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The Basic Requirements of News Writing for Dafa Practitioners (Part 4): Focus on Pictures
By a Practitioner in the U.S. (Clearwisdom.net) Besides the quality of writing we can also make use
of pictures, graphs, tables, maps, frames, etc to enhance the subject matter of
our news reports. Successfully correlating the pictures and graphs will arouse
more interest and also help readers grasp the content and information of the
report quicker and more effectively. Choice of Pictures Pictures all contain some information. We need to choose pictures that
closely relate to the content of the report and reflect a practitioner's high
standard. If we fail to do so the pictures will not be harmonious to the article
and might even conflict with the report's content. If the atmosphere conveyed by the writing is festive and happy, but the
picture is desolate or negative, or the message conveyed by the report is grand
and solemn, but the picture shows only a few people wearing casual clothing,
then it will fail to achieve the desired effect overall. Subsequently, pictures should play the role of adding the finishing touches
to the content of the report and include powerful captions. To achieve this
effect, photographers have to first understand the subject of the report, then
they can provide a group of high quality pictures for the reporters to choose
from. The basic requirements for taking pictures can be briefly summarized in the
following points: (1) The content of pictures should contain ample positive messages, so that
the picture has deeper substance, and breaks the current trend of using deviated
messages to make money. (2) Dafa disciples should try our best to use orthodox and upright ways of
expression. (3) Pictures should portray a sense of motion to contrast the relatively
static nature of the writing and help to encourage readers to read the reports
further. (4) Choosing picture content that is familiar to the reader will be
attractive to them and help to bridge the gap between the reporters and the
readers. Writing Good Photo Captions Captions should help strengthen the picture's influence. Good captions can
also play a role to enhance the "soul" of the picture. Good photo captions usually have the following characteristics: (1) Pictures on their own are only a snapshot of a single instant in time.
The circumstances before and after, background information, and the development
behind the snapshot are impossible to include in the picture alone. This is
where captions can play an important role. Captions can also emphasize the
special or interesting parts in the picture that you want to bring to the
reader's attention. (2) Captions can explain what cannot be clearly seen in the pictures. For
example, pictures taken from the slow-motion video analysis of the so-called
Tiananmen self-immolation incident show the young woman Liu Chunling being hit
on the head from behind, the military policeman as he hit her, and Liu falling
down on the ground. However, all these could not be seen clearly in the
pictures. If there are brief and precise captions accompanying these pictures,
then the impact of the photos on the readers will be very different. (3) We need to correctly estimate the ability of readers to draw information
from the pictures and avoid redundant information. For example, some pictures
show many practitioners performing the exercises. In this case a good caption
would not be, "Falun Dafa practitioners practicing the exercises in a
group." Otherwise the captions don't play any role of assisting the
pictures. We can make use of all good things in everyday people's society. The
techniques and skills that are helpful for everyday people to understand the
truth of Dafa can all be utilized by practitioners to increase the attraction
and strength of our writing and pictures. What is important when Dafa
practitioners clarify the truth is to use our hearts. Additionally our
comprehensive and thorough understanding of the truth when we write articles is
also important. Therefore, we don't need to go to extremes, and rigidly use or
even attach to any one thing, because the formats are always secondary. By
properly using the resources we have, we can double the effect with half the
efforts. Otherwise, we may be constrained by the formality and only achieve
partial effects after doubling our efforts. (To be continued) Written on November 12, 2003 For Parts 1, 2 and 3, please see |