Damian Fasolo

Online journalism is fast becoming a central source of news worldwide. Yet all too often the perception of online is that it’s rough and ready, and what’s worse, that audiences don’t care. This paper argues that the predominantly authored form that we know as video journalism owes more to the cinematic aesthetics of documentary and cinema than traditional news, and that the growth of online digital literacy has had a profound impact on audiences’ expectations of production quality. The author’s recent work for BBC News are used as case studies to reveal how VJs are able to implement cinematic approaches at both a narrative and aesthetic level

This is a case study of the author’s film production, The Road Not Taken (2010). The film is an adaptation of Robert Frost’s widely renowned poem of the same name incorporated in the form of a teen ager’s narration. The chapter explores the implications of working with and adapting renowned works of art and issues of authenticity when translating poetic text to filmic medium. Furthermore, it investigates the film’s unique narrative mode and how it challenges a prevailing negative social discourse of adolescence.