Project Proposal

Topic: What Makes a Story Successful in Photojournalism?

Overview

All of us have a story to share, however, not many of us are afforded the chance to share their stories. Often times, many of us are silenced because of religion, sexual orientation or out of fear. And then there are those who find courage to share their stories. Today, many stories are widely shared online and are successful. My definition of success in photojournalism is the amount of times a photo has been liked on Instagram and Twitter and how viewers engage with the image whether it is by commenting, sharing the image or if they repost the image. A successfully received story online is one that makes viewers engage in the story. This image can be circulated through many different platforms such as Facebook, popular blog and can end up on the TV.

The development of new technologies has changed the way individuals share their stories. Traditional ways of sharing stories by publishing memoirs or being interviewed are not common these days. One of the way individuals share their stories is by participating in photo blogs such as Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton and StoryCorps by David Isay which has changed the narrative of photojournalism. Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that employs images in order to tell a news story. These sites allow viewers to engage with the stories by liking, sharing and commenting. Often times viewers are able to engage with the story on a deeper level. By exploring photojournalism within the blog Humans of New York, I will look specifically at how individuals share their stories on fear and how it presents a opportunity for viewers to engage with those stories. I will track how the image is shared, how many likes it received, how viewers engaged with it and if it was successful.

Objective

For this project, I will examine the blog Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton, a blog that shares stories which provides a new light on photojournalism and cultivates a new type of visual experience. Another blog I will examine is StoryCorps, a nonprofit that provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve their life story. I will review photos from Humans of New York and videos from StoryCorps that sheds light on fear. I want to analyze how they share their story and how viewers engaged with the image because it will help me to write my memoir.

In this project, I will explain the following:

1. Why do people share their story?
2. What makes a story successful?
3. Can anyone make a successful story?

Other elements to explore:

1. Create a image similar to Humans of New York with a person and a quote about their life and post on Instagram and Twitter.
2. Compare my attempt to try to create a image similar to Humans of New York with a success image from Human of New York, the image will be tracked on Instagram and Twitter via those networks analytics.
3. A blog post on my personal blog to share the image and write a reflection piece.

Topics and Projected Timeline:

Week of the 15th 

Explain what is photojournalism and visual storytelling.

A.) History of photojournalism and visual storytelling, the new technologies within the world of new media and the platforms.

B.) Write out the history and mission of Humans of New York.

C.) Explain its best practices and strategies that are successful

D.) Select a image from Humans of New York that “successfully” captures a story on fear

• Examine the photo with the listed Visual Literacy Guideline
• a. Define the purpose of the image within the project (e.g., illustration, evidence, primary source, focus of analysis, critique, commentary)
  b. Define the scope (e.g., reach, audience) and environment (e.g., academic environment, open web) of the planned image use
  c. Articulates criteria that need to be met by the image (e.g., subject, pictorial content, color, resolution, specific item)
  d. Identifies key concepts and terms that describe the needed image
  e. Identifies discipline-specific conventions for image use
• How did the image and content successfully or unsuccessfully tell the story?

Week of the 22nd

A.) History of photojournalism and visual storytelling, the new technologies within the world of new media and the platforms.

B.) Write out the history and mission of StoryCorps

C.) Explain its best practices and strategies that are successful

D.) Review videos from StoryCorps that “successfully” captures a story on fear

Examine the photo with the listed Visual Literacy Guideline

• a. Define the purpose of the image within the project (e.g., illustration, evidence, primary source, focus of analysis, critique, commentary)
  b. Define the scope (e.g., reach, audience) and environment (e.g., academic environment, open web) of the planned image use
  c. Articulate criteria that need to be met by the image (e.g., subject, pictorial content, color, resolution, specific item)
  d. Identifies key concepts and terms that describe the needed image
  e. Identifies discipline-specific conventions for image use
• How did the image and content successfully or unsuccessfully tell the story?

Week of the 29th

A.) Create a comparative analysis of Humans of New York and Storycorps

B.) Prospect

• Interview a prospect on the subject of fear and share a photo with a caption similar to Humans of New York which will we shared via Instagram
• Instagram– The image will be tracked daily on Instagram, by recording how many likes it received, how many comments it received and whether it was remixed.
• Twitter– The image will be tracked daily on Twitter by recording how many times it was viewed, how many retweets it received or how many times it was favorited.
• WordPress-The image will be tracked daily on Black Attire Aficionado  by recording how many times it was viewed, how many times it was reblogged it received and how many times it was favorited.

Week of the 6th

A.) Explain the findings on what makes a image successful

B.) Write a reflection on the process of creating the image, was it successful or not?

• What would I do differently?
• What other platforms should I have used?
• Reviews on the image from classmates
• Was it hard to circulate the image?

Deliverables

1. A comparative analysis of Humans of New York and StoryCorps
2. A image created that mirrors Human of New York, this will be located on Instagram,Twitter, and Black Attire Aficionado
3. A reflection of my success or failure with creating a image
4. The end-result will be presented in the form of short short film/video of some sort which will be posted to Jodieann Stephenson’s e-portfolio site TBD