Course Description: Students enrolled in this introductory applied course gain experience writing news stories, feature stories, broadcast stories, opinion pieces and public relations pieces and using the Associated Press stylebook for copy editing. Emphasis is placed on the skills for information gathering, organization and composition necessary to the hard news story as well as the ability to produce under a publication deadline.
Achievements: In this course, I crafted a semester-long feature story for The Huntingtonian, Huntington University’s student newspaper. Across the semester, I interviewed four students, one eyewitness source, and one expert source on Huntington’s student bands, music production, and general advice for student artists. In addition, I wrote a full feature story proposal (see below), created a timeline infographic, and practiced journalistic photography, displayed on the Journalism page. From this course, I have gained valuable journalism, photography, and writing skills as well as time and deadline management.
Feature Story Proposal
NAME: Ellen Batty
TOPIC AND ANGLE: Although Huntington University has had student bands in the past, such as the now-popular “Attaboy,” never has Huntington had three consistent, popular, and successful student bands at the same time—until recently. “The Strolls,” “Pants Clark,” and “Strictly Lasagna” are three beloved Huntington student bands on campus—each garnering quite an audience with every campus concert the bands independently put on. Despite each of their successes and released discographies, none of the students are musicians full time. Most of the band members balance academics, a full social life, and part time jobs on top of working on their art. Thus, being an inspiration to other aspiring musicians and artists who are also not able to commit to their art full time. This story will provide an inside look on how the musicians balance their time, produce their music on a student budget, what inspires each of them to create, and give overall advice to other aspiring student music artists.
This story holds proximity as the bands are Huntington University students who perform on the Huntington University campus. This story will also have human interest because the bands garnered a lot of fans among the students, who will be the readers of the article. Finally, this story contains prominence as each of the band members are beloved by the students on campus and are seen as inspirations to other student artists.
PUBLICATION FORMAT: This will be a text story.
TARGET PUBLICATION: My story will be sent to the Huntingtonian Editor-in-Chief Rose Warren for publication.
INTERVIEW: I will do three types of interviews. I will do seven in-depth interviews with band members followed by a surface level eyewitness interview with the “Attaboy” band. I will also do an in-depth expert interview.
- Participant interview. Concerning my participant interviews, I will be interviewing each of the current band members for the three campus bands. For “The Strolls,” this will be bassist and vocalist Scotty Frank, guitarist Shaun Ross, and drummer Micah Gilliom. For “Pants Clark.” This will be guitarist and vocalist Connor Bahney, guitarist Peyton Lackey, bassist and vocalist Nathan Deck, and drummer and vocalist Carson McFadden. For “Strictly Lasagna,” this will be artists and vocalists Carson McFadden and Nathan Deck. They all have experience making music as students and have performed live in campus concerts.
- How do you balance your time as an artist and student?
- Do you have time for a job or is music your current income?
- Are academics manageable or a struggle?
- Do you have time for a social life/relationships?
- Do you have to make any sacrifices?
- Do you have any tips for time management?
- How do you produce your music on a student budget?
- Is music production expensive? If so, how do you fund that?
- How do you put on concerts/get gigs?
- What inspires you to create music?
- Do you incorporate your faith at all in your art?
- Do you have any advice for other aspiring student music artists?
- Expert interview. For my expert source, I will be interviewing the recording studio that hosted the campus band “The Strolls.”
- How was it working with “The Strolls”? How were they different than other bands you’ve hosted?
- What’s it like working with full-time student artists? (scheduling, contact, etc.)
- What does a typical recording session look like?
- How can other first-time artists get involved with recording studios?
- Eyewitness interview. For my eyewitness interviews, I will be interviewing the “Attaboy” band members who came from Huntington University.
- How did “Attaboy” start?
- What was it like being a full-time student while working on your music career?
- What were some steps you took while being a student to further your music career?
OBSERVATION: I will visit “The Strolls” latest gig: “Diner 52” at Davey’s Delicious Bagels in Fort Wayne on January 28th and take note of my reaction and observations at the event.
RESEARCH: “Greenland’s Biggest Band Is Thrust Into an Uneasy Spotlight” is an article about an underground Greenland band that recently gained popularity as listeners cope with President Trump’s threat to seize the territory of Greenland. Though this is about an unrelated band and location, the band’s sudden rise-to-fame mimics that of the campus bands.
PHOTOS: I plan on using a DSLR camera from the library to capture the bands that I interview, potentially during recording/performing and capture photos from a real gig put on by “The Strolls.”
INFOGRAPHIC: I plan on creating a timeline of each of the bands on top of each other featuring when they formed, when they finished writing their first song, when they put on their first performance, when they released their new song, etc.
TIMELINE:
- Attend gig and observe: January 28th
- Email “Attaboy”: by January 30th
- Email recording studio: by January 30th
- Student interviews: by Feburary 26th
- Online interviews: by March 13th
- Take photos: by March 13th
- Story written: by March 23rd
- Presentation: March 24th
Ellen Batty 