wisconsin Media Lab, features storytelling as a means to share contemporary Native culture and language from around the central Great Lakes. I contacted Finn to hear about his experience creating The Ways and to take a closer look at contemporary ways to use storytelling in education. Below is a lightly edited version of our conversation. An Interview with Finn Ryan You recently launched The Ways, an online storytelling publication about language and culture of Native communities in the central Great Lakes region. Why did you start the…

New Stories from the November 2012 MediaStorm Storytelling Workshop

Post author:Lisa Jamhoury
Post published:January 8, 2013

We are pleased to launch two new stories produced in the November 2012 MediaStorm Storytelling Workshop. In our November 2012 Storytelling Workshop a team of journalists collaborated with MediaStorm to create, The American-Made Benny and Luv Schtick. During the MediaStorm Storytelling Workshop participants work directly with MediaStorm staff to create an intimate, character-driven documentary in just one week. Benny is a “certified” garbologist. He collects what others throw away. Benny is also at war with his family. Here is a man sharing a house with his wife but living as a stranger. This is a household on the edge. Read the accompanying blog post, "The Challenge of The American-Made Benny." Dani Luv is a musician and comedian at the well-known Sammy’s Roumanian Restaurant in New York. Luv likes to sing classics from the likes of Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong. We are currently accepting applications for two upcoming MediaStorm Storytelling Workshops in…

The Challenge of The American-Made Benny

Post author:Eric Maierson
Post published:January 8, 2013

We had numerous challenges in reporting, producing, and in making the decision to ultimately publish this story. We feel this story is incomplete due to access issues and time constraints inherent with MediaStorm's approach to a workshop story. Sometimes you can learn as much from your shortcomings as from your successes. As such, we hope this will serve as an important case study about the ethics of storytelling. - Brian Storm, Executive Producer, MediaStorm Unanswered Questions: On the Limits of the Single-Subject Interview by Eric Maierson By any measure, the MediaStorm Storytelling Workshop is an intense week. It is a product-focused experience, meaning that unlike in other teaching environments we are wholly focused on producing the most compelling story possible, one that demonstrates the collective skills of the participants and the MediaStorm staff. The week consists of one day of lectures, three days in the field, and another three days editing. Workshop…