editing

editing

Storytelling: Big ones are hard to tell

Monday, July 20th, 2009

MTR Story Preview, UNC-News21 from Chris Carmichael on Vimeo.

Finding yourself in the middle of a big story is a daunting position to be in. Mountaintop removal, with its myriad supporters and detractors, is certainly a huge story that seems to be unraveling more and more rapidly. I have wrestled with my interviews and b-roll, looking for a way into the narrative. When you are working on a project like this, away from daily deadlines, there is this temptation to make your piece the end-all say-all on the topic. Especially when you step into a story as epic as coal. The history of coal in West Virginia is a rich and often tumultuous story with no shortage of compelling characters.

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When word choice means picking a side

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Some energy issues are so controversial that people can’t even agree on the words used to talk about them.

Chris Carmichael and I noticed during a recent trip to Ohio that supporters of a new electricity-generating plant in Meigs County call it a “power house.” Opponents call it a “coal plant” or a “coal-fired power plant.

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Don’t force a square peg (print) into a round hole (video)

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

One should not force a square peg into a round hole, one of my coaches said today after I cautiously unveiled a rough cut of my first audio track. Well, this confirmed what I had already begun to accept. I had whacked my peg for a good few weeks, trying to force a story best told in print into a series of videos.

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