Weekly Response 2

Bob Dotson writes in a very familiar way, almost like he's talking to you rather than writing.  He uses first person and tells you anecdotes about how his grandmother thinks he needs a real job.  This familiarity makes you feel connected to him and builds his credibility, and therefore makes you more interested in what he has to say about journalism.  As a journalist, he also gives the most important, general points at the beginning of the section, explaining the rule of threes, telling us "silence makes people uncomfortable," and that you should "ask the Non-Question/Question" for the best soundbites.

From pages 9 to 27, I learned the basic helpful tools for writing an interesting story in a short amount of time.  He talks about keeping a journal with ideas like friendship and your thoughts about them, so that when you need to say something about friendship in a story, you can pull it from the journal and save time that way.  He also reminds the reader to point out the little details that make a story feel more alive and real, like the smell of the air during a wildfire.

On the left column, it tells you what visual shots will be on screen, and on the right it has the dialogue and narration for the story.  The two are separated so that you can see what is going on with the images and video during each section of the story.

For my long-form story, I watched a story about two girls with a rare disease called Progeria.

To set the scene, they had a shot of Lindsey giggling with her father, with the natural sound of her laughter, then Barbara Walters' narration of Lindsey's disease.  Then they have a wide shot of the area where Kaylee, another girl with Progeria, lives nearby.

For foreshadowing, Barbara Walters hints that Progeria is a rare condition that only nine girls in America have.  We also see shots of Kaylee and see the physical toll Progeria takes on the people that have it.

The clear conflict in this story is Progeria itself, but they also interview Kaylee's brothers about how the disease is difficult for her in that it makes her different from her peers.  We learn that people with Progeria tend to live short lives, which is clearly a huge, awful conflict on its own.  In addition to this, they talk about how expensive the medications for Kaylee are.

To demonstrate character growth, they show how Kaylee wants real hair, but knows she has to be content with a wig for now.  We also see literal character growth when Kaylee is measured during a drug trial and is taller and heavier.  This isn't a major part of the story, though.

For conflict resolution, Barbara Walters explains that Kaylee and Lindsey are both in a drug trial that hopes to slow down the effects of Progeria on their bodies.  We see that the drug is working when Kaylee has gained weight and grown 6 centimeters.  We learn that some aspects of Progeria are being treated for the first time with this new drug, and that money is being raised for the families with an annual walk, ending the story on a hopeful note.