A team of students at New York University, in collaboration with ProPublica, have produced a video that provides a clear, concise explanation of fracking and the related controversies using animation and pop music to get the facts across.
Check it out at: http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/...
Break It Down: NYU Students Drop Some Fracking Knowledge
May 27th, 2011 | By admin | Category: Fracking, Lead Articles | Edit
A team of New York University students have produced a video that provides a clear, concise explanation of fracking and the related controversy using animation and pop music to get the facts across.
The piece, titled, “My Water’s On Fire Tonight,” represents a collaboration between the students, who are enrolled at NYU’s Studio 20, and ProPublica.org, on a project called “Build a Better Explainer.”
From Explainer.net, the site built by the students to launch their project:
The best explainers are direct, concise and easy to understand. But investigative journalism is rarely any of those things, instead reflecting the messiness of real life. That’s why explanation is just the beginning, a gateway into the kind of deep-dives for which ProPublica is known and respected.
“My Water’s On Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song)” is not meant to take the place of the rich, detailed investigation done by Abrahm Lustgarten and the rest of ProPublica’s frack squad. It’s impossible to sum up a massive, immersive experience like “Buried Secrets” in a two-and-a-half minute song. Instead, the intent is to bring people in, to create an easily digestible package that compels news consumers to dig into the real meat of the story.
David Holmes, one of the students behind the video, told naturalgaswatch.org that reaction to the piece so far has been “very positive.”
“Most of the negative reactions have come from the pro-fracking camp, but there are some viewers who feel I didn’t no far enough in condemning fracking,” Holmes said. “I definitely understand their comments, but I didn’t want the song to turn into an all-out polemic against fracking when there are still so many unanswered questions about the practice.”
“My Water’s On Fire Tonight” is a product of Studio 20 NYU (http://bit.ly/...) in collaboration with ProPublica.org (http://bit.ly/...). The song is based on ProPublica’s investigation on hydraulic fractured gas drilling (read the full investigation here: http://bit.ly/...).
Music by David Holmes and Andrew Bean
Vocals and Lyrics by David Holmes and Niel Bekker
Animation by Adam Sakellarides and Lisa Rucker