Prof. Kobre's Guide to Videojournalism

Notes From an Advanced Video Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:06:00 +0000

(Editor's Note: KobreGuide reporter Kathy Strauss spent a long weekend at the Northwest Video Advanced Workshop in Yakima, WA, and couldn't stop talking about what an amazing experience it was. So we told her to shut up and write about it already.)

Part 1: Class Notes on the Making of My Video

By Kathy Strauss

What is my story about? Who is my central character? These questions are buzzing in my brain as I record ballroom dancers at the Yakima senior center. The dance will end in 30 minutes and I’m fumbling with manual focus, manual exposure and a shotgun mic, while trying to identify one of these smiling, graceful seniors as a character to drive my story. The final song is “God Bless America.” As the 50 or so dancers link hands and form a large circle, I jump in and find a spot on the floor. Each time the group sings the chorus they move forward raising their hands above their heads, surrounding me in a tight circle – these are lovely images and I’m in heaven!

I’m on assignment during the 3-day intensive Northwest Video Advanced Workshop in Yakima, WA, and feeling the pressure to make a good story. Top notch coaches are here from throughout the northwest to help train others like me on how to improve our video storytelling.

The workshop is happening for the second time thanks to T.J. Mullinax, news producer at the Yakima Herald-Republic and Assoc. Director of the National Press Photographers Association's Region 11 chapter, along with a host of other generous volunteers. Intended to provide opportunities for journalists to adapt to a rapidly changing industry, the workshop is a multimedia “bootcamp” that offers trainings in interviewing techniques, field equipment handling, ethics, editing and video production workflow.

The 2007 workshop was a 2-day intro to video class with about 30 participants. This year a 3-day advanced class was added for journalists with prior video experience along with the 2-day intro class. The workshop was held at the Yakima H-R office and was sponsored by the NPPA, Canon, ThinkTank, Apple and Society of Professional Journalists. Best of all, the workshop was given at the remarkably affordable price of just $100.

I was struck by the diversity of students who attended this workshop. As the demand increases for newsroom staff to learn video skills it’s not just photographers attending these classes. Writers, editors and students came too. Clearly more collaboration among journalists is in our future and we need to learn to work together – staffs of newspapers, television and radio stations -- to make sure news stories are still covered fairly and accurately.

Friday Morning

Advanced class begins – just 8 of us in the class! Wow, what an incredible student-to-teacher ratio. Feel so lucky I am pinching myself.

The day starts off with a lively hours-long presentation on video storytelling by TV videographer greats: Kurt Austin of KGW in Portland, OR and Adam Tischler of King 5 in Seattle. Before the multimedia explosion and demand for news videos for the web, photojournalists almost uniformly scoffed at so-called “TV cameramen,” and their use of reporter stand-ups to tell the news. But now we are running to these experts to teach us the craft. There’s still plenty of crap on TV news, but we have much to learn from great television photographers like these two.

Tips from Kurt and Adam:

1. Sequencing – shoot everything wide, medium, tight and super tight. Remember tight shots of faces. Viewers like to look at faces, and tight shots are critical in editing.
2. Whenever you record “action” remember to also record the “reaction.”
3. While shooting, be looking for your opening and closing shots.
4. Surprise your viewers if you can - don’t reveal everything about the story at once.
5. Audio is Key: Learn proper use of microphones. (Wireless mics are a must.)
6. Make sure your interview audio is strong. Car interiors make good sound studios when out in the field.
7. Listen for natural sound “pops” or “exclamation points” to punctuate your piece. These can be a giggle, a quick “yep” or “uh oh.”
8. Think about texturing sound.

Friday, 1 p.m.

We pick our story assignments out of a hat. My assigned story isn’t actually happening until Saturday and I want to start shooting right away so, with T.J.’s approval, I find my own story. I discover the senior dance in the newspaper and rush over to record the colorful crowd. Their musical accompanist is 68-year-old accordion player Gary Malner.

I capture my video with the help of friendly, peppy Danny Gawlowski, video editor at the Seattle Times. He emphasizes how important it is to have a standard work flow. Thing is, editors have different workflow habits, so best to find one that works well for you and stick with it.

Friday, 6 p.m.

Final Cut Pro Workflow with Apple trainer Jan Shvalb

Saturday morning

Both intermediate and advanced groups together for an Ethics session led by the Olympian photographer and former NPPA president Tony Overman.

Tony says not much has changed from the world of still photography and we most importantly must tell the truth with our stories. Is the context truthful or are we changing the meaning of the story?

A core value in video is that we are compressing time and interpreting events for the viewer. Ask yourself, is it truthful? Is this what it was like at the event? Must have pictures to support your audio. Goal is to weave together a truthful representation (versus linear record) of what happened.

Saturday noon

Colin Mulvany (Spokesman-Review) asks me to define my story and describe it in one sentence. Is it about the senior dance or is it about this accordion player? He encourages me to think about telling the story with a strong character and helps me decide to catch up with Gary the accordion player again. I head out to a retail store where Gary is playing for a holiday open house. I know music is key to this story and want to record more of his playing.

It is crowded tight quarters at the shop Fiddlesticks but as he strolls around I am able to shoot video of this playful guy while he interacts with customers. People love his music and it shows. I keep asking myself how I would work these two different scenarios into once coherent video. I hadn’t known Gary would be the center of my video when I was at the senior center. What else do I need to ask him and what else do I need to show?

Saturday, 2 p.m.

Audio session with Anna King of NPR – I miss most of this because I was shooting my story but catch some tidbits at the end during open discussion.

1. In general, instructors agree it’s very difficult to tell a full story without some kind of narration or voiceover. Definitely prefer voiceovers to text boxes.
2. Colin Mulvany says you may hate your voice at first but it will improve with practice.
3. Always record your narration with a microphone, not with built-in mic on computer.
4. Write your narration the way you talk. Anna King says she has a technique that works well – read the text as if telling the story to a friend. This will make you sound more comfortable and natural. She has a photo of a friend taped on the wall so she can “talk” to her when recording audio.
5. Remember to smile when you are recording your voice – listeners hear the smile.

Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

I saw a very similar presentation by Colin at NPPA’s multimedia immersion class last year but now that I have a little more experience, it is much more meaningful. Wow, is he good! He’s been doing multimedia for longer than most and really knows the craft. Plus he is a master editor in Final Cut Pro.

Colin starts off with an interesting thought: Though fewer and fewer people are reading books, YouTube streams 1.2 billion videos each day. Learning to make videos is worth our time!

