Hella Solutions blog: "Document. Share. Inspire."

There is a documentary training intensive coming up that is well-worth your time and money. If you’re looking to learn some very strong production techniques, story-telling techniques, connect with other producers in an intimate environment, and build on your networking circle then you should definitely consider taking this 2-day intensive offered by UC Berkeley School of Journalism lecturer. I took the course about a year ago and I not only came away with a great folder of notes and information that I consistently use in my production endeavors but I made some awesome connections with other producers. I feel like it is a rare occurrence that such a worth-while course is offered so when one does come along you know it’s a real treat. Note: this is not a ProTools or other type of technical course. It is more about how to construct, manage, and complete audio documentary stories and productions. But since this is such an intimate course you can easily ask others for more technical how-to’s.

Download the flier HERE (PDF).

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With all these electronic devices being such a central tool in media work how do we keep them charged?! Batteries are fairly toxic and using one-use types is a poor environmental choice for everyday use. Here’s a link to a site that has some good advice on recharging:

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-21.htm

Happy Charging!

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The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism once again proves that not all free online courses are created equal. A couple of months back I completed a course through them titled ‘How to be an Entrepreneur as a Business Journalist‘ and was impressed by how solid the series of courses was. Today I started another free course titled, ‘Investigative Business Journalism’ and it’s promising to be more of the same quality. My understanding is that the Center received some funding to conduct a series of free, on-going workshops to help further the professionalism of up-and-coming business journalists. It’s a wonderful idea that they have executed perfectly (imho); That is, they don’t appear to be holding anything back in order to hook you into buying “premium” content (the popular Freemium model). Rather, they honestly seem to be offering free, premium content and really want to better the field of business journalism. It is really surprising, at least to me, to see people acting so selflessly in the society we live in. The almighty dollar seems to consistently corrupt most any thought of furthering the human endeavor without a bottom line…but then comes courses like this.

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I finished my first week of truly pitching stories and I have to say, g-d damn is that process a b####! Oy vey. Anyway, I’m off to meet my wife for dinner but before I leave I tried experimenting in making my own “coffee” tequila. And well, it worked! 2 shots silver or reposado tequila, 1 shot kahlua. Mix in a high-ball glass with ice. Voila! Just be sure to use good (100% agave) tequila. Happy Friday everyone!

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I’ve spent this week taking an online course called “How to be an Entrepreneur as a Business Journalist“. While I am not technically a business journalist, a significant project I am brewing here would definitely put me in that ballpark – but more on that at another time. More importantly I have learned a LOT and here a just a few of my learnings:

• Sometimes free content is actually amazing! As this whole week’s worth of classes was free AND amazing.
• It pays big time to be part of professional organizations (whether formally or informally organized). For example, I found out about this weeks class through an ad-hoc freelance group I belong to.
• Your goal is to work less trying to get work and spend more time working. So stop dawdling by thinking you don’t know enough to get started; but if you feel you really need to learn something you will find a way of getting that information (and sometimes for free).

Those are some of the thoughts that come to mind but of course, I have a whole lot more to process through before the day is over. Have a great weekend!

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The other week I got word that a radio program was looking for pitches (a concise, flushed out idea for a story) for an upcoming program of theirs on HIV and AIDS among women. The catch was that I had to have it in within a few hours. My gawd, I thought to myself, this is my first pitch to a radio program and I only have a few freakin’ hours?! I have to admit, I guess I also felt lucky because what they were asking for was exactly what my SisterLove documentary project addressed. So, I clicked into high gear and wrote out a pitch and sent it in – not really understanding what a pitch should look like but trusting that my project was what they were looking for. Low and behold they loved it and hired me to produce an eight minute segment to be included in their 29 minute program! YES! I was and remain so excited!!!

So, all you SisterLove: Keeping it Real fans will be able to hear a re-envisioned 8 minute segment on an upcoming installment of the nationally and internationally syndicated program Making Contact with host Tena Rubio. It will broadcast on or around World AIDS Day (December 1st) so stop by the National Radio Project’s web site for a list of the over 200 stations that air their program to find your local station. You can also get Making Contact via a pod-cast or even stream it online. Visit www.radioproject.org for all the info. They are an asset to the radio community and a great program to listen to!

As an independent radio producer I’m asking you to please support projects like Making Contact because they in turn use your donations to support producers like myself that larger entities don’t always do. You can do it now and online! Please do so…

For those interested in the after-hire process here’s a quick synopsis: After receiving word that they wanted me to produce a piece based on my larger project I spent a lot of time crunching my 18 minute piece down to 8 minutes. Then I got word from their editor that they liked my 8 minutes but wanted some structural changes and it needed to be cut down to around 6 or 7 minutes. And this needed to be done by the next day. Holy crap! With the assistance of their editor, I got the structure revamped and the time down to 6 minutes !!! Then, that night, I was told that they actually needed the piece to be back up around 8 minutes — since mine is being played last in the 29 minute segment I guess it is being used to take up any slack left by the others. So, we worked out some ideas on where some time could be added and voila! Okay, it wasn’t exactly that easy but we got it done. And I quite enjoyed the process…really, I learned a lot. So, all you first time producers: Don’t be afraid to submit your pitches (and keep revamping and re-submitting them if they are not accepted the first, second, or even third and fourth times). Also, if you are asked to rework your pieces, don’t be afraid to revamp and re-work; it’s a great learning process!

audio documentary, how to

The folks over at “This American Life” produced a very handy comic that covers the basics for producing audio documentary work and I thought I’d just post, repost, or in other words pass along my own recommendation for this useful piece. It’s easy to read, easy to follow and covers some key points for producing good audio documentaries. From identifying strong stories, interviewing and even editing sound. And it’s all done in the style of a comic book. What fun, eh?!!! Anyway, it’s only US$5.00 (including s/h) and it’s a very useful item to have on hand. So, head over to their site at http://www.thislife.org.

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