The “Ultimate” Video Guide 1/14/2009

So what are the ultimate rules to successful video?
• 1. Listen. Watch. If you want people to pay attention to you, you have to pay attention first.
• 2. Production quality only needs to be as high as it needs to be.
• 3. Audio is key. No matter how captivating the content, bad audio loses.
• 4. Don’t feel like you have to bend to the pressure of a time limit. Tell the story, and then cut.

Videographers still needed 12/16/2008

So, the economy sucks, the industry is tanking and there are thousands of unemployed journalists scrambling for jobs.

Self-regulation in captioning looks like Wall Street 11/19/2008

Online captioning…barely exists, and one reason for that is an insistence on closed captioning, i.e., captioning you have to turn on. This is a failed holdover from television broadcasting, where a single channel has to work for everyone.

Shooting and Editing with Final Cut Pro 8/15/2008

I haven’t tried any of these out, although I have some video that needs editing. (I keep telling myself I’ll do it one of these weekends!) So let me know if you try these or if you have other Final Cut Pro tips.

Playing fair in online video 7/15/2008

American University’s Center for Social Media published a “Code of Best Practices” this month, which gives 6 situations of fair use for online video, along with analysis and limitations for each.

A video internship at The Sun-Sentinel 4/15/2008

Matthew Gonzalez is a classmate and one of my multimedia stringers at The Independent Florida Alligator. Last summer he did a video internship at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. I asked him to tell me about his experience, and he sent me this…

Reporters using video cameras 4/1/2008

But over the course of this semester, I’ve noticed that our reporters, untrained as they are (except for a quick “This is the ON button, this is the zoom, don’t talk while your subject is talking”), are asking me for audio recorders and video cameras.

College media contest winners 3/18/2008

Unlike many awards announcements, Murley included an analysis of each winner’s submission. Way cool, and a great way to help people learn. Everyone should do this.

My first big video project 3/11/2008

For my project I went to visit the Kurtz and Sons Dairy Farm in Live Oak, Fla. The owner sells his products at the Gainesville Farmers’ Market, and has been a random topic of conversation among my classmates and colleagues at The Alligator. So this was a great opportunity to find out what was going on.

Who wants to work in online video? 2/19/2008

I’ve put together this list of job opportunities over the last couple of weeks. Each job listing is summarized, so click on the title to see the source and for more information.

Help for journalists new to video 1/28/2008

At the end of 2007, Howard Owens challenged “non-wired” journalists to get “wired.” A few weeks later, Wired Journalists, a social network for anyone trying to learn more about digital journalism, was born. There are now almost 500 members, consisting of students, teachers, freelancers and professionals.

Student multimedia awards 1/22/2008

Hearst has finally added a multimedia component. The deadline is April 22, although the piece must have been published by April 20. Look out for this requirement: “A multimedia project is defined as a single piece of journalism executed essentially by the same journalist. Each entry must have been posted on the Web and must have included at least three of the following components: print, audio, video, still photography and graphics.” Their requirements and instruction are a little confusing, so head over to the site for all the details.

b-roll.net TV 1/16/2008

But I want a feed of made-for-Web videos. I want to see what is being done differently. I DON’T want to hear another polished, measured voice getting in the way of the story.

Beet.TV interview with NYT general manager 1/4/2008

Beet.TV did an interview with NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller. There’s a video segment, and she talks about how coming from a TV background, she had to unlearn all the assumptions in order to produce good online video.

Video jobs at newspapers 12/18/2007

I keep hearing, both at school and in the blogosphere, that video is now the big storyteller newspapers think will save them. Strangely, this demand isn’t reflected in the job postings.

Looking for help 12/6/2007

I know how to tell a story, but planning ahead and thinking of the shots I need for video is much more difficult. When I write from my notes I can explain, give background, and tell a story. On video, I have to find someone else to tell the story.

Required multimedia course 12/4/2007

Bryan Murley has been writing about a new course over at Eastern Illinois University. The new course, Intro to Multimedia Journalism, will be a requirement for journalism majors. They’ve set up the course schedule so that multimedia makes its appearance during a student’s sophomore year, after taking some basic journalism classes.

Mindset and skills: 2 sides, 1 coin 11/21/2007

The Internet is an amazing educational resource. Maybe, the most important skill is Google-ing. The most important thing you need to have when you graduate from college and go out in search of those precious few journalism jobs is the right MINDSET.

Who is “getting it” 11/15/2007

This class was my jump-start to “getting it” as far as the relationship between the Web and journalism goes. I’ve always been a computer geek and a linguaphile, and this “new” work in journalism seemed the perfect marriage between my inner geeks.

Not all video is created equal 11/5/2007

A classmate of mine is a still photographer. Although he accepts that he must learn new technologies in order to get a job after graduation, he does not embrace this fact. Until recently, he was resistant to learning video. Then he saw what a combination of still photography and video could do.

Where is all the video?! 10/8/2007

I specified original, because the first few sites I checked, including the Daily Northwestern, pull in a whole lot of AP and Reuters video. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but these papers are missing out on the YouTube effect and ignoring the concept of hyper-local news. They’re also missing out on a learning opportunity. Soon after I e-mailed Bryan, a post appeared on his site asking others to help him gather up original college media video. So now there is a handy dandy, though by no means exhaustive, list of brave college journalists experimenting with video.

College video matters 10/1/2007

College students can be as conservative and fearful of technology as your favorite crusty reporter. Video is a friendly option because many students have cheap little cameras that are capable of decent video.

Tasergate on tape 9/24/2007

Even if the action is caught on tape, it’s still up to the viewer to interpret what occurred. I feel that in a situation like this, any paper would have been happy to have low-quality video rather than none at all (I know I was cursing our lack of gear). And every media outlet should be posting their videos to YouTube. The Gainesville Sun’s video had over 600,000 views and was number one overall for a day or so.

Why learn video, or check out these jobs 9/17/2007

I’ve put together this list of job opportunities over the last couple of weeks. Each job listing is summarized, so click on the title to see the source and for more information.

Introducing college video column: College Scene 9/10/2007

I’ll write about video classes at j-schools (the whos and hows of training and gear), job and internship opportunities for videographers at newspapers, video in college publications (examples and interviews) and more.

Skills: Writing, Blogging

Medium: Text

Popularity: 1% [?]