Tips from Colin:

1. Not every story needs a video to go with it. If a video has nothing to show, it’s not a video.
2. Define your story early and be able to describe it in one sentence.
3. Avoid tangents; they can destroy your story.
4. A roll + B roll = story. A roll is the narrative spine of your story and B roll is video of what the subject is talking about.
5. Get to the core of “why” – Why does this person do what they do?
6. Keep sequencing to a quick pace in B-roll
7. Remember to shoot action/reaction over and over
8. Listen for narrative sound pops. They are little breathers from narration or interview audio.
9. Use a wireless lavalier mic
10. Try to avoid panning and zooming.
11. Keep B-roll short – be ruthless with length.

Colin continues with a Final Cut story timeline walkthrough. He has tons of shortcuts and tips for editing with Final Cut. Highly recommends Lynda.com tutorials. Practice, practice, practice. He encourages me to first lay down the A-roll (that narrative spine) and then to add the B-roll.

Saturday evening

I take a dinner break and then work on reviewing my footage and trying to do some general organization of it all. At around 10 p.m. Colin sends us to our hotels to get some sleep and T.J. promises he’ll be there to let us into the building at 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

Sunday, 7:45 a.m.

Back to editing. Sit there for about six hours straight editing this 80-second piece. Colin moves around the room, sitting with each of us and working one-on-one, commenting on our progress and helping us fine-tune the edits. How amazing it would be to work regularly with an editor like him.

Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

Forced to finish our projects and export them to present to the group. I never did get to use those great shots of seniors circling around singing “God Bless America,” but who knows? Maybe it will appear in the revised longer version!

Here's what I end up with: "Music for the Heart":

(Here's a link to a full-screen version. And you can watch my classmates' videos here. )

Part 2: Three Most Amazing Aspects of the Workshop

1) The coaches
2) The coaches
3) The coaches

Truly, these people are unbelievable!

I’ve been to a handful of these classes and workshops now. They are always staffed by the best and brightest people in the field. These are the experts in our evolving profession and they spend their weekends – sometimes 15 hour-days -- to teach the video gospel for free. They are unpaid! They use vacation days and leave their families for the weekend. Their generosity is tremendous.

I asked some of them why they did it and got these responses:

T.J. Mullinax:

Why? Because there's a need. Journalists, regardless of the name, title, experience, need to take the growth of multimedia seriously. The ones who do, find it daunting to get adequate training. With (in my opinion) so few opportunities to learn about videojournalism in the Northwest on your own dime, I thought I should step up and do what I could for everyone who cares. It's inspiring to me when I can see others get excited about the things I am passionate about. Fortunately for me I am surrounded by amazing visual/multimedia journalists and they share that motivation to get others ready for the dawn of a new industry. Without that help and camaraderie the Northwest Video Workshop would not exist.

Colin Mulvany:

When I first started shooting video, I saw a tremendous need for video literacy education within the newspaper industry. Several years back, the amount of video training opportunities were limited. mostly because only a few videojournalists at newspapers were qualified to teach video storytelling. In those early days, the few of us who had experience were asked to speak at every photojournalism conference and workshop to the point of exhaustion.

Now things have changed. Video is integrated into most newspaper Websites and there are many more talented videojournalists out their producing quality video storytelling and sharing their knowledge.

When my newspaper invested in me by sending me to the nine-day Platypus Video Workshop in 2005, I came home exhausted but professionally changed. I understood video had a great future and I wanted to share the knowledge of what I learned with my co-workers.

I made a deal with myself that I would teach anyone that wanted to learn multimedia skills, such as audio slideshows, video storytelling and editing. I’ve kind of stuck with that through the years.

I had one visiting journalist tell me to guard my gift. That somehow, if I shared what I knew with others, it would be taken away from me. The idea that knowledge is power is true. I hated that; I felt in order for my newspaper to embrace their digital future, I needed buy-in from the top management all the way down to the content producers.

By taking my video storytelling gift and sharing it, I feel much better about myself than if I had kept all that knowledge bottled up. Teaching video storytelling is something I feel passionate about. It has been fun to see the seeds that I’ve sown begin to grow. Our industry is in transition. As our print products diminish, I hold firm to my belief that video storytelling will have a solid future in the digital world. Making sure that ALL newspaper journalists have some understanding of video will only do them and our industry good.

Yahoo's Do's & Dont's of Online Video

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:07:00 +0000

We're cheered by Paid Content's optimistic outlook on Web video, in today's report by James A. Pitaro, vice president of media at Yahoo!

He prefaces his advice to video producers, in "The Do’s And Don’ts Of Creating Original Video," by noting:

Today, web video has mainstreamed. Three-quarters of Internet users, or 47% of the U.S. population, now watch video online. Videos streamed in September totaled 11 billion, up 24% year over year. Web-original video content is making up a bigger chunk of this consumption and has quietly become a viable business model for many online distributors.

As a result, new Internet companies focusing on video are emerging every day, and many existing businesses are transitioning to a video-intensive model.

Though he's focused on original drama, see if you can find ways to take his advice and apply it to nonfiction videojournalism stories:

You need more than just a good idea: Identify something that is not just a good idea, but a good idea for the Internet -- something that takes advantage of the medium.

Track your audience: If researched and developed correctly, your program should be virtually foolproof because it will deliver the right content to the right user at the right time on your site.

Get sponsors involved early in the creative process: Partner with the advertiser starting with idea conception and co-develop your program.

Be fast: Regardless of genre, web content must be timely.

Don’t spend a lot of money: Yes, it is possible to produce high-quality content without breaking the bank if you hire seasoned professionals and offer them some creative freedom and license – a somewhat novel concept in the entertainment business.

Read the whole report here.

Toy Hall of Fame Inducts 3 Classics

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:38:00 +0000

Last week on KobreGuide we showcased an appropriately whimsical video ode to the dozen nominees for induction into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, NY.

They ranged from the generic (paper airplane, playing cards, balls, sidewalk chalk, the toy tea set) to the commercial (Big Wheel, Cabbage Patch Kids, Game of Life, Hot Wheels, Nintendo Game Boy, Rubik's Cube, and Transformers).

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle videojournalist Will Yurman crafted a delightful video, "Nominees," that incorporated all 12 of them.

For those of you in suspense, the three winning inductees have been announced. Toy drumroll please... for the Ball, Big Wheel, and Game Boy.

Check out the "Nominees" video today before it disappears from our homepage!

