It used to be that long-form newspaper narratives were, well, printed on newspaper. These days, long-form is taking on another meaning. Our latest installment of “what we’re watching” includes two video documentary projects from newspapers, as well as a number of photography-centered visual stories from dailies in the U.S and Australia.
First up is this trailer for the feature-length documentary “Nou Bouke,” produced by The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. “Nou Bouke” (which essentially means “We’re tired” in Creole) marks the one-year anniversary of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, but the film takes the long view on the island nation's past, present and future. The movie premiered last night and will be shown again on some PBS stations on Jan. 13.
“Campaign Season: The 2010 Race for Governor,” a joint Newsday/News12 documentary, follows the New York gubernatorial contests in real time. The seven chapters of the film were produced in concert with print stories as the race took place.
Reporter Thomas Maier wrote to tell us that “this Newsday project pushes the marriage of print and video farther than anything we’ve done before at our paper,” noting that some film chapters delivered breaking news as quickly as print pieces done by Newsday competitors.
“The End,” an audio slide show from the Sydney Morning Herald, includes photos by Steven Siewert and reporting by Julie Robotham and Kimberley Porteous. The story looks at challenges facing elderly patients and doctors providing end-of-life care.
Also on the Sydney Morning Herald site is a retrospective audio slide show celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Reportage Festival, with fascinating, award-winning pictures of sex workers in Pakistan, soldiers in Afghanistan, Jewish Moroccan synagogue workers, attendees at a Kansas art exhibit for the blind, and other exquisite, intimate images.
“Diary” is an almost anti-narrative film by Vanity Fair photographer and war correspondent Tim Hetherington. The way in which the disjointed visuals and audio skitter between conflict zones and life away from the action create a dizzying but moving effect. We first came across Hetherington’s video via The New York Times Lens blog profile of it.
“Koci 365” is another kind of diary: a Photo-a-Day commitment from Richard Koci Hernandez, a Ford Foundation Multimedia Fellow at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. (Tip: We swipe some of the most interesting videos we highlight from @koci's Twitter feed.) If you're looking for inspiration and a late New Year's resolution to take up, you can read more about why Hernandez is doing it and see work from some students who have joined him.
Saturday, January 1st, 2011 (Richard Koci Hernandez)
First up is this trailer for the feature-length documentary “Nou Bouke,” produced by The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. “Nou Bouke” (which essentially means “We’re tired” in Creole) marks the one-year anniversary of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, but the film takes the long view on the island nation's past, present and future. The movie premiered last night and will be shown again on some PBS stations on Jan. 13.
“Campaign Season: The 2010 Race for Governor,” a joint Newsday/News12 documentary, follows the New York gubernatorial contests in real time. The seven chapters of the film were produced in concert with print stories as the race took place.
