Luck in Storytelling

As I think about my soundslides 3, I am reminded of the Ira Glass videos we watched earlier in the semester on the topic of storytelling.

I chose to do my issue soundslides on depression in graduate students because I had read several articles about the heightened risk of graduate students to feel depressed because of high levels of stress and pressure, and because the issue is personal to me.

I wanted so much to make this my best soundslides yet, and I feel I failed miserably. For weeks, I ran around interviewing graduate students, taking pictures, e-mailing and calling different depression and student panic experts around campus, and in the end I feel dissatisfied with the story.

I am reminded of when Ira explains that we often find ourselves having worked on a story for days or weeks, come back with hours of audio and tons of photographs, only to find we must throw it all away.

Although I think what the three different graduate students I chose to use in my slideshow had to say effectively represented the issue, I found it so hard to accurately represent this in the photographs. To make matter worse, the only expert who would allow me to speak to her only allowed me to take one very bland picture of her!

Still, there is good news. I know my skills have grown through this class because I am at the point where I can recognize when something is not satisfactory, and I find myself being harder and harder on work, but the simple truth is that sometimes in storytelling, luck is an important factor. Where subjects allow you to meet them, what they say, and what subjects even agree to let you interview and photograph them, can have a big impact on your story, regardless of the work you put into it.

I am trying to think of ways to improve the soundslides before the final story package is due. I am thinking of maybe using some of the other graduate students I interviewed or maybe a reorganization of the different audio segments. Maybe I’ll go black and white, I don’t know.

Take a look at the soundslides and please offer any suggestions! But, remember, be honest but kind.