(NOTE: When videos do disappear from the KobreGuide homepage after a week, guess where they go? To the KobreGuide Hall of Fame!)

By the way, you can read KobreGuide's excellent interview with Will Yurman here.

Ira Glass Teaches Storytelling (4-part video)

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:27:00 +0000

The problem with many attempts at videojournalism is that they are passable reports, but are deficient in the storytelling department.

TV newsmagazine afficianados know that what engages an audience is more than merely an assemblage of facts and figures. We all respond better to a central character, dramatic conflict, and a sequential series of events that actually lead somewhere.

Nobody tells stories better than Ira Glass ("This American Life"), who clearly embraces the essential building blocks of storytelling -- on radio (audio) and television (audio & video). So who better to teach you the art of storytelling?

Here's a four-video series brimming with his excellent advice and tips:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

DigitalJournalist: Berlin Wall Photos (11/9/89)

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:31:00 +0000

The November issue of Dirck Halstead's The Digital Journalist, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain, is now online.

When the Berlin Wall fell on Nov. 9, 1989, the Iron Curtain was lifted on Communist Eastern Europe. In short order, the Soviet Union was itself in the dustbin of history. Contributing photographer Peter Turnley witnessed all of the tide-turning revolutions in Eastern Europe, and was there when the Berlin Wall was literally torn apart. According to Turnley, "This period not only affected the geopolitical life of the world in a decisive way, but impacted the personal life history of anyone present, including my own."

Included with Turnley's photographs is a video that he recently did for CBS News Sunday Morning.

Video Series: Can Investigative Journalism Survive?

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:55:00 +0000

This weekend, TheNation.com launched an 8-week series of interviews with journalists and media insiders on the future of journalism. Focus: What will the media look like in 5, 10, or 15 years? Can investigative journalism survive? The Nation's John Nichols leads off, followed by Nick Penniman (Huffington Post Investigative Fund), Ana Marie Cox (Air America and MSNBC), Dan Rather, Jane Mayer, Mark Luckie (10000words.net) and Victor Navasky.

Nichols speaks about the disconnect between old media models and a nonfunctional new media model for producing journalism. He evokes history in noting that when our country was founded media was heavily subsidized by the government and proposes this as a model to strive for. Nichols is the co-author of Saving Journalism: The Soul of Democracy (New Press), which will be published this fall.

Video WTF: Free Answers to Your Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:22:00 +0000

Video WTF is a new communally-minded open-source Website where you can ask -- and answer -- any question about video cameras, editing, production, publishing, promotion, whatever.

It's collaboratively moderated, and you can dive in and participate without even registering. And it's free!

(Though your first question might understandably be: For a site that aspires to mainstream acceptance, why the potentially controversial and off-putting name?)

Topics range from how to bid on a video project or construct a business proposal for a Web series, to hardware/software recommendations, to infinitely more technical considerations.

(We're encouraged because Video WTF is brought to you by the same folks who created Miro, a high-quality open-source, non-profit HD video player and podcast client that hands-down beats what most newspapers out there are using. You can download the free software to view and publish video. They've also recently launched Miro Community, which enables you to create your own private multi-source YouTube for free -- a boon for colleges and PBS affiliates.)

Have a video whose length or file size exceeds the limitations of YouTube or Vimeo? Use Video WTF to ask for pointers to alternative video sharing sites. Or to help others by sharing your knowledge.

A relatively inexpensive lavalier (Azden WMS-PRO Wireless Microphone System for $160) was generously recommended to us by a KobreChannel reader, but sounds too good to be true at that price, and so we just asked Video WTF users if they have heard feedback about it, or personally encountered any drawbacks (e.g. static).

Similarly, our new Kodak Zi8 does not zoom smoothly or silently -- a glitch with just our video camera, or a flaw in the model? We asked Video WTF denizens for their experiences.

We look forward to sharing their responses with you.

Lightscoop: Perfect Holiday Gift

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:34:00 +0000

Looking for that perfect inexpensive holiday gift for your favorite amateur photographer whose camera has a pop-up flash? And, attention, pros: This is the perfect gadget for all those folks who ask you how to make their pictures better.

It's an easy-to-use device that easily slips onto your SLR camera and dramatically improves the quality of flash photography.

And it's got a catchy name -- Professor Kobre's Lightscoop.

OK, you don't have to take our word for it, just because we happened to have invented it.

Everybody's singing the Lightscoop's praises. Listen:

Wired:
"LightScoop Rescues Horrible Built-In Flashes"

Bizzie Mommy:
“Lightscoop: My new favorite photo accessory. I was actually on the verge of buying an external flash before I discovered the Lightscoop while flipping through a photography magazine.”

Doobybrain:
"WOW! The Lightscoop is amazing!!"

Lifetime Moms:
“I have been avoiding taking indoor pictures at night because I just hated how the pictures would come out with the camera flash on... Luckily I stumbled upon the Lightscoop...”

A Cowboy's Wife:
“I attached the Lightscoop to my camera and voila! Now THAT is a HUGE difference! I’m already sold and that was just the first comparison I did.”

The Gadgeteer:
“Professor Kobre’s Lightscoop is a clever and inexpensive ($35) device that clips on to the hot shoe of your DSLR or SLR camera.”

Gear Diary:
“Tired of flash photography that makes your victims look like a deer in the headlights? Here’s a cool photography tool designed for the everyday picture taker.”

GadgetSteria:
“The 'Scoop redirects light upwards, bouncing it off the tops of walls and ceilings which ends up giving the immediate surroundings more of a glow instead of spotlight appearance.”

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Plenty more accolades can be found here, including raves from David Pogue (New York Times), and American Photo, which awarded the Lightscoop an "Editor's Choice" honor.

And here's how it works:

One-stop shopping at LightScoop.com. Guaranteed to make your holiday season brighter! (And more evenly lit.)

P.S. Here's a little gift for you. Use this gift code when you check out, and receive a 15% discount just for KobreGuide fans: HOLIDAY.

First Feature Film About Videojournalists?

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:56:00 +0000

There are plenty of classic films that glamorize journalists, from The Front Page to All the President's Men, but how about a movie about heroic videojournalists?

Poking around our iPhone apps, of all places, we stumbled across one!

It's called Burma VJ, and it's about a real event -- the 2007 uprising in Myanmar, as seen through the cameras of the independent videojournalist group, Democratic Voice of Burma.

