9 Weddings in 9 Minutes, 9/09/09, 9 Guests Each, at a 99 Cents Store

Sure, it's a publicity stunt for the 99 Cents Only store in Hollywood -- inviting nine couples to get married in consecutive ceremonies that each lasted nine minutes, on September 9, 2009.

But the Los Angeles Times took the opportunity to create an upbeat, if slightly surreal, audio slideshow of the event. It gives new meaning to "walking down the aisle."

The images are cleverly accompanied by only the voice of the non-denominational minister conducting the ceremonies. All other info must be gleaned from the accompanying text:

Each couple was allowed to bring nine guests. The couples were supplied with a wedding cake, drinks and fruit after the morning ceremonies. A limousine was provided for the couples and their guests, taking them to the Griffith Park Observatory. The couples were also given a $100 bill in exchange for a penny, and a one-night stay with dinner and breakfast at a hotel in Brentwood.

We would have liked to hear more from the couples themselves -- how they got wrangled into this, what their friends and family think about it, whether they registered at the store. Perhaps the Times will be industrious enough to revisit the couples and see how their marriages are progressing -- next July 11 at a 7-Eleven!

Watch it here.

Photography and audio by Mel Melcon, produced by Bryan Chan.

'Honest Truths' Studies Ethical Issues for VJs

Videojournalists face a slew of moral and ethical quandaries in every stage of shooting and editing their stories. A new study intelligently and engagingly addresses some of the most prevalent.

It's called Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work, published by American University School of Communication's Center for Social Media.

This study provides a map of perceived ethical challenges that documentary filmmakers—directors and producer-directors—in the United States identify in the practice of their craft. It summarizes the results of 45 long-form interviews in which filmmakers were asked simply to describe recent ethical challenges that surfaced in their work.

The interview pool consisted of 41 directors or producer-directors who had released at least two productions at a national level and who have authorial control. Most of those makers had experience both with nonprofit outlets, such as public TV, and with cable or commercial network television. Also included were four executive producers in national television programming organizations. The population spanned three generations.

Documentary filmmakers identified themselves as creative artists for whom ethical behavior is at the core of their projects. At a time when there is unprecedented financial pressure on makers to lower costs and increase productivity, filmmakers reported that they routinely found themselves in situations where they needed to balance ethical responsibilities against practical considerations. Their comments can be grouped into three conflicting sets of responsibilities: to their subjects, their viewers, and their own artistic vision and production exigencies.

Filmmakers resolved these conflicts on an ad-hoc basis and argued routinely for situational, case-by-case ethical decisions. At the same time, they shared unarticulated general principles and limitations. They commonly shared such principles as, in relation to subjects, “Do no harm” and “Protect the vulnerable,” and, in relation to viewers, “Honor the viewer’s trust.”

Among the topics discussed:

* Staging, restaging, and effects

* Framing and editing

* Paying subjects

* Sharing decision-making and/or control of final cut

* Protecting vulnerable or endangered subjects

* Reselling or distributing images in other contexts

* Deliberate deception to achieve a greater good

The report concludes:

When filmmakers face ethical conflicts, they often resolve them in an ad-hoc way, keeping their deep face-to-face relationship with subjects and their more abstract relationship with the viewers in balance with practical concerns about cost, time, and ease of production.

The ethical conflicts put in motion by these features of a filmmaker’s embattled-truth-teller identity are, ironically for a truth-telling community, unable to be widely shared or even publicly discussed in most individual cases. Sometimes filmmakers are constrained by contract, but far more often they are constrained by the fear that openly discussing ethical issues will expose them to risk of censure or may jeopardize the next job.

Filmmakers thus find themselves without community norms or standards. Institutional standards and practices remain proprietary to the companies for which the filmmakers may be working and do not always reflect the terms they believe are appropriate to their craft. Their communities are far-flung, virtual, and sporadically rallied at film festivals and on listservs. Filmmakers need to share both experience and vocabulary and to be able to question their own and others’ decision-making processes without encountering prohibitive risk.

Documentary filmmakers need a larger, more sustained and public discussion of ethics, and they also need safe zones to share questions and to report concerns. Any documentary code of ethics that has credibility for a field with a wide range of practices must develop from a shared understanding of values, standards, and practices. A more extended and vigorous conversation is needed in order to cultivate such understanding in this field of creative practice.

Download the study here (PDF file).

