Multimedia Journalism Fall 2015

My project is going to be about Kindness Day, an annual event at Brandeis. My main interviewee will be Gabby (Kindness day coordinator of four years):

1. How did you come to be involved in leading this day?
2. How has kindness day evolved since you were a freshman?
3. Why is kindness important to you?
4. What sorts of activities are on the agenda this year?
5. Favorite part/activity?
6. What has been one of your most memorable kind interaction you had with someone?
7. What do you want people to take away from the day?
8. Would you say Brandeisians remember to create a kind campus when it’s not kindness day?

I will be spending the weekend with the orthodox community of Monsey, NY. I want to use the opportunity to ask about the lifestyle and what it entails in the long term. I don’t know how much I actually will be able to film since I won’t be able to use a camera from Friday evening to Saturday evening, but I should have time before and after.

I would ask questions about the community. How it feels to live in an enclave isolated from the rest of the world; if people ever leave; where they stand politically. I will also inquire about the celebrations, how it makes them feel and whatnot.

I will be interviewing a number of editors from each respective newspaper, but one person that has definitely agreed to an interview is managing editor of the Justice Avi Gold. I want to do a behind the scenes video of either the Justice, the Hoot or both, and I think Avi is the perfect person to talk to for this story.

Some questions:

1. What’s the process for putting together the paper?
2. How many staff members are there on the paper?
3. What does the hierarchy look like?
4. How often do you meet as an editorial staff?
5. Where do story ideas come from?
6. How is your relationship with the Hoot?
7. Have the two papers ever collaborated on anything?

These are just the questions that immediately came to my mind. I’m sure I’ll have more.

Hi all, so I have a couple ideas for video projects … they might change, but this is what I have so far:

1. Interviews with employees and community members of the Watch City Housing Clinic, a community action group in Waltham dedicated to affecting the affordable housing issue on a local non-profit level. I interned there last year a little bit and it’s a really inspiring place with people who have a particular perspective on Waltham that is probably pretty different from most student’s. B roll shots might include housing units, scenic images of town, community meetings.

2. Brandeis Peace Circle – Interview with Gordie Fellman, long-time sociology professor who apparently created the peace circle many years ago. I don’t know too much about this one, but it always sparks my curiosity when I walk past. B-roll could include shots of going through archival material, people convening at the circle, etc.

I’m struggling to think of some ideas for my video story. One idea I had is to report on the on-campus publications (the Justice and Hoot) — how they work, how they differ, how they compare, and the relationships between them. I would interview the editors-in-chief of each respective newspaper, and as a B-roll film the editing process.

Another idea I had was to report on the A-board budget cuts this year. A number of clubs received significantly less money than the amount they requested. The process is controversial as six students essentially make these budget decisions. This was only one idea — not sure if I love it honestly.

Sorry this is so late — I was just able to finalize my interview today. I will be interviewing Aaron Liberman. Liberman is an orthodox Jew who played division 1 basketball first for Northwestern and then for Tulane before transferring to Brandeis this year. I will be asking him about his basketball history and why he decided to transfer for Brandeis, a division 3 athletic school. Some of my questions for him include:

1. When did you start playing basketball?
2. Did you play other sports growing up?
3. When did you realize you’d be able to play collegiate basketball?
4. How has it been being a religious Jew while playing basketball in a secular college world?
5. How was the basketball scene at Northwestern?
6. Why did you decide to transfer to Tulane?
7. How was basketball at Tulane different?
8. Why did you decide to transfer to Brandeis?
9. How has basketball been different at Brandeis, a div 3 school, as compared to Northwestern and Tulane?

Hello Basile, Anu, Karen, Elan, Jamie, and Mark,

This past week, the flow of ideas has been as dry and shriveled as California. However, sitting in class, your energy has inspired me.

If possible, I would like to interview an art model. I met her at the Rose Art Museum opening and took pictures of her and her son in front of her painting. She modeled for Lisa Yuskavage, whose work is featured at the museum. I plan to attend a talk on Saturday with Yuskavage, and will ask the artist for her model’s contact information. I have been considering asking the model, whose name is Ivan, the following questions:

-Do you feel shy about posing naked?

-Is there a difference between modeling for a painting versus a photograph?

-Is art modeling a hobby or a full-time job for you?

-How do artists find out about you?

-Do you see yourself in the finished painting?

-Do you want the public to know who you are?

-Do you give the artist parameters for how you’d like to be depicted?

I hope this woman accepts to be interviewed. I don’t yet have a back-up plan.

-Jacob

Hi all,

My plan is to discuss the series of concerts taking place at the Rose Art Museum. The second installment, this past weekend, was the first to feature an artist not based at Brandeis. I already interviewed Fritz Oleshansky, the student behind the idea and at the head of SCRAM (the student body involved with the museum,) prior to the concert. Here are some follow up questions

• the goal of these lamplight sessions is to get people to the Rose, since not a single student entered the museum after the concert, are you looking to change your approach?
• It seems most people who come are friends with the performers. Will having a Brandeis-based opening act every time be the way to get people there? How else would you get students motivated.
• In our first interview, you mentioned being in touch with the Rose in the hopes of bringing the concerts inside. Has that idea advanced at all?
• How would you accommodate for a bigger crowd?
• The artist, Scott James, admitted to it being one of his first concerts, in spite of his already decent online following. Is it the kind of  artist you will try to get in the future?
• I noticed that the genre the artist played was similar to your own personal taste. What is the selection process like?