While 100,000 people (including thousands of Buddhist monks) took to the streets to protest the country's repressive regime that has held them hostage for over 40 years, foreign news crews were banned to enter and the Internet was shut down. The Democratic Voice of Burma, a collective of 30 anonymous and underground videojournalists (VJs), recorded these historic and dramatic events on handycams and smuggled the footage out of the country, where it was broadcast worldwide via satellite. Risking torture and life imprisonment, the VJs vividly document the brutal clashes with the military and undercover police – even after they themselves become targets of the authorities.

Going beyond the occasional news clip from Burma, the acclaimed filmmaker, Anders Østergaard, brings us close to the videojournalists who deliver the footage. Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country. Armed with small handycams the Burma VJs stop at nothing to make their reportages from the streets of Rangoon. Their material is smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media.

The whole world has witnessed single event clips made by the VJs, but for the very first time, their individual images have been carefully put together and at once, they tell a much bigger story. The film offers a unique insight into high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state, while at the same time providing a thorough documentation of the historical and dramatic days of September 2007, when the Buddhist monks started marching.

Amidst marching monks, brutal police agents, and shooting military the reporters embark on their dangerous mission, working around the clock to keep the world informed of events inside the closed country. Their compulsive instinct to shoot what they witness, rather than any deliberate heroism, turns their lives into that of freedom fighters.

Burma VJ is directed by Anders Østergaard, and written by Anders Østergaard & Jan Krogsgaard.

LINKS:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Our Notes on the New Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:02:00 +0000

Thanks to the stunning popularity of Pure Digital's pioneering Flip pocket video camera, which famously relegated shooting to one simple button while retaining pretty high quality images (including HD), other camera companies have been jumping into the fray. The most successful at challenging the Flip, so far, has been Kodak, with its new Zi8 model.

One of the chief drawbacks to the Flip is that there's no jack for an external mic, so that you have to hold the camera pretty close to the source of the audio (usually a person speaking), or you won't hear anything. The Zi8 solves that problem -- and improves on the Flip in other notable ways. Even its viewfinding screen area is larger.

The pricetag is $179, but you can easily find it for $149 -- the same range as the Flip, except that you also have to buy memory cards.

We've been playing with our new Zi8 for a few days. Here are some of our preliminary observations.

The Good:

• Amazingly high-quality images in daylight .

• Not bad quality in low light .

• The camera adjusts smoothly to different light levels .

• More sensitive mic than we expected. You can record conversations in a quiet room.

• With SD memory card replacement, you can shoot to your heart’s content. (Flip models hold only one or two hours of video, and then need to be downloaded.)

• Unlike the Flip, it offers image stablization, which can be a real bonus.

• The size of the camera is ideal for carrying it with you at all times -- in your shirt pocket. You won't get scoliosis from lugging around 10 lbs. of video gear.

The Bad:

• No input for headphones, so you never know if the sound you are recording is clean.

• While out in the field, the built-in speakers are not powerful enough to check your audio, even in playback mode.

• You can edit the .mov files in Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Express. but you must “render” them first and this can take a lot of processing time. It took us two hours to process ten minutes of video at the highest quality.

• You can shoot very sharp close-up pictures 3 inches away from your subject (in macro mode). You can shoot sharp pictures from 3.3 feet to infinity from your subject. But you have a dead zone" between 3 inches and 3.3 feet, where nothing will be in focus. This means that you cannot shoot most close-ups, such as a person’s face for a reaction shot. ALSO: All mics work best when they are close to the source of the sound (usually someone speaking) -- BUT you can’t get the built-in camera mic in the Zi8 closer than 3.3 feet and shoot at the same time. (NOTE: You can compensate for this dead-zone audio recording disadvantage with the addition of an external mic.)

The Ugly:

• No optical zoom. The sharpness with digital zoom visually falls apart very quickly.

• When you pan in very low light, the image starts to wiggle like Jell-o. This might be an effect you want to experiment with, but not on a standard visual diet.

Though we advise "zooming with your feet," we couldn't help but notice that, when we played with the zoom, it was herky-jerky and not smooth -- and made an audible squeaking noise. We're not sure whether that's a defect with the model, or just our individual camera. (Has anyone else noticed this problem?)

Have you used the new Kodak Zi8? We'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences, especially as it compares to the Flip.

In short, compared to professional quality gear, these pocket vidcams are toys -- but, boy, are they fun to play with!

We predict that the next step in making high-quality video accessible to the masses will be the creation of an affordable lavalier mic. They currently cost hundreds of dollars and up, making them prohibitive for the hobbyist and home-video crowd. But with more working VJs using pocket camcorders, supply-and-demand will drive down the price of pro-quality mics that clip to your necktie or lapel, and they will become standard issue, immensely improving the audio quality of interviews.

Free: The Complete Guide to Google Wave

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:58:00 +0000

Have you received your Google Wave invitation yet? Only 100,000 were originally issued a month ago, and buying one on eBay only ensures that you get bumped further to the front of the waiting line. What's remarkable is that, though everyone wants it, few can explain what exactly it is. It's that radical.

The best definition we've heard is that it's what email would be if it were invented today, and not 40 years ago.

For four decades, email has been a linear conversation -- one person talking to one or many. And once those participants start copying and forwarding and replying, the conversation can quickly become a mess, with all the wrong people getting dragged into it, and all the necessary people getting left out of critical parts of it, and missing what they need to know.

(Think of how cluttered your emailbox gets with office messages that consist of "Thanks!" being CCed to 47 people.)

A "wave," on the other hand, is a collaborative real-time conversation that takes advantage of all the latest Web developments, including social-media tools and multimedia, so that rather than passing the conversation around, people join and leave the central conversation, and bring (drag-and-drop and embed, rather than attach) what they need with them (e.g. documents, images, videos).

Participants can IM in real time, so that others can actually see what you're writing as you type it (no need to click "Send"). Latecomers can "play back" the conversation to see how it has developed, and what they've missed.

But that's a simplistic explanation that only scratches the surface, so watch Google's own introductory video for developers. It runs only 80 minutes:

Too overwhelming? Try the 8-minute version:

Still confused? So are a lot of other people, as evidenced by this hilarious Website that compares Google Wave to every other difficult to comprehend phenomenon: "Easier to Understand Than Wave."

Samuel L. Jackson to the rescue! Google Wave Cinema presents 'Pulp Wave Fiction,' in which we get to witness the dialogue from a notorious movie scene cleverly evolve as a Google wave:

And now, two high-profile techies, Gina Trapani and Adam Pash, have collaborated on The Complete Guide to Google Wave, an easy-to-read eight-chapter Wiki manual which you can enjoy for free on the Web. "Because Wave is such a new product that's evolving quickly, this guidebook is a work in progress that will update in concert with Wave as it grows and changes."

