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Knight Braindump

Wow, where did January go? I was sure it was here a second ago. It feels like the second semester only just started, and yet here’s Feb knocking on the door and I’m wondering where all my carefully chronicled Knight exploits have gone. So here’s my attempt to sum up what’s happened over the last few weeks at Stanford:

• I’ve now scripted, lit, mic-ed, shot and edited my first multimedia interview (with help from fellow Knights Di Pinheiro and Madhu Acharya), which should be live on the Knight Blog any day now. Biggest takeaway: I love editing! Sort of like putting a comic together only without having to do redraws. Also made me realize how crucial sound (and in particular decent sound levels) is to the cohesion of a successful piece. One down, many to go! Here’s to banging out 1 a week to get in practice.
• I’m about 1/2 of the way through my first flash cartoon, which aims to explain the financial crisis (or at least, what precipitated it) with the help of fellow Knight Paddy Hirsch. I’ll post some screenshots this week, but boy I hope this process gets shorter over time. Just when I thought comics was the most work-intensive visual narrative form going. Ah the joys of being a one man band.
• Had some very interesting meetings with assorted Silicon Valley folk, mainly from startups experimenting with the visual storytelling potential of the ipad. Want to know the future of teaching storytelling to kids (and the “most exciting educational app of 2011″* ? Then check this out. *Yes, even though it’s only January.
• I’ve thumbnailed the next leg of my knight project interactive comic prototype, which will focus on the 2007 Nissour square shooting in Baghdad. Simultaneously juggling the mechanics of the data viz framework I want the content to sit in and the content itself at this point.
• I’ve also continued the comic breakdown of Pakistan’s turbulent modern history, in collaboration with fellow Knight Sahar Ghazi.
• I’m continuing to work on Hardhats, which seems to expand the more time I dedicate to finish it. Quite the slippery little beast it is. That said, I’m very happy with the latest pages, even if they will mean the odd redraw of earlier parts.
• I’ve started on my next iphone app, which will feature parts of Borderland, and will be given away free. More about it on the trafficking page.
• I’ve started going to the weekly Knight entrepreneurial sessions as a counterbalance for my lack of attendance at the GSB (due to either not finding any course matches, or wanting to focus on hands on production skills this term) – and am finding them helpful in breaking down my project into target audience, service it provides, etc.
• I’ve just given a talk at the Stanford d-school on the power of sketching to tell journalistic stories, which involved me crushing down the last few years of life and professional experience into a hyper-condensed 30 mins. If you wondered what I would look like in fast forward, there you had it.

Hmm I’m sure I’ve missed a few things off the list, but that’ll do for now. Oh, and the small matter of figuring out my life post-Knight…