Brent McDonald is a senior video journalist with the New York Times. He produced “Standoff in Ferguson,” a three-minute video for the Times that was published on August 14th, in the midst of protests over the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
McDonald has been producing video for over ten years, and has been with the Times since 2005. Columbia Visuals spoke with him by phone from Ferguson, Missouri, on August 15th. He told us about the mood there and gave us some details on his production methods. (more…)
David Carson has been a newspaper photographer for more than 25 years, and he's been covering the protests over the killing of Michael Brown since the day the eighteen-year-old was shot by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri. He says he arrived at the scene on August 10th, "while the police were still hosing the blood from the street."
We asked him some questions about photographing the historical protests happening in his community, and his advice for young photographers covering protests for the first time.
Keeping your hard drives and files organized is boring, but crucial. One misplaced file can leave you searching for hours. We've laid out the steps for some basic hard drive skills here.
Want to learn how to build your own website? Design your own app? Or are you simply looking for a way to diversify your resume? In today’s media job market, having some experience in coding can help you stand out in the crowd. You may think the cost of a coding class is out of your reach, but it's not! There are a lot of free options.
"Audio is the spine of multimedia," according to video experts MediaStorm, and you should believe them. Sometimes in the hectic race to get a video project shot, we forget that sound is critical to producing a watchable film. We've put together some basic microphone and editing tips to take your audio from an afterthought, to a priority.
Documentary film program alumni Jeng-Tyng Hong and Matthew Claiborne, both class of 2013, spent their time at Columbia Journalism School working on a short documentary about the use of solitary confinement in New York prisons. They screened their film at the Catskill Mountains Film Festival and their characters use the film to raise awareness about fair treatment in prison.
We interviewed Jeng-Tyng about their film, The Ex-Periment, and what they learned during production.
We spoke to the talented photo editor Myles Little of Time magazine about his day-to-day job, choosing photographers and images for TIME magazine covers and his advice for aspiring photographers and editors.
Filmmakers today have to be their own production companies, PR agencies, and distributors. Columbia Journalism School alum Salima Amina Koroma, class of 2013, exemplifies the way young filmmakers have taken control of all aspects of producing a documentary. (more…)
Joseph carries a gas mask because he does not trust the air he breaths. Photo by Kali Kotoski
Marco, from Puerto Rico, lives on the streets of East Harlem. He found these two dolls while collecting cans to deposit in the recycling center. He calls them his wife and son. Photo by Ye Ming
Chloe Collier sneaked into the South Ferry subway station under the turnstile. Photo by Yan Cong
Jamal A., a 36-year-old French, came from Atlanta to New York to fix some paperwork for his passport with the French Consulate a few months ago. He has nowhere to stay in New York, as he’s still waiting for the Consulate to process his documents. “At first it’s awkward, but it’s okay to sleep here, unless it’s cold,” Jamal said. Next to him, two other homeless people have already fell asleep. Photo by Yan Cong
Michael, 53 has been on the streets since 1992. He had been incarcerated for cocaine possession. He has lived on the streets since the day he was released. The subway platform at Columbus Circle is Michael’s home during the winter. “I come here to get away from the cold. I sleep through the noise,” he said.
Michael’s parents emigrated from Nairobi, Kenya when he was two. He grew up and worked in Fairfield County, Connecticut before joining the National Guard in 1979. After being discharged in 1983, he worked at car wash and had a string of jobs. He was engaged to be married before he was arrested.
“I had a daughter with my fiance, but now I don’t where she is,” he said.
Eating fruit that was offered to him by stranger, he said “People in Africa would kill for the food I just received. This is not as bad as it seems.” Photo by Anand Katakam
Out in the Cold is a documentary photo project designed to bring awareness to chronic cases of homelessness in New York City. It focuses on people who live on the fringes of society, neglected by the city and their community, and whose stories habitually go untold.
Leslye Davis is a name you’ll want to remember. At only 23, she is already a visual journalist at The New York Times, where she began working as an intern and was quickly hired to work as a multimedia producer for projects across multiple desks at The Times. Davis spoke to us about how she started, her approach to stories and her experience at the paper. (more…)
Francis and Stephanie Lane are the founders of Silent Tapes, a non-profit that uses photography to document the lives of people in various slums around the world. Their latest project will take place this summer in the favelas of Fortaleza, Brazil, where they will lead a five-week photography workshop for 50 children.
We spoke to several Indian journalists to understand what it’s like working as a female visual journalist in India today, how they overcome the limitations of working in a society that still retains a strong gender bias, and what advice they’d give to young women who’d like to work in India someday.
Duy Linh Tu, professor and Director of Digital Media at Columbia's Journalism School, shares his advice on breaking into the video production industry.
Need a place to pitch your student short or feature-length documentary? In this post, we highlight eight upcoming film festivals with summer deadlines to help you get your work out there.
Raney Aronson-Rath, FRONTLINE's deputy executive producer, chats with CV about her theory on storytelling, scouting young filmmakers and capturing an audience.
We spoke to Mashable’s Evan Engel and Bianca Consunji (Columbia Journalism School alum, ’12) about their latest short documentary, the story of two survivors of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. (more…)
Need a little inspiration? Go out and shoot your city. This April 26th, the One Day on Earth Foundation is setting out to shoot its fourth crowdsourced film. (more…)