We envision Wave as a potentially powerful tool for video collaboration -- multiple shooters in remote locales can easily use it to strategize and plan a complex undertaking, and even to upload, view and edit footage for their joint project.

Ready to ride the Wave? You may have to wait your turn, as invitations are still rolling out, but why not apply for yours now? Just fill out the simple form here.

Time Video Follows Winter Olympics Training

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:42:00 +0000

Ever wonder how athletes train for the Winter Olympics when it's not winter?

Time is following U.S. Winter Olympic hopefuls in 9 sports as they train for Vancouver 2010, for an ambitious Web video series. Here's a vertiginous sneak peek:

KobreGuide's Top 25 for Oct. '09

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:03:00 +0000

Here are the top 25 most popular video stories on KobreGuide.com for the month of October 2009.

For the past couple months, we listed only recently published stories, since it seemed that these "best-seller lists" become self-prophetic -- by clicking on popular stories, it makes them seem even more popular. But then we found that the top of the list remained pretty much the same anyway, owing in part to the fact that many of these stories are linked from high-traffic Websites.

In any case, their mere presence on KobreGuide in the first place attests to their high quality, and that they merit your attention.

As always, they span an array of topics and themes, and originate from a broad spectrum of media outlets. Their tone ranges from comic to tragic.

To varying degrees, they all inform and entertain, and represent the cutting edge of visual aesthetics, high journalism standards, and good storytelling.

KobreGuide strives to showcase topical stories, but gravitates towards evergreen features, not news.

So if you missed any of these the first time around, they should all still feel fresh and not outdated. Now's your chance to catch them, and we hope you do.

1. Pit Bulls: Companions or Killers?

2. Bolivia's Women Wrestlers

3. Acid Attacks

4. Being a Black Man

5. Conjoined Twins (pictured)

6. The Sand Dancer

7. Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr

8. Being Aron Ralston

9. Ana's Story

10. Turtle Man

11.Ian Fisher: American Soldier

12. Burned in the War

13. Living Galapagos

14. A Hendrix Experience in Hollywood

15. Hungry: Living with Prader-Willi Syndrome

16. Mending Broken Hearts

17. Talking to the Taliban

18. Zora Neale Hurston's Hometown Legacy

19. Train Jumping: A Desperate Journey

20. 85 and Still Kicking

21. Trapped: Mental Illness in America's Prisons

22. Weegee

23. A Place for Jani

24. The Girl in the Window

25. Prison Overcrowding

P.S. Here's a statistic we're happy to share. In the year since KobreGuide launched (in October 2008), our audience and page views have steadily increased 10 to 20% per month.

We've still got a ways to go to achieve the kind of traffic enjoyed by the major media institutions we showcase and champion, but we're enthused to know that the receptive audience for videojournalism that we originally targeted does in fact exist.

In fact, all signs point to nonfiction video stories becoming a bigger and more potent force in the near future, and we're proud to say that KobreGuide has been ahead of the curve in recognizing this. We'll hope you'll stay with us for the fascinating journey ahead.

What Hath Satan Wrought?

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:55:00 +0000

It was 40 years ago this week that a computer at UCLA "talked" to a computer at Stanford, thus paving the way for what would become the Internet and, in the '90s, the Web.

If you click on the image at the top right, you'll see a record of the first message sent over the ARPANET, as it was then called, as annotated and preserved by Leonard Kleinrock, who is still a UCLA computer professor.

This record is an excerpt from the "IMP Log" that we kept at UCLA. I was supervising the student/programmer Charley Kline (CSK) and we set up a message transmission to go from the UCLA SDS Sigma 7 Host computer to the SRI SDS 940 Host computer. The transmission itself was simply to "login" to SRI from UCLA. We succeeded in transmitting the "l" and the "o" and then the system crashed! Hence, the first message on the Internet was "Lo!".

And behold!

In their 40th-anniversary salutes this week, an astonishing number of media outlets got their chronology all wrong, and placed the oft-designated "fathers of the Internet," Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf, at the scene on Oct. 29, 1969.

In fact, it wasn't until the early 70s that Kahn and Cerf invented the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), the technologies used to transmit information on the Internet.

Cerf is now Google's Chief Internet Evangelist, and in this 2008 Beet.TV video interview, he provides some interesting perspective on the future of the Web, especially as it relates to video consumption.

You'll find good articles about the birth and development of the Internet in Forbes, and in the Guardian of London. Forbes also has an excellent Internet Anniversary quiz.

A day after the anniversary, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that it would accept Web addresses (URLs) in non-Latin letters, meaning that next year you'll start seeing Websites in Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Greek, Hindi, Cyrillic (Russian), and, most prominently, Chinese.

"This is only the first step, but it is an incredibly big one and an historic move toward the internationalization of the Internet," ICANN's President and CEO Rod Beckstrom said.

From our perspective, nothing has evolved as much as video. When we built our first Website in the early '90s, there were less than 1,000 Websites in existence, and most of them were known as "personal pages," manually catalogued by Yahoo (in that pre-database, pre-Google era). Everything was "flush left" and with a 14K modem, it took forever for a small still image to load. You'd pray it didn't crash your computer, forcing you to reboot. Video? Fuhgetaboutit! If you wanted to view a 5-second clip, you'd start downloading it at bedtime to view when you awoke in the morning.

Now, of course, you can watch entire movies and TV episodes via the Web, and we're at the point where the Web is becoming the primary media outlet for video production and consumption. And though more than 1.6 billion people around the world are connected to the network, that still represents only a fifth of the planet's population -- so adventures aplenty lie ahead.

We planned to write this ode on Thursday, the actual anniversary date, but we've been laid low with a nasty cold. So, yes, you might well ask, why is it that we can befriend thousands of strangers from places we've never been, and communicate with them in real time, for free, halfway around the planet ... and we still can't find a cure for the common cold?

Free Alternatives to Essential Multimedia Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:07:00 +0000

On his 10,000 Words blog, Mark S. Luckie offers free alternatives to seven of the most commonly used software programs used to create multimedia stories.

His roundup includes programs for Web design, video editing, audio editing, photo editing, audio-slideshow creation, word processing, and even a substitute for Flash.

So if you want to save some money, and don't mind working with less familiar versions of Photoshop or Final Cut, you might want to start looking here.

