In the past, I would always struggle to learn new languages (programming or spoken). It would start out well enough … I’d dive in head first, scouring the internet and the bookstore for any information that I could find. I would take in the basics easily enough … I can probably print “Hello World” in more languages than I can count on my hand … but soon enough, something will come up that requires my attention, and learning actionscript/python/javascript/php/etc gets placed on the shelf.
For me, the best way to learn something has been to find a project to work on. I learned html/css first through customizing my Blogger blog, and then by building my own website (the iteration before the current one). Most recently, I wanted to build something to help readers navigate our recently created financial literacy page. As it is now, stories are sorted based on the date they were published, even though they can be written for very distinct age-based audiences. I had recently read a tutorial on using jquery to show and hide content and utilize hover effects, and thought it could easily be translated to an interactive that allowed users to show and hide content after selecting a particular age range.
My advice if you want to learn a new skill. First, find a project that you know you want to work on and that will hold your attention through the distractions that are bound to come up. Then, determine what skills will be needed to complete that project and go from there. It has been much easier for myself to address a need that already exists as opposed to trying to create a need because someone has said this is a skill I should have.
For some, being asked to spend 16 hours working the day before (and into) one’s birthday would be cause for complaint. But if your assignment is to shoot Opening Day, and you are a huge baseball fan like I am, well, lets just say … best. assignment. ever. (sorry President Obama)
Going in to the assignment, my editor was hoping that I would just grab some scene shots and interview a bunch of fans in a manner similar to a piece I did with fans tailgating during last year’s World Series. I had plans to try something new, and luckily I am, for the most part, given the freedom to do pretty much as I please (in regards to trying new forms of storytelling).
At first, I thought I would do some form of timelapse … perhaps shoot fans going through turnstiles, players on the field, seats filling and emptying, etc. However, after hearing that one of our photographers AND a photographer from Cherry Hill (a neighboring Gannett paper) would be doing that same exact thing, I decided to go the opposite way and experiment with slowing down time instead of speeding it up.
While there are some definite issues in some of the shots (athletes were moving too fast and I tried to slow them down too much) I do hope to use the effect for future profiles on local athletes. And next time, I will avoid hand-holding a 300 …
This post was written for an internal blog that I have been keeping for my work and was written for reporters with no video experience:
We all know the basics of what goes into a typical tv news piece:
Interview and/or voice over narration
Lots and lots of b-roll (footage to lay over interviews/narration)
Establishing shot
Medium shot
Detail shots (anything to do with hands, eyes, mouths talking, etc)
Some general rules of thumb for shooting (Again, these are just rules of thumb, and rules are made to be broken once you have a grasp of them):
Use a tripod. Given the small size of our video camera, camera-shake while hand holding is almost guaranteed. Film your interview, establishing and medium shots and some details with the camera on the tripod. No one wants to feel like they are watching the Blair Witch Project. I can barely watch this video by ESPNwith commentators Michael Wilbon and Jon Barry (Apparently the video was so bad, they took it down)
Take the camera off of the tripod. I know I just told you to keep it on the tripod. And you should, to gather all of the basic elements of your piece. For a photographer, this is similar to grabbing the shots you know will work in print. For reporters, I imagine it is getting the who, what, where, when and why in a story. Once that is done, you are free to get creative and find that well-composed shot.
Change your angles. This applies mostly to when you take the camera off of the tripod. Place it up high, down low, frame your subject by shooting through something. Move back, get close. Try and avoid shooting from the same distance at the same height for each clip.
When interviewing, control is key. As we discussed last week during the audio gathering training, you want to have control over your environment when conducting interviews. In the case of video interviews, whenever possible, you want both good sound and good light. Just as in audio gathering, this means moving your subject to a quiet location. As for light, window light works well indoors, shade outdoors.
Avoid unnecessary zooming, panning and tilting. The most common culprit is the zoom while filming.
Keep your shots static. Related to the last item, compose your shot as if you were taking a still photograph. Let your subject walk into and out of the frame, rather than following him/her around.
Storyboard your video ahead of time. Just as you have a list of questions you plan to ask before heading in to an interview, you should have a sense of what shots you want before you start filming. This will be a great help when you are back in the office editing, which is the real time-intensive part of video production. Having to sort through and make clips of five to 10 minutes of footage is far easier than 30 minutes of footage.
Some video examples:
One of my favorite multimedia producers. Katy Newton, and her husband Sean Connelly used to work up in the Bay Area. This ongoing multimedia piece features profiles of people that Katy finds on the Missed Connections area of Craigslist. They also have done a great package for the Oakland Tribune called Not Just a Number, which puts a name, face and, at times, a story, to all of the murders that happen in Oakland and the surrounding area. It is an amazing piece as well.
This post was written for an internal blog that I have been keeping for my work:
Here is a recap of our first multimedia training session, which focused on audio gathering and editing:
Though video is important, it is not the revenue generating magic bullet that many made it out to be a few years ago. Also, we only have one video camera as compared to three audio recorders and four cameras. That said, whenever possible, we will be deciding what media to use based on what best suits the story being told.
Control is key. You want as much control over the conditions in which you gather audio as possible. Good sound in = good sound out.
Be aware of surrounding noise when conducting interviews. Alter your location or move if it is too noisy.
Do not be afraid to
Turn off computers
Unplug refrigerators
Turn off lights, especially large banks of fluorescent lights
MOVE
When outdoors, consider shielding yourself from the wind by:
Hiding between buildings
going into your car
using your body to block the wind
going inside
Audio gathering is more than just conducting an interview
You want your audio piece to be strong enough to stand on its own without any visuals or print accompaniment.
Gather interviews, ambient sound and detail sounds
Interviews – Watch your levels and hold the mic approx. 4 inches from subject. Yes, that is close, but subjects will understand that you are doing your job and trying to make them sound as good as possible. Have your subject say the question in the answer and avoid yes or no questions.
Ambient – Turn recorder on at location and record 30 seconds to one minute of sound from the environment. This will serve as the base for your audio project.
Detail sounds – Often overlooked, these include things like typing on a keyboard, a coach yelling, shoes squeaking, etc.
Examples – From traditional to artistic, a few examples to get your creativity flowing and expand what you may think of as newspaper multimedia.
The best way to learn how to both gather and edit audio is to do it. Luckily for you, two of your coworkers were nice enough to gather sample audio and images today in order to practice editing in Final Cut Express. These files, and other sample files, will be available online in the next day for you to experiment with.
