Archive for November, 2009

Now here’s a great audio slideshow … and all that jazz

Jazz Tales ... Will Thurman's take on the Rochester Jazz Festival for the Democrat & ChronicleIf you’re after audio-slideshow best practice, take a look at Will Yurman’s brilliant coverage of the Rochester International Jazz Festival.

Why brilliant? Because it does what audio-slideshows do best – strip away the razzle-dazzle of video to distill simple human emotions and stories through gorgeous photography and clear, engaging sound. (And I like jazz).

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10 TIPS … to help you create great-looking audio slideshows

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Starting out with audio slideshows? Follow the basics and you’ll soon be producing compelling, professional content for your website or blog, with less hassle than you might imagine.

Here are TEN TIPS I hope you find useful …

1. You’re creating a multimedia story – NOT a picture gallery. Plan your story before you start taking photographs and keep it in mind as you shoot. What’s the opening and last shot going to show? Be aware that you are guiding your audience through time (and two minutes is plenty long enough)

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SIDE BY SLIDE 1: Apps for creating audio slideshows

Part 1 of a comparison between audio slideshows created with Soundslides, iMovie, Windows Movie Maker and Picasa. Other pages: Soundslides, iMovie & Windows Movie Maker, Picasa, the Verdict.

Pictures for the test audio slideshow are of a 1936 Alvis Speed 20. What a car ...

Audio slideshows are a great way to tell a human story online. They are also a powerful learning tool for journalists and bloggers.

For many from a print background, ‘going multimedia’ means diving headfirst into video. I prefer a step-by-step approach,  focusing on audio and photography in turn, then bringing these skills together to create audio slideshows. This way, learners expand their multimedia toolkit and embed some of the most important skills needed to tackle video.

In resource-strapped newsrooms, audio slideshows can also deliver high value in a lot less time than video. The mighty Soundslides is easy to learn and remember, slideshow ‘movies’ can still be uploaded to YouTube or embedded within Flash projects, and good photography is pure gold that can be used in print and online.

So it’s no surprise that the newspaper journalists I’ve been working with in the Emirates are bursting with ideas for using Soundslides.

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