Slug & Lede

In the New York Times audio slideshow piece Two Paths Toward Death, One Voice of Comfort, narrator Paul Vitello tells how two people found comfort at the end of their lives in a Buddhist monk.

The opening photo of the piece is nice; it shows an obviously ill woman reaching for comfort.
However, the shot would have been more effective if the comforting arm was not blurry. Other shots in the piece do a good job of showing the many facets of the dying peoples’ lives. Shots of family pictures and the husband in the case of the woman show an obvious orientation to family. In the case of the man, the audio tells of his need for connection to people, and the pictures include many shots of him and the priest together.

The audio contains no b-roll. However, in this case, I feel this is an acceptable decision. In a piece on the acceptance of death and dying it is only natural that the background be languid and quiet. All of the interviewees were strong and had easy to listen to voices. However, considering all of the interview subjects were men, at times it was difficult to remember who the voice belonged to, especially between the narrator and husband. For this reason, I think it may have been better if a woman had narrated the piece so that there could be some variation in the audio.

Content-wise, I was also slightly confused. Was the piece a profile on the monk, or one of the dying people? All three would have made interesting pieces, and I felt the video should have narrowed its focus and told just one story. My other problem with the piece was the end. What “debate” were they talking about, and who has a “narrative Buddhist style?” This seemed to come from nowhere, and the viewer ended on a confused note.

Other than these few problems, it was a very nice piece.

In the New York Times audio slideshow titled “Two Paths Toward Death, One Voice of Comfort,” a narrator walks the audience through two lives: one already deceased and another close to the end.

The introduction starts with a quote from the spouse of the deceased woman, generalizing the process of death. This choice of audio at the beginning successfully captures the meaning of the entire piece and acts as the thesis.

However, the piece contains more than one story. The listener does not find out that another subject will enter the piece until halfway through the audio slideshow. The 95-year-old man enters the narration abruptly and without proper transition.

The audio describes the religious paths many take while dying, then it jumps into the elderly man seeing the monk without using dialogue to connect the two thoughts.

Overall, the piece maintains a lot of excellent qualities. The producers chose clips that articulate the thought without faltering. In addition, the variety of voices and flawless transitions from one sound bite to another make a crisp, compelling story.

Although the producers structured the piece much like a written article, a few things could have been done differently to make it more comprehendible.

After the initial quote, the narrator should have said something about the two lives rather than diving into the life of the deceased woman. A couple sentences about both lives would have provided a context for the whole piece. As is, the piece seems disjointed.

Also, at times it was difficult to recognize the speakers. That could have been easily cleared up by introducing each person through the narration.

Finally, the end could have had more of a kicker. The elderly man talked about the upcoming debate, which seemed off-topic, then the piece ended. Perhaps a sentence or two about both stories, a conclusion, would have done the trick.