Ancient Discoveries

I watched a show on the History Channel’s Ancient Discoveries series. In the show it brought up the thought that maybe the ancient Egyptians had help from aliens when building the pyramids of Giza. In this they did multiple interviews from different historians to prove their facts.

I noticed a lot of what we talked about in class. Depending on what the historian was talking about, depended on what shot they used. For real intriguing information they got real close up to the face. But, for the softer information they did further shots to focus more on the scene than the person talking.

Also, the cuts came at the perfect times. While the interviewer was talking, when he brought up something of interest they would show a picture of what he was talking about or cut to a video of the topic. Some interveiws were done a little differently. In one interveiw both the interviewer and interviewee were walking around the pyramids and they cut to three different angles. One angle was from behind, one was from the front and one was from real high in the air so you could see most of the pyramids.

About my project

In my project for MCOM 258 I want to create a picture slideshow about a Ravens’ fan that pretty much models his winter around the Ravens. He doesn’t buy anything for himself other than food and Ravens’ jerseys. He owns ten jersey and I would like to tap into the meaning of the jerseys for my subject.

I’ve always been curious to know how and why people become top-tier fans. There are your basic, “I’ll watch, but I’m not spending money on a jersey,” fans. And then there’s your “I’ll get that jersey and maybe goto a few games, but not a lot,” type fans. And then there is those fans that just live and breathe the sport and that’s why I want to tap into the psychy of this person; to figure out why.

Audio Project

In this project I’m going to do a piece on the state of the Ravens after six weeks. Many media members and fans saw them as a team that would do much better in the first six games then they have so far. I want to go in depth about what the problems are and how to fix it. The Ravens were alos 3-3 last year and I want to draw a comparison on which team is better.

So far I have an interview with Mark Zinno planned for Friday and I’m hoping to catch Mark Viviano while I’m in the 105.7 The Fan studios. If Viviano doesn’t happen I plan to interview Casey Willett as well.

10-5 Homework

Looking through the Baltimore Sun last night I found THIS article and it really relates to what I’m trying to accomplish in my beat blog.

There were many quotes I agreed with in this article and here are a few examples:

“Despite the loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday, the Ravens still made a statement. They might end up being the best team in the NFL when the season is over.
But they have to learn how to run the football to overcome their own mistakes, give their defense a rest and keep the other team’s top offensive players off the field.”

“But like most offensive coordinators, Cameron can’t slow it down when it’s going well. Because quarterback Joe Flacco is a No. 1 draft pick and the Ravens’ franchise player, it appears they want to win or lose on Flacco’s arm.
That’s the wrong philosophy.
Very wrong. So wrong, in fact, that it might cost the Ravens a shot at a championship.”

It was almost weird for me reading this article because I can remember yelling at the television screen about running more and using Le’Ron McClain more in the Ravens’ offense. Everything he talked about I remember thinking about at one point during the game and I would have written this article very similar.

I may have, if I was Mike Preston, added a paragraph or two on the officiating in the game. It seemed to be a topic of conversation among the players after the game and I think that may have warranted a spot in this article.

How I’m going about writing the feature

To write my story I am first going to organize where things are going to go in my story and think about what specifically I want to talk about.

Then, I’m going to find sources to help me better describe my theme of competition within a team. I’m going to go to, and hopefully find, a few good examples on the Towson football team.

Once I get my quotes and my ideas all in order I’ll finally be able to sit down, write a nice anecdotal lead and finish the rest of my story.

Homework 9-27

The article I found from NYTIMES.com is about new technology that is helping blind people be able to see. The story follows Barbara Campbell, a lady who began to lose her sight in her 30′s and now is completely blind. Scientists have developed an “intensive three-year research project involving electrodes surgically implanted in her eye, a camera on the bridge of her nose and a video processor strapped to her waist.”

According to the article she can now detect “burners on her stove when making a grilled cheese, her mirror frame, and whether her computer monitor is on.”

• This story follows the Wall Street Journal formula because it first starts of with a lead focused around a person and specific details about her life and what she’s doing.

Blindness first began creeping up on Barbara Campbell when she was a teenager, and by her late 30s, her eye disease had stolen what was left of her sight.

Reliant on a talking computer for reading and a cane for navigating New York City, where she lives and works, Ms. Campbell, now 56, would have been thrilled to see something. Anything.

Now, as part of a striking experiment, she can. So far, she can detect burners on her stove when making a grilled cheese, her mirror frame, and whether her computer monitor is on.

• The story is then followed by the nut graph in which it sums up what the story is going to be about.

“She is beginning an intensive three-year research project involving electrodes surgically implanted in her eye, a camera on the bridge of her nose and a video processor strapped to her waist.

The project, involving patients in the United States, Mexico and Europe, is part of a burst of recent research aimed at one of science’s most-sought-after holy grails: making the blind see.”

• The body then goes on to talk about specific details and is topically arranged so that one subject leads to another.
• The story ends by pretty much coming back around to the lead and talking about some of Ms Campbell’s wants,

9-16 Homework

The blog I picked that was related to my beat blog is from MASNsports.com

In this article it recaps a Baltimore Ravens Monday. John Harbaugh talked for about twelve minutes to the media about a variety of topics and then Todd Heap was also made available to the media.

John Harbaugh is a hard man to interview. His answers are real “by the book” and he never really gives an answer to what he is really thinking. It makes it hard to report on something from him because he never really gives you an interesting story. His quotes just make good filler and legitimize on what you thought. But I think in this case he gave enough to report and Dan Kolko did a good job giving a recap of the press conference.

“I was talking to him after he dressed down and he was kind of slurring his speech a little bit, I thought,” Harbaugh said. “So I asked him if he had a glass jaw, and he got kind of mad. He didn’t take it too kindly. I don’t even think he laughed. [I said], ‘It’s a joke, Tom. It’s OK.’”

Feature Story Idea

My idea for a feature story will revolve around the idea of competition. Especially this year the Ravens have had various positions in which the player who won the job was somebody different from last year. In my feature story im going to focus on the field goal kicker battle that happened in training camp and dive into the emotions that comes with fighting for a spot on a team.