Poynter Seminar for Visual Journalists

For journalists who appreciate the need to work visuals into their storytelling vocabulary, Poynter is offering a course in Essentials for the Versatile Visual Journalist

Your newsroom is changing everyday. How can your skills as a visual journalist help you excel in print or online? In this hands-on seminar, we provide practical experience and insight to help develop your knowledge of multimedia tools and new story forms. Learn to identify your own strengths and gain a better understanding of how collaboration can enhance storytelling.

You'll learn:

* The best uses of audio, video, still image, informational graphics, interactivity and Web and print design

* How the right tools can facilitate better journalism

* Ways to develop your personal skills and interests toward the most focused career path

To apply, or for more info, go here, or contact seminars@poynter.org

Instructor: Sara Dickenson Quinn (pictured)

Seminar dates: 11/30 - 12/4

Application deadline: 10/19

Tuition: $995

'Buy One Anyway' -- Rescue This Newspaperman

The Buy One Anyway foundation encourages folks to purchase newspapers everyday, even if no one wants to read them anymore.

As this heart-tugging Slate video (below) indicates, for mere pennies a day, you can help clothe, feed and shelter a mid-career, award-winning journalist who is trapped in a dying industry.

And just because you don't get your news from it, doesn't mean newspapers aren't useful -- for packing dishes, lighting BBQs, even drying windshields!

These overtaxed, underappreciated professionals need your help. For the price of a latte, you can buy them just a few more weeks to polish their resumes.



A "laughing through the tears" thanks to writer/director Scott Blaszak, executive producers Andy Bowers and Bill Smee, host Alissa Ford.

Stop the Presses! Start the Presses!

The bad news is that, on Sept. 8, yet another newspaper is stopping its presses. The good news is that it's starting them up again the next day -- at a new location, with new state-of-the-art equipment, for its redesigned print edition.

Appropriately straddling the eras of print and Web, the Naples (Florida) Daily News produced a behind-the-scenes video story, The Final Run, about the process. It gives us one last look at the old press, and the people who operate it.

Before we collectively forget what a printing press even looks like -- majestic for those hailing back to the Woodward/Bernstein era and beyond -- take a look at their video documenting the transition, lovingly produced by Manuel Martinez & Lexey Swall.

"The black-and-white sections of this video were created with a series of still photographs to simulate motion," they reveal.

NPPA Virtual Video Workshop at Poynter

The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) is conducting a "Virtual Video Workshop" on Sept. 19 at 10:15 a.m. (ET). It is hosted by the Poynter Institute.

Learn new video skills, improve your techniques and... join the winners of NPPA's Best of Photojournalism video contest in this innovative online workshop. You'll get detailed accounts on the creation of their videos. You'll learn their methods, listen to their insights, watch their work and ask them questions in this daylong online event.

Speakers will include:

* Darren Durlach, WBFF-TV in Baltimore, NPPA's 2009 Ernie Crisp Television News Photographer of the Year
* Boyd Huppert, KARE in Minneapolis, a three-time winner of the NPPA Special Award for Reporting
* Greg T. Johnson, WFAA-TV in Dallas, NPPA's 2009 Video Editor of the Year
* Pierre Katta, WashingtonPost.com, Emmy Award-winning video producer

If you can't attend the live event, or can't commit to the entire day, we'll have an archived replay available soon after the live workshop. Your registration for the live event will also give you access to the replay plus our bonus resources.

More info here.

More News University Webinars here.

Have Vidcam, Will Travel ... Need $$$ ?

You want to travel to exotic lands where you can create videojournalism projects ... but you don't have the dough.

SalaamGarage, which leads small groups of visual journalists on worthwhile expeditions around the globe, is an expert at figuring out how to finance them.

SalaamGarage is a citizen journalist organization that partners with International NGOs and local non-profits. Participants (photographers, writers, videographers, etc.) create and share independent media projects that raise awareness and cause positive change in their online and offline social communities.

Now they've published a guide to funding your project, via social media -- including Facebook and WordPress.

The two methods for raising awareness and money documented here each have their advantages. Facebook is quicker, easier and does not require any technical background. Hosting your own site and blogging with WordPress is more technical, but it provides more customization options.

SalaamGarage's upcoming India trip is full, but they still have a few spaces left for their 2010 excursions to Vietnam and Guatemala.

Sign up now -- and start searching for your financial underwriting.