BONUS: 10,000 words also offers invaluable tips for shooting better videos, here and here.

Death of the DSLR Camera?

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:51:00 +0000

Does the popularity (and high quality) of digital point-and-shoots spell doom for digital SLR cameras?

Gearlog, "a gadget guide by geeks, for geeks," thinks so.

As small auto-everything 35mm point-and-shoot cameras began to be able to create SLR-like images, SLR sales dwindled. We're on the precipice of the same thing happening in the digital world. Consumer DSLRs are going down.

How popular are DSLR cameras? According to the Camera & Imaging Products Association, DSLRs accounted for 8 percent of camera shipments in August. That may not sound like much, but considering that most DSLRs cost $500 to $1000, compared with point-and shoots that often cost $100 to $300, this is impressive.

Consumer-level DSLRs won't go away; they didn't in the film days, and they won't now. But they'll become marginalized as more and more people turn toward more convenient alternatives.

Gearlog's report provides fascinating historical context regarding the technological advances in cameras over the past half century.

Your Dream Documentary?

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:24:00 +0000

We've started a new discussion topic on the KobreGuide Facebook Group page.

If funding weren't an issue, what would you make a feature-length documentary about?

What other obstacles would you need to surmount besides raising money?

Click the "Discussions" tab and join the conversation.

L.A. Times: Your Videos Are an Embarassment

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:18:00 +0000

Forgive us if we sound grouchy, but the Los Angeles Times has put us in a real funk. Why? With each passing day, the quantity and quality of their once superlative videojournalism is rapidly declining. In fact, it pains us to say, it's become an embarassment.

Months ago, we wondered why they went so far as to remove their video player from their homepage altogether. A top exec there explained to us that they were revamping and redesigning their video player, and rethinking their multimedia strategies. He assured us that their video stories would be back, bigger and better than ever.

That hasn't happened. Mostly we're stuck with their (print-edition) film and TV critics looking into a camera and reading their latest review. So today we're handing out some tough love.

What on earth is going on over there? Sure, the paper is smarting from all the same economic woes that have befallen everyone in the journalism biz. But there are small-town papers, with a tiny fraction of their staff and budget, that are producing much better video stories.

Perhaps it's especially shocking and dismaying for us, because it was a powerful Los Angeles Times audio slideshow, Marlboro Marine, that helped inspire us to launch KobreGuide in the first place. The Times itself had done such an amazing job of hiding its own gems, that we decided to create a Website that would ferret out the best videojournalism stories on the Web and put them under one roof, so that even viewers outside a newspaper's territory could enjoy them.

But we've been scouring the L.A. Times lately for more great stories like that, and they're few and far between. Despite what they're telling us, they've clearly reversed course on making video a priority. Go to the site yourself, and see how long it takes you to find ANY video, much less any video worth watching.

So here's what happened today that really put us in a snarky mood.

First, we saw this tweet, from the L.A. Times' own Twitter feed:

Video: Reporter Alana Semuels on how the housing slump has hurt timber towns. Read more at http://bit.ly/3T3cuD

Well! We got excited! Sounds like a terrific concept for a video piece. If they sent a good videojournalist to one of those towns, just imagine what a terrific visual story you'd get!

But we clicked the link, and were taken here. Actually, we're going to spell out the entire URL for you, to re-emphasize how un-"user-friendly" newspaper content-management software has become:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-logging28-2009oct28,0,3380214.story

Once we arrived, we found a well reported, well written text story, on a worthy topic, by reporter Alana Semuels:

Housing slump hits California timber industry like a buzz saw

Weak demand for lumber is forcing some mills to close and leaving many loggers and truckers unemployed.

We also found a link to an uninspired "photo gallery" -- PHOTOS: Housing downturn hits logging town -- made especially more disconcerting by the fact that the seven images are on a separate Web page, making them feel utterly useless and detached from the article itself (which is an uninviting ocean of gray text). Why couldn't the pix be scattered throughout the text, for more visual appeal, as the print version no doubt would design it?

Next we see a link to a "Graphic" :

Graphic: Lumbering along

Again, on a separate Web page, we are shown bar graphs depicting slumps in the price of wood and lumber production, and a California map highlighting towns where sawmills closed. It looks as boring and uninspired as a science textbook. We're guessing that an editor or art director was ordered to attend a Webinar on how to tart up Web stories, and now routinely assigns unimaginative charts and graphs that are exercises in civic duty, not audience engagement.

So where's the video???? Nowhere to be seen!

Adventurous souls that we are, we do what no mortal should be expected to do -- search high and low for it. Among lists of text links at the very BOTTOM of the L.A. Times Web pages, under the heading "Multimedia," you will find a tiny link for "video." We clicked it.

That takes you to a page of one of the saddest collections of newspaper video we've ever encountered. Among a batch of badly arranged and unenticing thumbnail images (with similarly blah text descriptions), we find this: "Housing slump hits California timber industry..."

Going where probably no human has gone before, we click it.

It takes us to this page:

http://www.latimes.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=c68c643b-c75a-4866-8a4a-82f38bd434f1&src=front

(Again, look at that unwieldy URL!)

...with this title:

"Housing slump hits California timber industry like a buzz saw"

And there, at last, is our video. We rub our hands in anticipation. Hard-hitting investigative videojournalism, that takes us behind the scenes of the text story? Introduces us to the major players? Lets us hear the tale in their own words? Shows us the problem up close with impactful and memorable visuals?

Not a prayer.

Here's what we get for our scavenging efforts:

A 44-second video of reporter Alana Semuels, seated against a black background, doing nothing more than introducing herself to the camera, and reading a text description of her print story.

Thanks to their proprietary and problematic video player (that the paper spent months and mucho dineros developing), a huge "PAUSE" icon obscures her face throughout the entire presentation.

See for yourself:

Now, as though this isn't horrid enough, imagine if you somehow stumbled across this video, and now wanted to actually read the story it's touting? Obviously all you need to do is click the link right next to the video to take you there, right? The link that says... well... hmmmm...

Actually, there is no link whatsoever to the print story. So if you start with the video, good luck finding the story it wants you to read. Which makes you wonder: What was the point of the video in the first place? It invites you to read a story that you'll have to work hard to find. (Remember, we got to the text story via a Twitter posting that advertised "video." ) Did the multimedia department need to fill its daily quota of "Videos on $5 a Day"? Or did they just figure, screw it -- who cares about the boring old California lumber industry? It's opening weekend for Michael Jackson's movie.

