Survive the Night (Soundslides)
Click on image or here to start Soundslides presentation.
You all probably forgot about MEND and Survive the Night already since it was about a month ago, but Bodhi and I finished our Soundslides presentation and turned it in last Monday to our JOUR450 Advanced Photojournalism class. I wrote all of my experiences on here, so this entry will be about the Soundslides instead.
First, I actually liked the length of this Soundslides more than I did on my CSUN Student one because it’s just longer, and it makes the watchers absorb more of the story instead of having it all rushed. Second, I liked the two songs we chose in the Soundslides as well. The only problem I have with them is that they seem to pop out too randomly, and I can’t believe neither Bodhi and I realized that until we saw it in class. I did thought that wavelengths that was on GarageBand were too sharp, but Bodhi and I thought it was fine when we listened to it. I guess we were just so tired since we were working on this until 4 a.m. that we didn’t really hear it carefully, and I normally have my headset on when I do my own work. Haha. Anyway, the song “Sunshine” by The All-American Rejects could also be louder in the end because it was indeed softer than any other audio. Last but not least, and I thought of this as well, people wanted to see and listen more about the former homeless people. The only problem was we didn’t have many photos of them. I wasn’t sure to just leave one photo and have it stand there for over a minute long with the audio. Would you listen if it were like that?
So, those were my self critiques on that. I think what I don’t like the most is just the audio popping in and popping out randomly because it’s just tough on the ears. When I listen to any audio, I love to have it flow in my ears. Ah well. Bodhi and I will just have to see what Todd grades us in the end. Professor Blumenkrantz gave me a 17/20 on my CSUN Student one, which I guess it makes sense because I do feel like I could’ve done so much more on it.
MEND & Survive the Night
Last Saturday, I went to MEND (Meet Each Need with Dignity), a nonprofit organization that helps with families who live in poverty around the Los Angeles area, with Bodhi to do our social issue project for JOUR450. We weren’t allowed to take photos when we visited the families, but it was definitely an experience to see them. Most of the families only earn at most $500 to $1,000 per month, and their rent for an apartment or even a bedroom is usually about that range as well. They are also often single parents (mostly moms) with two to four children under the age of 15. Bodhi and I even saw this newborn baby, and this mom has two other sons as well. So, yeah, it was nice to help out these families, but it was also pretty heartbreaking to see that there are still people, even in the United States, going through their life like this.
After going to MEND in Pacoima, we went back to school to participate in this event called “Survive the Night.” It is an event where students participate to become “homeless” for the night by engaging in certain activities such as the soup kitchen and staying overnight outside with only newspapers and boxes. This was surely an eye opener because it really got cold over the night, and all I had was a blanket with the newspapers and boxes. This is the weather that homeless people have to go through every night. Not only this event made me sympathize the homeless people even more than I have, but it also made me appreciate what I have even more as well. This event was even aired by the local news KTLA 5, and it can be viewed here if you are interested.
So as I mentioned earlier, Bodhi and I are doing this as our social issue project for JOUR450. That means we will put up together a Soundslides presentation in the end, and I will be sure to share it once it’s fully done.
UPDATE! Now you can view the Soundslides presentation of both MEND and Survive the Night here!