Northeastern University screens documentary “A Band Called Death”

Northeastern University’s Film Enthusiasts’ Club held a screening of the documentary “A Band Called Death” this Saturday. The film tells the story of three brothers from Detroit who formed the rock band Death in their parents’ house in the mid-1970’s. Although success eluded them in their youth, they are now considered an innovative group that helped lay the groundwork for punk rock. This critically acclaimed feature had been on my to-watch list for a few weeks, so I jumped on the opportunity to attend this showing, especially when I saw that director Mark Covino would engage in a Q&A session with the audience.

The event took place in afterHOURS, an entertainment venue located in the Curry Student Center.

Their calendar shows that afterHOURS plays host to events of all kinds.

The documentary began playing at 4:15 pm.

Not everyone who was present was watching the film, but at least they refrained from speaking loudly and didn’t bother those who were paying attention.

Drummer Dannis Hackney spoke candidly about the band’s origins and history.

Director Mark Covino got in touch with Mitch Macro, the secretary of the Northeastern Film Enthusiasts’ Club, when he saw Macro’s review of the documentary. “Mark just kind of tweeted at me, like, ‘hey, thanks for writing the review, glad you liked the movie’, and everything. We started talking back and forth on Twitter, and I asked him if he wanted to come to Northeastern to do a screening with us.”

“I really like how the movie puts an emphasis on family and how their music has transcended generations. It’s a fascinating story and it was put brilliantly on film by the director.” – Brian Hamilton

“When you think about ‘A Band Called Death’ you don’t think about such familial connection and love. I was shocked and excited by how much of a role that played in the film”. – Mary Tobin, President of Northeastern University’s Film Enthusiasts’ Club

Covino spoke with students for more than an hour after the film was shown; elaborating extensively about the filmmaking process and entertaining everyone with revealing anecdotes.

Photojournalist Mark Garfinkel shares his experiences in the field

This past Tuesday, my Fundamentals of Digital Journalism course received a visit from Mark Garfinkel, an acclaimed photojournalist who works for the Boston Herald. While showing us his work (a lot of which can be seen on his blog), he gave advice on how to approach the profession and shared anecdotes behind some of his most poignant photographs.

Perhaps the most moving story Garfinkel told the class was that of a dying woman and her immediate family, whom he photographed during a three-month period. He explained that he chooses the photos that best communicate reality and emotion, and in this particular case, he had to narrow down his selection to only 14 pictures after having taken from 500 to 800 total photos.

Not all his stories were as emotionally charged. The class erupted in laughter when he displayed pictures of a family of turkeys walking in front of a KFC restaurant and of a young man pulling on his lower lip to reveal the words “fuck you” tattooed inside his mouth. As a music lover, I personally enjoyed the Offspring reference he made when he emphasized how important it is to make sure that an object and its shadow don’t overlap when shooting them.

Fully aware that most of the students are not professional photographers, Garfinkel also gave pointers on how to use a smartphone to take quality photographs. He called the device “an extension of your eyes” that can be “how you show people who you are” and demonstrated how to get better focus with a simple tap of the screen.

As someone with little to no experience with photography, I think Garfinkel’s visit helped me understand some of the basics of it a little better. Hopefully I can apply what I learned from his presentation on my future assignments, as well as on photographs for this blog.

Northeastern University helps its students find internships

Believe it or not, I didn’t come to Boston just to see the Celtics. Shocking, I know, but still true. Before entering my final year of undergraduate studies, I was researching colleges to determine where I would like to pursue master’s degree. I eventually discovered Northeastern University’s graduate journalism program and immediately fell in love with it.

This Friday, I saw firsthand why Northeastern’s career services are currently ranked #1 in the nation. Career adviser Mike Ariale spoke to a group of about 75 students during the workshop “Internship Search for Graduate Students”, and I was lucky enough to have front a row seat. As part of my assignments for this blog, I tweeted during the event, and you can see my tweets below:

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515548183716724737

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515548856378216448

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515549179121520641

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515550661132713984

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515550853722570752

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515552192938668032

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515552857547112448

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515553538240708609

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515554438413824000

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515554902572298240

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515555417561530368

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515559182834368512

https://twitter.com/titoyuca/status/515559514503122944

Covering an event via Twitter helps journalists develop multitasking skills and enables us to work on our concentration and patience, making us better journalists in the end. This not only convenient for us, it also helps newsreaders (by letting them get updates in real time and allowing them to interact with reporters) and society at large (because a world with better journalists is a better world).

You have to pay close attention to what’s happening if you’re covering an event on Twitter, especially if people are speaking. This ensures that you won’t misquote anybody and that you can still know what’s going on while you write your tweets. All reporters need to be careful with this, but I had to be extra careful on Friday because I was there out of my own volition and not just to complete an assignment. It would’ve been a shame if I missed anything Ariale said; he was giving out extremely useful information that I’ll undoubtedly need to revisit in the future.

While tweeting, you also have to make sure that you don’t forgo grammar for the sake of rapidity. In other words: don’t get too caught up on tweeting too fast; spelling everything right is more important. Writing a grammatically correct message under 140 characters in length while trying not to miss anything that’s going on around you might sound like a daunting task, but it’s a challenge that pays dividends through repetition.

This workshop and this assignment serve as proof that I made the right decision in coming to Northeastern, and I’m proud to attend a school that goes the extra mile in helping its students. The fact that it’s located in the same city where the Celtics play is just another one of its benefits.