*****

Despite promises to the contrary, the L.A. Times joins the ranks of newspapers that are missing a golden opportunity to apply resources to the future of journalism. The media institution should be a shining beacon; instead it's a disgrace.

It's a chicken-and-egg situation that we know well -- the L.A. Times won't spend money on video because they say nobody's viewing it... But nobody's viewing it, because it's so lousy!... Plenty of people are watching engaging, informative, high quality nonfiction video -- and their numbers are increasing. The New York Times has wisely positioned itself in the vanguard of superlative videojournalism, having committed to a staff, budget, and Website navigation scheme that ensure an appreciative and devoted following. It's way past time for the L.A. Times to get with the program.

C'mon, L.A. Times! Here's your opportunity. Half-hearted steps lead nowhere. You've still got more resources and talent than most media institutions these days. Apply them to video. You won't be sorry.

Free Download: 6 x 6 Videojournalism E-Book

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:49:00 +0000

We've previously alerted you to Adam Westbrook's valuable "6 x 6" blog series of tips for videojournalists.

Now he's updated and assembled them into a 32-page e-book, that's available as a free download.

It’s also packed with bonus tips which you won’t find in the series itself, plus a page of resources and links to help you on your way. The six chapters cover the technical skills, like video, audio & storytelling, plus the non-technical skills, like branding & business.

No need to even register or fill out forms. All the London-based journalist and teacher asks, in exchange for the free download, is that you "hit me with feedback, good or bad. What did it miss out? What would you put in?"

CJR: The Reconstruction of American Journalism

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:51:00 +0000

"The Reconstruction of American Journalism," a comprehensive, in-depth report by Leonard Downie, Jr., and Michael Schudson, for the Columbia Journalism Review, is mandatory reading.

Leonard Downie Jr. is vice president at large and former executive editor of The Washington Post and Weil Family Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Michael Schudson is a professor of communication at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

The report proposes "new steps for maintaining a vibrant, independent press, with special emphasis on local 'accountability journalism' that is essential to civic life."

(Commentary from five responders, and a podcast with the authors, can be found here.)

Some highlights:

What is under threat is independent reporting that provides information, investigation, analysis, and community knowledge, particularly in the coverage of local affairs....

Reporting is becoming more participatory and collaborative. The ranks of news gatherers now include not only newsroom staffers, but freelancers, university faculty members, students, and citizens. Financial support for reporting now comes not only from advertisers and subscribers, but also from foundations, individual philanthropists, academic and government budgets, special interests, and voluntary contributions from readers and viewers. There is increased competition among the different kinds of news gatherers, but there also is more cooperation, a willingness to share resources and reporting with former competitors. That increases the value and impact of the news they produce, and creates new identities for reporting while keeping old, familiar ones alive. “I have seen the future, and it is mutual,” says Alan Rusbridger, editor of Britain’s widely read Guardian newspaper. He sees a collaborative journalism emerging, what he calls a “mutualized newspaper.”

The Internet has made all this possible, but it also has undermined the traditional marketplace support for American journalism. The Internet’s easily accessible free information and low-cost advertising have loosened the hold of large, near-monopoly news organizations on audiences and advertisers. As this report will explain, credible independent news reporting cannot flourish without news organizations of various kinds, including the print and digital reporting operations of surviving newspapers. But it is unlikely that any but the smallest of these news organizations can be supported primarily by existing online revenue. That is why—at the end of this report—we will explore a variety and mixture of ways to support news reporting, which must include non-market sources like philanthropy and government....

What is bound to be a chaotic reconstruction of American journalism is full of both perils and opportunities for news reporting, especially in local communities. The perils are obvious. The restructuring of newspapers, which remain central to the future of local news reporting, is an uphill battle. Emerging local news organizations are still small and fragile, requiring considerable assistance—as we have recommended—to survive to compete and collaborate with newspapers. And much of public media must drastically change its culture to become a significant source of local news reporting.

Yet we believe we have seen abundant opportunity in the future of journalism. At many of the news organizations we visited, new and old, we have seen the beginnings of a genuine reconstruction of what journalism can and should be. We have seen struggling newspapers embrace digital change and start to collaborate with other papers, nonprofit news organizations, universities, bloggers, and their own readers. We have seen energetic local reporting startups, where enthusiasm about new forms of journalism is contagious, exemplified by Voice of San Diego’s Scott Lewis when he says, “I am living a dream.” We have seen pioneering public radio news operations that could be emulated by the rest of public media. We have seen forward-leaning journalism schools where faculty and student journalists report news themselves and invent new ways to do it. We have seen bloggers become influential journalists, and Internet innovators develop ways to harvest public information, such as the linguistics doctoral student who created the GovTrack.us Congressional voting database. We have seen the first foundations and philanthropists step forward to invest in the future of news, and we have seen citizens help to report the news and support new nonprofit news ventures. We have seen into a future of more diverse news organizations and more diverse support for their reporting.

All of this is within reach. Now, we want to see more leaders emerge in journalism, government, philanthropy, higher education, and the rest of society to seize this moment of challenging changes and new beginnings to ensure the future of independent news reporting.

Read the entire report here.

Photojournalists: 'Seek Justice' to Win a Canon Kit

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:05:00 +0000

Want to win a Canon EOS 5D Mark II Premium Kit?

The Centre for Documentary Practice (CDP) seeks to support an emerging documentary photographer who submits the best-judged folio that aims to Seek Justice. The prize, a Canon EOS 5D Mark II Premium Kit, is designed to contribute to the continuation of, or an extension of, the submitted project synopsis. The CDP Award is free to enter.

The folio may be on any subject but must have the intent to be used to make a positive difference to the subject or the context in which the subject exists.

The award will be judged by two of the keynote speakers from the CDP Online Symposium: Seeking Justice. The winner will be announced December 14, 2009.

You are eligible if you are not represented by a gallery or agency and have not worked (earned a salary or wage) as a photojournalist for more than five years. Only one entry per person is allowed.

Deadline: Nov. 30, 2009

Enter here.

Q&A with 'Real Florida' VJ Maurice Rivenbark

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:09:00 +0000

Every weekday, KobreGuide selects and showcases an example of the best videojournalism on the Web. We shoot for a variety of topics, themes, and sources. This week, we're trying something a little different. As we noted on Monday, we're devoting all five slots this week to a single videojournalist, Maurice Rivenbark, featuring stellar videos from his "Real Florida" series on the St. Petersburg Times TampaBay.com Website.

