iReport Critique

OCCUPY D.C: The First video from iReport that I critiqued was called "OccupyDC: Steve Fitzgerald Gives Excellent Activist Speech on Real Economic State." A little bit of a wordy title but basically the idea of the video was Steve Fitzgerald preeches about capitalism and the 1% telling the masses to Rise Up against big business who get bail outs and tax breaks. It was taped October 28th. The scene was set with the speech giver in the forefront line dup against office buildings in Washington D.C. The American flag is waving off the the side and many other protestors can be scene walking around. I think this video is a great example of video storytelling and is very interesting:

• Its interesting because the story is relevant (Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Bulrlington are widely talked about and discussed).
• The visuals keep the viewer interested.
• the audio also is emotional and passionate and keeps the viewers attention.

IS IT NEWS? It is news because it is information regarding a currently talked about event. It is a topic a lot of people are affected by and get directly influanced by. Also, a lot of people keep up with the Occupy strikes and want to be involved with what goes on when they cant make it.
IF I WAS A CNN PRODUCER WOULD I PUT THIS ON AIR? I would definately put this video on the news. It would work very well as an accompnaying song for a story involving Occupy Burlington or any of the Occupy efforts.

COULD I MAKE THIS BETTER?If i was in the right place and time and could tape this ssame speech I dont know If i could do it better. I think the angle and the sound quality is great. The only thing i would do differantly is have Fitzgerald directly adress the camera or break up the video with crowd reactions because it was a lot fof just one person talking.


Bangkok Flooding: In the second video: "Video of Flooding Near Bangok's Grand Palace." is a short video of of the high tide that reached a record high near the Grand Palace in Thailand. This story is a little interesting because it involves the elements which is a theme that gets increasingly popular as the dreaded 2012 approaches.

• The story is interesting because i involves Asia and military forces: "Overnight the Army had constructed an approximately 80 cm high, concrete hump/ramp that contained much of the overflow from reaching the Grand Palace."
• Its also interesting because its high risk and dangerous. It is suspected to do it again.

IS IT NEWS? It is news, but not in the standalone video. It would need some sort of explanation or story to go along with it. It does have an accompanying article but without it the viewer would know exactly what the cause of the water was and where it was.
IF I WAS A CNN PRODUCER WOULD I PUT THIS ON AIR? I would put on the air. I think the coolest thing about iReport is that is allows for citizens from all over the world to report what goes on without having a repoter going tot he scene. I would use it as footage but there would have to be a lead in story and maybe some audio they place over it. It doesnt do a great job as a storytelling tool.
COULD I MAKE THIS BETTER?Any added audio or a way to have some other languages heard in the background would add to the scenery and location of the video. I'd like to see more of a story in the video so any people talking about the floods and how it affects them would be beneficial.


Coal Train: The last video I looked at was "Coal Train in Rockport KY." The quality and view of this video is the only thing that makes it interesting. I like the voice of the woman and the sights of the people on the boat in the video but it wasnt news and it wasnt very interesting.
IS IT NEWS? The Video wasnt really news it was a video of a trian going through a bridge in Kentucky. In short it was a history lesson. If they talked about something that happened with the train recently like the items they just picked up in another sate of a minor incedent it had then that would be news.
IF I WAS A CNN PRODUCER WOULD I PUT THIS ON AIR? The only way I would put this on air was if there was an audio peice to add to the video that had a relevant peice of news.
COULD I MAKE THIS BETTER?Like I said if there was audio playing as the train was crossing or breaking up the video fo the train with other related trains or something that make it more news and less history, then the video would be much more powerful.