Let's Look At Some Video!

First up, let's look at this video story. Just under one minute, and quick and dirty -- no editing involved; just a rolling tape. Not bad and in a pinch it's certainly better than nothing, but it doesn't allow for much interviewing (and if it does, it's more pre-interviewing, which means the responses you're getting are probably a bit unnatural and pre-planned).

Ideally, you would have done all your interviews; chosen which parts of interviews you'd want to highlight and which you'd discard as less necessary, and then organized your story. Just like you would for a written story, right?

One basic video editing program is iMovie, which is available on most lab desktops in this building and for which last week I emailed you a link to this guide on how to use it.

Such editing was done with this video. It ran way over the one minute that you were allotted, but for now let's simply focus on how the story was told. The lede wasn't one I'd recommend with a harder news story, but in this case it was fine.

The problem was with the audio. I can barely hear what some folks are saying. Can you? Make sure you follow some of the recording tips offered in the handout I gave you last week and in the downloaded texts I offered in the syllabus: Journalism 2.0 by Mark Briggs and The Reporter's Guide to Multimedia Proficiency by Mindy McAdams.

In the same way a print story must be easy for a reader to navigate in terms of word use and sentence structure, a video story has to be easy to watch and listen to in terms of clear video and understandable audio. Make sure the audio and video are clear and easy to follow for your viewers.

This video also has some choppy audio, but what I want you to focus in on is the use of multimedia tools in this video, such as titles and captions and transitions (like the page-flip effect between interviews) and even background music. When you're in a visual medium, use the tools offered by programs like iMovie to maximize your presentation.

Such tools aren't just to make your video look flashy. The captions with each interview, for example, provide value-added information: the name of who is being interviewed. It gives the viewer MORE information. That's a good job of attribution, which is a basic journalistic principle. The tool, in this case, allowed you to seamlessly offer that attribution.

Instead of relying on titles and such, in this video you offered narration before heading into the interview sections. Note a common problem -- and a frequent problem for first-time videographers -- and that's poor sound. Try to avoid spots that create an echo (like a hotel hallway) or places with background noise. If you can use a microphone, put it close to your subject. If you are using a device lacking an extended mike -- like a Flip camera -- try to shoot the person as close to the camera as possible, so audio doesn't suffer.

Try to be precise in where you have transitions between interviews. In this video, the first person seems to get cut off. Perhaps you transitioned too quickly. With the last one, the interview subject kind of trails off at the end. Maybe the edit should have been a bit sooner. In the same way you try to be precise in using quotes in print, try to be just as precise in audio and video.

We'll be looking at more of your videos Wednesday, when we'll also look at blogs and tweets beyond the ones we're about to sample.