Week Six - Photo Essay

Chapter six quiz

This week we had two quizzes to do. I found Quiz 6A to be a little more challenging and difficult, however 6B was quite easy to do as most questions were common sense. Punctuation is probably something I am more confident in when it comes to English so I felt like I did alright in these quizzes. 

Photo essay - Cooking pumpkin salad and salmon

Media press kit

For this week's inquiry, I chose to review the supplementary media for the Cirque du Soleil show called Totem. The following includes the elements of the media press kit. 

Show overview: The Totem show overview describes what the show is all about and gives the reader an idea of what is to be expected. The overview is written fantastically with language used to capture the reader's attention. This element of the press kit will be important to incorporate into a news story as the 'what' component, which is crucial to have in any story. 

A few interesting facts: This element lists the facts of the show in bullet points such as the show being the winner of the 2014 New York City Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Unique Theatrical Experience. The element of this should also be used as the 'what' component in a news story as it is still describing the event and what was involved. 

What the critics say about Totem: This element is a collection of quotes made by reputable news companies such as: The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Toronto Star. This is a fantastic way to bring the news story to life, with real quotes that readers can engage in. I would incorporate this element of the Press Kit as a direct quote as it is evidence. 

About Robert Lepage Writer and Director: This element of the Press Kit is a brief biography of Robert Lepage and his achievements. Included in this biography is a quote from him describing the paradigm of the circus as a discipline. I would incorporate this element of the Press Kit as another direct quote. Being a quote from the Director himself, is really quite important. It will enable the readers to connect to the story on a deeper level.

The Main Characters/The Scenes/Acts: This sets out the main characters of Totem with a brief description of each one; and the chronology of scenes with a description of each one. This would be the 'who' component of the story as it describes who was in the event. I would only put the most interesting and popular characters and scenes in the new story as this would interest readers the most. 

Totem: Cirque du Soleil
Source: Playandgo, 2015

The Creators: This is the element of the Press Kit that identifies the people involved in creating Totem. Each individual has a profile with their name. I wouldn’t include all these profiles in the news story as I don’t think they would be of much interest to the readers. Instead, I may just put a few of the main creators as this would interest readers the most. 

Costumes: This element describes the inspiration behind the costume design with the mention of the costume designer, Kym Barratt. This element of the Press Kit explores the different costumes with quite a lot of detail. This is one area of the news story where we could unfold the story as the costumes of Totem are quite unique, therefore making it news worthy.

Set Design and Projections: The set Design and Projection element deciphers the design of the set and projections used in Totem. This element goes in to great detail about the influential factors for the show’s design. I’m not entirely sure how I would use this element of the Press Kit into a news story, although I do think some readers may find it interesting. 

Support the Performance: This is the element which describes how the show is ever-evolving. This is broken down in to areas of: artistic direction, wardrobe, performance medicine, technical department, and tour services. I would incorporate this element into the news story as the 'how' component. Totem delivers an amazing experience to audiences with their extravagant costumes, stage props and visuals. However, what separates them from other circus productions is the constant innovation and evolution that is pursued. I believe this is very news worthy.

Village on Wheels: This element also covers the 'how' component of the news story. It explains the execution of the circus as a mobile village that includes: the Big Top which is one large entrance tent, the artistic tent, a kitchen and offices and all being set up in 8 days. The most news worthy feature of this element would be that Totem is completely self-sufficient for electrical power. As people are generally environmentally conscious these days, they would take interest in knowing that the site relies only on local water supply and telecommunication facilities to support its infrastructure.

Cirque Du Soleil at a glance: This is the last element of the Press Kit. It describes the evolution of Cirque Du Soleil from a description of its history, to its current empire today. Included in this element is the Mission of Cirque Du Soleil. 

Ames (2014) explains that a media press kit will contain all the information a journalist needs to write or produce a story. Media kits are used to support media releases. If a media release is distributed but it would be beneficial for additional information to be included, this information is contained in a media kit (Ames, 2014). From doing this exercise, I have demonstrated how I would write a media release on this show if I was a journalist. Evidently, not every detail from the media kit would be discussed in the media release, but only the topics that would seem interesting to readers. 

References:

Playandgo 2015, 'Totem: Cirque du Soleil', digital image, viewed 27 August 2015, www.playandgo.com.au

Ames, K 2014, Study guide lesson 6 - supporting the story: packaging and supplementing your writing, course notes, COMM11007: Media Writing, CQUniversity e-courses.