Class adds to journalism education

​Daniel Alvarez, 7 enjoying the farm exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Stockton.

By Brian Ratto

The Introduction to Multimedia class has been a fun experience. My partner, Jessica Michelsen and I worked together on a project about the Children’s Museum of Stockton.

Throughout the project we have encountered many different people from the central valley and abroad. One person I really enjoyed while on location was Daniel Alvarez, 7, who lit up while playing on almost every exhibit with his friends.

The process was different and did have some challenges. Mine were pertaining to video editing and processing photographs for web in Adobe Photoshop.

As I worked on the project I was able to learn what to do with the assistance of my classmates and adviser.

Along the way we did have to go back to the museum three times to gather enough footage from interviews, “B”-roll, photographs and written notes to complete our multimedia story. Each time we visited, there were more children and families playing in the museum.

At the outset my partner and I interviewed Marianne Prieto, a museum specialist, without the use of a microphone and realized the audio was not good enough to use.

We had to go back and get another interview with her if possible.

On our last day we had the chance to interview Prieto, this time with a microphone.

It became our best interview with very pertinent information to our story about the museum.

In the last few days of the project my classmates and I have been hard at work on our projects from editing video, photos, creating timelines and writing stories. This class has become a learning experience for me and I feel that I am better prepared for my next step in my journalism education.