Freedom Forum Diversity Institute

Soundslides Done Right

Val Hoeppner — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:24:32 +0000

The Soundslide craze has swept the newspaper industry. Soundslides Plus is a cheap and easy way to produce audio slideshows with photographs and mp3 audio files. You can download a free demo version of Soundslides. The demo version is fully functional but puts a demo tag on the beginning of your project.
Soundslides Plus goes a step beyond the basic Soundslides program. The Plus version has lower thirds for adding names and titles beneath your photos and it allows you to add motion to photographs. The motion feature is also know as pan and scan or the Ken Burns effect which is widely used in documentary film making.

The Guru has some guidelines for producing Soundslides;
1. You must get good audio. Using an audio recorder with a microphone is key.
2. Keep it simple. 60-90 seconds is optimum.
3. A rule of thumb is 20 photos for every 90 seconds. You want each photo appear for at least 5 seconds.
4. Choose active subjects for your Soundslide project, community events, profiles of artists, actors and musicians and feature stories.
5. When editing your audio remember to include natural sound, it sets the scene and gives you good intro sound and closing sound.
6. Wide, medium and tight shots don’t just apply to video. Soundslide projects need the same attention to detail.
7. Find a character to anchor your story. The character in this story is compelling.
8. If you are using Soundslides Plus, you can add lower thirds and motion to your photographs. Don’t go overboard but one or two motion (Ken Burns effect) can reveal something in your show.
9. Don’t have your subject introduce him or herself during the audio edit. “I’m Val Hoeppner and I am the Manager of Multimedia Education at the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute,” gets old. Use Soundslides Plus and add a lower third when the subject’s voice and photo come in.
10. Use a title slide and credit slide to start and finish your project. Text slides be created in Adobe Photoshop by creating a new file 600 pixels wide by 450 pixels high.

Nashville Stories

Val Hoeppner — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:41:31 +0000

Chips Quinn Scholars capture essential Nashville stories Friday, Aug. 15, 2008. Stories include Centennial dog park, coffee culture, Nashville morning, western wear, gourmet paletas, Lower Broadway, Nashville’s Farmer’s Market and Vanderbilt’s band camp.

Nashville Stories

qpettiford — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 03:03:03 +0000

*Nashville Cowboy Bleu, a sales associate at Trail West explains western wear.
*The Nashville Farmers Market is growing, seeing more customers every day.
*Vanderbilt’s Marching Band Camp includes more than just Vanderbilt marchers, all local university students are invited to play.
*Lower Broadway, a former rodeo rider tells the story of Downtown Nashville, past and present.
*The Centennial Dog Park is all about the puppy love.
*What is a Nashville morning? Interviews with people going about their morning routine.
*Exploring Nashville’s coffee house culture at Fidos in Hillsboro Village.
*Las Paletas, a family owned business in Nashville sells freshly made paletas.

Scholars Capture Nashville: Assignment One

qpettiford — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:11:13 +0000

Chips Quinn Scholars produced seven news videos Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008. The videos range from coffee to guitars.

*Nashville’s favorite coffee house, Bongo Java roasts its coffee beans in-house at its east side cafe.
*Vanderbilt University’s greenhouse manager keeps the plants blooming for research and more.
*The Frist Center for Visual Arts offers hands-on experience for young and old.
*The Nashville Zoo has been recognized as one of the top zoos in the U.S. because of its nature-like and hands-on exhibits.
*Gruhn Guitars is a mainstay in downtown Nashville. George Gruhn talks about how he got started and why his collection continues to grow.
*The Parthenon in Centennial Park has one of the Nation’s largest indoor statues, Athena, which was created by a local Nashville sculptor.
*The Boxing Resource Center is a non-profit gym in Nashville that trains men and women for fitness or competition.

Pancaked

Val Hoeppner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:50:50 +0000

A line of hungry customers often wraps around the Pancake Pantry building on the southern edge of the Hillsboro Village neighborhood in Nashville. The restaurant opened in 1961 and quickly became a place where locals, tourists and the stars mix for breakfast and lunch.

Too Weird to Franchise

Val Hoeppner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:56:29 +0000

Bongo Java is a gathering place for all of Nashville. Located across the street from Belmont University in the hip Belmont-Hillsboro Village neighborhood, Bongo attracts musicians, students and artists.

Ghost Dancer

Val Hoeppner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:48:24 +0000

Artist Alice Aycock’s sculpture “Ghost Ballet for the East Bank Machineworks” was funded by the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and unveiled along the banks of the Cumberland River in 2007. Ghost Ballet is 100 feet high, 100 feet wide and 60 feet deep, and is made of steel, industrial metals and neon.

Country to Cupcakes

Val Hoeppner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:03:47 +0000

Gigi’s Cup Cakes is a gourmet cupcake shop owned by Gina Butler, a former country singer turned baker. Butler’s passion for baking came from years of baking with her mother and grandmother.

Vander-Built Green

Val Hoeppner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:56:14 +0000

Vanderbilt’s Freshman Commons is an environmentally friendly building and certified as a a Gold level building from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System.

Art or Not?

Val Hoeppner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:36:28 +0000

The Color as Field: American Painting, 1950-75 exhibit at the Frist in Nashville challenges visitors to decide what is art. The exhibit has 41 paintings by artists like Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Frank Stella and Sam Gilliam.