Pictures of the Year Story - Lauren Zima

I watched the National Geographic multimedia story on gorillas in the Congo. I was incredibly moved by this piece. The subject matter, the plight of these gorillas, was matched by the use of different elements to tell the story (still photos, music, interviews, maps, text.) Some of the highlights:

-Still photos of gorillas moving through the foliage were shown in sequence and interspersed with drum music (assumedly African, which is appropriate to the region.) This was incredibly powerful because the jarring changes from picture to picture matched the beating of the drums.

-A still photo of a man sitting with a gorilla stayed on screen for several seconds. This allowed viewers to take in the image - to take in how close this man was to this gorilla and how the relationship between them was peaceful and mature, not violent or animalistic. It was remarkable.

-National Geographic photographers were interviewed for the story. At first, I was a bit taken aback by this; wasn't it teetering on the rules of bias? But - who better to tell the story than the photographers who had followed it for years? They knew the story.

-Photos were shown of dead gorillas, with the photographers telling the story [of how the gorillas died and how the park rangers found them and buried them] playing over the photos. I think the photos were much more powerful than video footage would have been, especially because the photographers told the story over the photos. In the photos, it's clear that the park rangers looking over the gorillas are sad, but silent in their grief. The photographers gave them a voice, which gave the pictures power that video footage would not have had. Additionally, the still photos of the dead gorillas were astonishing because, lying sprawled out on the ground instead of crouched on all fours, their bodies looked incredibly human.

There were moments when I was a bit confused by time elements; I wasn't sure when everything was supposed to be happening and I wasn't entirely sure of the focus of the story. But, the plight of the gorillas was showcased in the story of what happened over a few nights. I would have watched a full-length documentary on this story - the project was that good.
-dead gorilla photos
-confused by time