Pearl Harbor by the Hudson

Wiping the sleep out of my eyes at seven in the morning, I arrive to a gray morning by the Hudson River at Exchange Place, Jersey City. I can't even get a coffee this early on a Sunday. Normally I work the night shifts, starting when the sun begins to fade over New Jersey. Waking up as the sun began to rise left me without many thoughts this morning, but the material I collected for the story gave me more ideas than I had originally set out to gather.

The story commemorated the day of the Pearl Harbor attacks. A short ceremony for those that lost their lives in 1941 was held by New Jersey Gov. John Corzine, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and two actual survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack. While this could have simply been a stand-alone picture for the paper, reporter Charles Hack and I decided to try and make a bit more out the small gathering.

The Journal does not have a style for it's multimedia, so I have been trying to test out a few different variations of the medium. Charles was kind enough to lend his BBC Radio voice to the piece, reading from a short transcript. I prefer to allow a story to tell itself; without narration. But it is quite hard to gather each element for such a story (also considering this event was no more than 20 minutes). Writing, producing and editing this piece was easier than I thought, and it had quite a quick turnaround. But it does suffer from lack of foresight. Quality is truly latched to its mistress: Time.

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Click here to watch the piece at the Jersey Journal online.
Or to read more click here to read the story.