My pitches are socio-geographic facets of an idea my group has discussed for our newscast: the relationship between Ohio University students and Athens residents.
1. "Townie" relations, part 1: How Athenian city folk - e.i., those people a few minutes' walk away from campus - feel about students, and vice versa.
These individuals are, spatially spatially speaking, closest to the university, and, thus, most likely to interact (or have to deal with) students. They, for whatever reason, have chosen to live and work around young adults; they've resigned to perpetual madness, half a year of school-day rush and midnight mayhem. I think they're insane. I can't know for sure, though, because I've never read about them in papers, or seen them on television, or heard them on radio. They're sub-textual, backdrop, on the fringes of our peripheral vision. But they're people, people with feelings. They have a voice, and I'd like to hear it.
Possible visuals: Interviews inside of apartments, shots of campus.
2. "Townie" relations, part 2: How neighborhood dwellers are affected by university goings-on.
Those a short drive from the university, those living several miles from College Green and Court Street, typically have university connections. Be they professors or faculty or graduates, they've valuable perspective to give: they were once the youthful peripatetics they see now, every day, while driving into town. These people were, long ago or recently, students themselves. How interesting to see, then, what they think of current classes and current class actions.
Possible visuals: Homes, walks along neighborhood roads, a drive into town.
3. "Townie" relations, part 3: How more rural, 'down-the-road' citizens of Athens interact with or "see," in a broad, character sense, students.
The farms and fields a little farther from town are where some Athenians reside. An appreciable distance from O.U., they live simpler, more Tellurian lives. Or maybe not. Little is known among students about the nearly-out-of-town-but-not-quite -ers, besides the heavily publicized "poverty and drug" staples of Appalachia But perhaps we could rectify that by informing ourselves and others of what those austral unseen are truly like.
As a side note, I'm sure Ohio University has an outreach program of some sort that I'm not aware of. I'd like to know what efforts like those have done for the community.
Possible visuals: Homes, shots of property, shots of people.
I think these are all good angles, and I really like how you provided the visuals. But maybe this could all be combined into one story because all the pitches have kind of the same idea. Maybe go deeper into the culture, granted we are not sure of the culture yet, but think about how the townies have a great artistic background, Athens is actually known for its music scene. Or you could look at the best kept secrets about Athens. While I think all of these angles are strong, I feel like you will end up getting a similar story out of them. And maybe we can look at the odd angles and pose question that haven't been asked about them yet.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought! :)