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Home > Visual Journalism
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12:15 PM  Apr. 1, 2009
See How Music Changes a Story
By Regina McCombs (More articles by this author)

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"Music in Multimedia: Add Sparingly, Not As a Crutch," by Regina McCombs

"Ethics Policies Regarding Music Use in News Stories," by Regina McCombs

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Here are three slightly different versions of the same story, "Mom Goes to War," which I photographed last summer with reporter Mark Brunswick while working at The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune. In the story, Maj. Patricia Baker, a helicopter pilot in the Minnesota National Guard, prepares to go to Iraq for her second deployment, and her son Zach talks about his mother leaving.

The first version uses only natural sound, while the other two use loops from GarageBand. I did a limited amount of music editing to fit it to the video.

Below is the natural-sound-only version of the story of Maj. Baker and her son Zach. (You may want to make notes about what caught your attention in the story before you watch the next version.)


Next, here's a version with one type of music. If you've already watched the natural sound version, you may want to make notes about what caught your attention in this story that didn't the first time.


Last, this is a version with a different type of music. Do you feel any differently when you watch this story?

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Recent Comments:
How Music Changes a Story
As someone who uses music a lot in the video work I do, I have a few thoughts on this. I see music as just another tool to effectively and accurately tell the story. The thought process in selecting the right music is the same thought process used in selecting...
Mike De Sisti, 9:59 PM April 1, 2009
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