48 hours to multimedia success

The 40 high school students were in the final days of a two-week workshop at Poynter. They spent an hour Monday afternoon getting familiar with the software they would use to edit their sound and pictures. Tuesday morning, Poynter faculty member Al Tompkins taught them about storytelling online, focusing on what makes compelling and memorable audio and video.

Tuesday afternoon, the students went out on assignment. Cameras, digital audio recorders and notebooks in hand, they spent an hour or two collecting sound and images to tell a story. In two hours that afternoon and three hours the next morning, each team of two to four students agreed on the focus of their story, figured out what they collected that they could use, downloaded it and started editing.

Their deadline? Lunchtime, exactly two days after their multimedia training began.

Here’s the best of their work, proof of what student journalists can do, on deadline, with a little training and a lot of motivation. The students would agree their stories aren’t pefect. But they’re impressive. And their next attempts will be even better.

Starbucks

Starbucks story, using a digital video camera and iMovie, by Karlyn McKell, Plant High, and Samantha Stephan, St. Petersburg High.

Click to watch SoundSlides presentation

Poynter Writers Camp story, using a digital still camera, iPod with microphone, Audacity to edit sound and Soundslides to create the slideshow, by Justin Sanak, Seminole High, Jordan Silver, Shorecrest Preparatory, and Chris Tufts, Carrollwood Day School.

— Wendy Wallace