Photo of Halloween crowd on Court Street courtesy of The Athens NEWSWhen my online journalism professor told our class that we needed to develop a blog that showed an ongoing process while applying journalistic practices, I was a little concerned because I am new to blogging. I racked my brain for original story ideas, which is difficult for me because I tend to lack the creative gene. Then, it hit me. I would show the creative sides of others by documenting their costume-making processes for the Halloween party on campus. Costumes are a big deal at the annual Ohio University celebration. The annual Halloween party brings thousands of costume-wearing partygoers from all over to celebrate in one of biggest block parties of the year. Court Street is jam-packed with students sporting all different types of costumes and people-watching is one of the best parts of the experience.
Coming up with the story idea was actually a lot easier than finding students with creative costume ideas. I wanted to find people who put more effort into their costumes than just strolling uptown and buying the first costume they like. To my surprise, not many students have costume ideas three weeks in advance. When talking to students around campus, I found a lot of people were being Joker from The Dark Night, Sarah Palin, or Barack Obama, which are all expected costume trends for 2008. To me, these costume ideas were just too obvious. I was in search of people who were thinking outside of the box.
When choosing a costume, people can get inspiration from so many different outlets. Luckily, I found three groups of students who strayed away from the "traditional" Halloween costume and were willing to let me document their experiences. Their processes will be organized into three steps: getting the supplies, putting the materials together, and showcasing their finished products. The purpose of this blog is to recognize the creative ability and hard work exerted by these festive students while also providing the readers with some original ideas for their own costumes.
4 comments:
You're idea is fresh, and I'm glad to see someone focusing on the costumes instead of the drinking that goes on at the OU Halloween block party. :)
I especially liked the originality of your links, I would not have thought of sending people to these websites if I were writing this piece.
Are you planning on talking to a number of individuals making their costumes, or are you going to talk to maybe the costume shop on court street and other businesses like that? It would be interesting to know what they think of all this, since they've been in the area for so many years and are one of the few costume shops in a town known for its costume party.
Sierra - I think the idea is a good one, and I'm sure you'll get more material this week.
I caution you against the use of different fonts for different posts - it puts the reader off. You could use a different color to set it off from the background, or play with the colors of your layout because right now the text doesn't stand out enough to engage the reader.
I think this blog needs TONS of pictures. Carry your camera everywhere this weekend - interview people about how the arrived at their costumes and the process of making/ putting them together.
Goo luck!
Definitely a good idea. I know you are including two other costume processes, but I also think you should document the unique costumes that will be on Court Street this weekend. Costumes are a huge aspect of the Halloween extravaganza and allowing others to visually experience this is great. I am sure you'll get a lot more content to add to the piece throughout this week especially.
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