One Man Makes a Difference

An essential part of America's mythos is that one person can make a difference. We celebrate those that do and encourage others to follow their example. Today NPR ran a story about one such person, Bernie Marcus. Upset about so many of our troops returning with brain damage, he wanted to help. Funded a program to do so and pitched it to the VA, saying he would help finance it. According to the NPR story, the VA said thanks and did nothing. Bernie, a co-founder of Home Depot, went ahead on his own to set up Project Share, and the results of his philanthropy are documented in the story.

A number of years ago I worked for the VA on a biography of Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, noted heart surgeon. What I learned from that experience was that DeBakey served in WWII, learned about medical trauma, developed the concept of the MASH unit to provide immediate attention to wounded troops and successfully fought the military bureaucracy in order to institute it during the Korean War. He also helped create a system to track surgical outcomes, trained hundreds of surgeons and continued to work closely with the VA to insure quality of care. That was a time when the VA was a proud institution.

I think the NPR story is a good example of how big organizations can become tone deaf to their original mission. And in the process lose touch with the needs of the people they were set up to serve. It's a process that seems to repeat itself over and over again. Making the NPR story an excellent example of what good journalism can accomplish.

Making it Real

Sound in a video or movie is the "making it real" part of the puzzle. We think about the images and often those are what stick in our mind. But it is sound that brings it all to life.

Imagine a beautiful landscape and the sound of birds. Sets you up for a good feeling. Now imagine the same landscape and the sound of approaching helicopters. Could be trouble coming.

Same picture, different realities, thanks to sound. And creating a sound scape for video or film can be enormously satisfying. A long long time ago I was hired to do sound design for a USDA film, "Day of the Killer Tornados." I know, sounds like a joke. But this was a long time ago. And while a dramatic story was told about the Government's tornado early warning system, most of the images had no sound whatsoever, just narration and a few moments of dialogue. It was my job to find and sometimes create the missing sounds. As one of my first jobs as an editor, it was a great lesson for me in how sound can bring the story to life.

NPR recently ran a piece entitled the Sounds of Star Wars. It talks about sound effects and how they found signature sounds for those movies. And created R2D2's memorable character in the process.

NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts

Radio's great. You get to paint your own pictures and no place provides a broader canvas than NPR. But not too long ago I stumbled upon their Tiny Desk Concert and loved it. First of all, finding a venue for new music is not easy. The old independent radio stations are pretty much a thing of the past.

Into the breech steps NPR. And not only with music, but with video too. Like this one, featuring Lost in the Trees. NPR's concept: bring the performers into a corner of the office, move away the desks to create a little space and shoot it simply, focusing on the music. The resulting performance has a lovely, intimate quality. Watching it, you feel like you're one of the NPR staffers just out of frame, hanging out to listen. And the musical variety is broad and stimulating. You also have a front row view of the performers, you can feel their connection as they play together; see how they listen and play off each other. Really watch the creative process unfold as you listen to their work. Also, because it's an acoustic experience, there are no electronics for the performers to hide behind. And the video makes it clear, it's all about the music. The variety of performers mixes the old with the new. You can link to the series, which started in March of this year. The old ones are archived. A great, innovative use of video for a radio network. And something to brighten your work week.