flipside

For many years, the Observer-Reporter has conducted a learning program for students who are interested in getting a head start in writing for a newspaper.


This school year, flipside advisers Bess Dunlevy and Greg Tarr encouraged the students to become involved in multimedia, which is integral to the future of journalism.

The first result is the video "flipside staff presents: INDIVIDUALITY," a topic that coincides with the theme of this month's in-print flipside. Half a dozen high school and middle school students provide insight about why they believe it's important to be themselves.

The students were not hesitant to share their views, which we hope you'll find interesting.

Check out INDIVIDUALITY

Thanks, A.J. and Amy

Today, I took a tour of Creative Visions Multimedia Services, just around the corner from our newspaper office in Washington, PA.

The owners, A.J. Brach and Amy Taylor, have a serious setup, with both the physical equipment to produce quality videos and the necessary computer hardware and software.

A.J. spent a good bit of time showing me Avid, a program that edits video for top-flight professional appearance and sound quality. He walked me through some steps and showed me a few tricks of the trade, so to speak, that should help my own finished products (especially when we get a software upgrade).

It helps to consult with the pros to help you eventually know what you're doing!

Why does a newspaper need a video camera?

When I started my career as a journalist, I used a typewriter. Everything in the newspaper was black and white. That includes the photographs, which were shot on film and needed to be developed.

That was back in the '80s, which didn't seem like so long ago. But considering the technological advances we've seen since then, it might as well have been the Bronze Age.

Well, here it is, the last few years of the first decade of the 21st century, and newspapers realize they'd better look past the "paper" part and start delivering the news to your computer along with your doorstep.



We at the Observer-Reporter (Washington, Pa.) have been working on multimedia projects for a couple of years now, learning as we go. Some of the early projects ... frankly, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. But you have to start somewhere.

Now that we have some much-improved equipment and (we hope) a better idea of what we're doing, we want to tell you more about our work and give you the opportunity to see and hear what we do.

The news certainly isn't black-and-white anymore.