MediaStorm’s 10 More Ways to Improve Your Multimedia Right Now

As a followup to a previous post, here are ten more ways to improve your work right now, no matter how challenging your original assets may be. Make edits with purpose. Always ask why you are making an edit at a particular place. Is the cut motivated by action? A musical beat? A pause in narration? If you don't have a reason, you need to find a new location for your edit. Every edit must be motivated. When editing your visuals, don't cut in the middle of a word. Doing so is confusing. Edit between words, or even better, edit according to written grammar: at a comma, a period, or to emphasize a word. Cutting after words like because and however is also effective. Edit rhythmically. Make the first cut at the beginning of a spoken phrase. Time the first phrase so it ends right before a musical beat. Cut to another…

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Read more about the article Multiple language subtitles now available in the MediaStorm Player

Multiple language subtitles now available in the MediaStorm Player

We've been rolling out some updates to the MediaStorm Player, and one of the features we're most excited about is the ability to show subtitles in multiple languages. The subtitles work both on our site and on the embedded version of our player. English subtitles are available for all of our projects. Foreign translations are currently available for the following projects: Undesired: Hindi and Spanish Intended Consequences: German Black Market: German Kingsley's Crossing: Chinese We're often asked why some of our projects have forced subtitles, while others don't. MediaStorm Producer Eric Maierson has put together a Guide to Using Subtitles that gives some insight into our thought process, and also some technical tips for creating those subtitles in Final Cut Pro. We're working on getting additional projects and languages online, and will be adding those as we get them finished. If you're interested in volunteering to help us translate our projects into…

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MediaStorm’s Guide to Using Subtitles

Sometimes the most difficult challenge regarding subtitles is deciding whether to use them or not. Subtitles present obvious aesthetic challenges—from inevitably covering the most important part of an image to turning a visual experience into a written one. If at all possible, avoid them; the obvious exception being when someone speaks a language other than that of the intended audience. Then subtitles are essential. So how do you know if you need English subtitles for someone speaking English? It’s often difficult for a producer to make this call. After listening to the same clips again and again, we learn a speaker’s cadence and nuances and they become clearer to us. Probably the best method to make this determination is to play your project for a group of people who haven’t seen it yet and see if they can understand the narration without subtitles. With fresh ears, they’ll quickly let you know if…

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Read more about the article Magnum Foundation launches Emergency Fund website

Magnum Foundation launches Emergency Fund website

The Magnum Foundation has launched a new website for their Emergency Fund, and it's definitely something you should make time to go check out. There are already several stories up on the site, along with information about how you can get involved and help support these photographers. More on the Emergency Fund from the Magnum Foundation Site: The Emergency Fund supports experienced photographers with a commitment to documenting social issues, working long-term, and engaging with an issue over time. Projects address critical global issues that have not received the attention they deserve, or budding crises that are still over the horizon. Photographers retain the copyright to their work and distribute it widely: through traditional and new media, in collaboration with nonprofits or NGOs, and on the Emergency Fund website. Each year, a diverse group of photography professionals nominate 100 professional photographers to submit proposals. An independent Editorial Board selects 10 to 20…

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2011 MediaStorm Multimedia Workshop dates announced

Dates have been announced for the 2011 MediaStorm Multimedia Workshops. Workshops will be held in New York City: March 5-11, 2011 (application deadline January 7, 2011) July 23-29, 2011 (application deadline May 27, 2011) November 12-18, 2011 (application deadline September 16, 2011) The MediaStorm Multimedia Workshop in New York City is an intensive, hands-on educational experience in advanced multimedia storytelling. Over the course of a week, participants will work in three-person teams, reporting and editing in collaboration with a seasoned multimedia professional to produce a multimedia project for distribution across multiple platforms. Each team will produce a professional-quality, ready-for-publication multimedia story. See the site for additional information and to apply. You can also see stories from previous workshops. Jan Johannessen, who participated in the Workshop Story on Johnnie Footman, had this to say about his experience at the MediaStorm Multimedia Workshop: To spend a week with the best people within the industry…

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