An Ambush and a Comrade Lost
May 6th, 2009 | By Akilah Johnson | Category: Critiques
New York Times photojournalist Tyler Hicks audio sound slide captures the ambush of American soldiers in Afghanistan as it occurs. Two soldiers narrate the piece by recounting the ordeal that resulted in the death of Private First Class Richard A. Dewater, 21.
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Rating: 3.9/5 (14 votes cast)
I was really interested in checking this, and other sites on this page, out but there don’t seem to be any links. At all.
Good stuff though
I like your presentation of how you present your story of the ambush of American soldiers in Afghanistan. Telling the story through the use of a sequence of photos along with the audio of soldiers presenting their story helps to add to the story and present it so that the viewer has a good understanding of this particular moment. You get a real good idea of what the mindset of the soldiers were as they crossed the bridge and faced the enemy. The use of a series of photos is better than simply using one photo. I felt as though I was watching a movie. Make sure that all of the links work on your critique page.
The multimedia on this project is what made the emotion come alive. Text would not have fully gotten the message across. It was incredibly moving.
Agreeing with John, there seems to be a lack of link-continuity on these pages. For the success of this site on a whole linking should be one of the primary concerns.
Most, if not all of these suggested sites have an innate interest that can be brought to an even larger audience. I’d just like the ability to see it for myself instead of using Google to get there in the first place.
This project was fantastic. This type of multimedia goes above and beyond anything print could do. The type of emotion this project elicited in such a short time was incredible.
This was really crazy to see and hear. The audio and video together make a great story. It’s a different experience than just reading about the war. It makes it more real. There aren’t really any links on the site though, so add them if you an. It was great!
The photos definitely bring this story to life. It’s always compelling to hear an individuals story rather than a mass story in a paper.
It’s an interesting take on trying to give war a more human feel. The pictures give a good feel for what it was like to be in that situation. However, the lack of introduction to the story sort of takes away from the intimate feel that the presentation is trying to go for. It feels somewhat lacking in trying to connect the reader to the soldiers themselves.
I think this is a really powerful peace, it cannot be easy for these soldiers to recount a situation where one of their friends was killed. This audio slide-show is an excellent example of an interactive narrative.
Emotion is seeping through every crack in this piece from the photos to match what the soldiers are talking about to the ambient sounds in the background. It is so moving, and more successful at telling the story than text alone could ever be.
The audio captures the emotion of the soldier who is recounting this ambush, while the pictures help capture the moment and enhance the emotions of the piece as a whole, nicely done.
This is the best example of the first hand experience story telling. This project makes the story so much more real then if, say, a reporter would have did this, or a writer would have did a feature on this. We are currently learning about multimedia journalism in our Online Journalism class, and this is a great piece with pictures and a first hand account of what happened. It really gives the story legs. Good job with that, another step for online journalism and its another great thing that you can do online that you cant do on paper.
Great work! I agree with the other comments this piece is very emotional. It also shows the discipline and attitude of the soldiers very well. He didn’t slow down or pause at any time while telling this story just like they couldn’t slow down or pause in real life. When we lose someone close to us sometimes it is hard to convince yourself to go on, I couldn’t imagine having to fight for my life under such circumstances.
This project is very compelling, especially for someone like myself who does not really have any ties to the war overseas. I thought this project did what an article couldn’t, and that was capturing the emotions of the soldiers who were part of the ambush. This was storytelling perfection.
This made this all very real for me. We are all very used to seeing war footage on our TV screens, but this war footage lacks the commentary and human connection that you find in a piece such as this, where the soldiers can be intimately heard. Having this paired with the images of the ambush made this a very compelling piece and it tells the story in a way that is impossible with raw footage. Although one is distanced here by the lack of “moving” pictures, one is brought closer to the actual soldiers and the ambush, itself through their voices. Well done.