I attended the POY multimedia feature story session and by no surprise, this story won first place. "Choosing Thomas" utilizes video, photo, and audio and created one of the most touching stories I've ever seen. You hear about families who experience the difficulties of having a child with a birth defect, much less knowing they will die within hours/days, but unless you personally know someone, you don't see just how heartbreaking it is. This story and this family let the world in on their story in the most intimate way.
This story was entirely appropriate for a multimedia project. It could not have been properly told just through text or, arguably, just photos.
I think the layout and design of the project was appropriate and well done. It was simple and the transparent progress bar allowed for the viewer to see how far along the video was without intruding on the photos.
It fits in well with the Dallas News's own layout and color scheme and the extra components attached to the video made it so the viewer could further interact with the story and allow them to see links related to the story. I was able to see the print version and the follow up story on the family.
The natural sound and audio to overlap the photos were clear and put together well in a way that made it apparent that the reporter was present quite a bit. Only certain moments during the content gathering would have allowed the photos and sound to mesh so well. The photos were the quality as they should be for a normal photo slideshow and still did not clash or seem awkward when the video parts come in and out.
Production was good, quality was good, story was phenomenal- perfect example of what good journalism should be.
I have nothing negative to express about this story- which would make sense since the judges felt it deserved first place.
Although mixing photos and video can be tricky and easily done poorly, this story showed that it can be done and done well.
[LR]
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