"Mo" Rivenbark has been a staff photojournalist at the St. Petersburg Times since 1981. He has photographed stories throughout Florida, across the United States and abroad. Over the last couple of years Rivenbark has additionally been producing video stories for the paper .

Rivenbark often collaborates with Times columnist Jeff Klinkenberg, producing video reports to accompany and augment the writer’s “Real Florida” series about Florida culture and people who make the state unique.

So far this week, we've featured "The Classy Bikini Bicyclist" (pictured), "Clyde Butcher Photographs on Lake Kissimmee," and "The Gator Symphony." Look for the next two this Thursday and Friday.

We emailed Rivenbark some questions about his work. Here are his generous responses:

1. Can you tell us what the biggest challenges have been in putting together these videos?

Thinking ahead and thinking about the story as you shoot it, especially the audio. To produce these reports without voice-overs, you have to get the subjects to tell you the story in ways you can use. Sometimes that is from a sit-down interview and often it's interviewing as you shoot.

2. What is your impetus/inspiration for telling these stories?

I've worked with Jeff on stories over the years and always enjoyed it. Most of his stories make great video reports online in addition to our printed newspaper. Additionally, I've been focusing on stories that I can shoot in high definition and then pull the stills from the video for print. It's been working very well on these and we are now starting to expand the process into daily reports.

3. Do you face any particular technical challenges?

Obtaining solid audio, be it natural sound or interviews, is always something I pay close attention to. And since I depend on the video images for the stills, it can be very challenging working in low light conditions to get clean sharp video frames at times. However, I find it a far smoother process to not switch between shooting stills and video, but to use one tool to its full potential. Up to this point that tool has been the a true video camera. As I start using the new DSLRs which capture HD video, it may make switching easier switching between stills and video, but I expect I will still shoot mostly video and pulls stills from the video. Much of that has to do with the somewhat different approach you take in producing a video story and knowing when simply shooting a still would be best. In the past when I have shot stills in addition to video, I have most always ending up going with frame grabs in the end.

4. As a still photographer, what have you had to learn about audio?

Without a doubt, audio is the center of the video story. Coming from a still photo background, it took me a bit to realize that you can have great video images, but without complete audio you are sunk. Often much of the audio and natural sound comes from having the subject wear a wireless mic throughout the shoot.
 
5. What surprised you most in preparing these stories?

I continue to be amazed at how folks are so willing to share their stories and for the most part how comfortable they are with the process. I expected the video camera to be a major barrier between myself and the subjects, yet far more often than not, it's a bond between us.

6. How are these video reports different from those you have done in the past as a still photographer?

The stories are quite the same, but the process and the reward are much different for me. I have to know and understand the story clearly and gather far more material to work with than I would have in the past. Many of the good sequences in the video are a small picture story in themselves, something I'm still working to improve. Next the video editing process takes far more time than editing, toning and captioning the stills alone. Cutting or editing the video is similar to the writing process. While I have no talent for writing, I find great reward in producing a video report that compliments the printed story or can stand on its own.

7. How do you collaborate with the print reporter and editor? Challenges? Division of duties?

Jeff and I work much the same way we use to. Generally I'm listening and shooting during his interview and reporting. Sometimes I'll ask questions - just as I would have in the past. The real difference now is that I generally do another short interview to get the audio that I'll need to weave the story together. When I proposed the idea of video reports to Jeff in the beginning, his only concern was that we not turn it into a broadcast TV type of report and on that front I think we've been quite successful.

8. Because so many of our viewers are either professional or student photographers or videojournalists, we like to tell them a little about the technical aspects of putting together a story. What equipment do you use?

SLR camera: Canon
Video camera: The primary camera I use is the Canon XH A1, sometimes the Canon Vixia series and even the Canon PowerShot SXi was used for one of the stories entirely.
Lenses: Canon - various still lenses
Tripod: Manfrotto carbon with video head
Shotgun mic: Sennheiser
Wireless mic: Sennheiser
Lavalier mic: Sennheiser
Computer: MacPro desktop and MacBook in the field
Editing software: Final Cut Pro

9. Any other comments about your stories you’d like to share with our viewers?

While we were late to start into video at the Times, we learned from what others were already doing. In addition to looking online at places like the Washington Post, I made a trip to the Dallas Morning News early on which helped me grow. But from the beginning the knowledge and direction that our Senior Video Producer Jack Rowland brought to the table has been invaluable.

I am convinced that as the industry moves forward, every photojournalist needs to be skilled in in producing a solid video story in addition to powerful still images. The cameras we all will soon be using will make that possible - and I know our audience will surely expect it.

Poynter Assesses Future of Newspaper Video

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:30:00 +0000

On the occasion of last week's demise of 702.tv in Las Vegas, Poynter columnist Ken Sands surveys the relatively high cost and low quality of newspaper video efforts:

In discussions with a handful of video journalists, these themes have emerged:

* There's a market for good video, especially in big cities, but good video is too labor-intensive to be cost-effective.

* It's very easy to produce amateurish video, but difficult to sell advertising into it.

* As a result, video often is the first thing cut from downsizing newsrooms.

The question, amid all of the cuts in the newspaper industry, is who will be best-positioned to take advantage of money-making video opportunities if and when they emerge?

Read Sands' article... and share your thoughts.

Bill Eppridge Awarded Missouri Honor Medal

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:05:00 +0000

Celebrated photojournalist Bill Eppridge receives one of the profession's highest honors, the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, from the Missouri School of Journalism today.

The award is "in recognition of his more than 45 years as a photojournalist, capturing for the people of the world critical moments in the history of the world."

Bill Eppridge, a 1960 Missouri alum, has covered a remarkable assortment of stories for Life, National Geographic and Sports Illustrated magazines. He was a staff photographer for the original weekly Life during the 1960s until the magazine folded in 1972. His assignment list reads like a history book of current events covering the latter half of the 20th century.

Eppridge recorded the Beatles' first momentous visit to the United States and photographed Barbra Streisand on the verge of superstardom. He was the only photographer admitted into Marilyn Lovell's home as her husband, Jim, orbited the moon in the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft.

Eppridge went to Vietnam, captured Clint Eastwood on the set of Dirty Harry and was at the original Woodstock Music Festival. His landmark photographic essay on heroin addiction in Needle Park won a National Headliner Award and inspired the motion picture, "Panic in Needle Park," which starred actor Al Pacino. That photo essay is included in "Things As They Are: Photojournalism in Context Since 1955," the 2005 ICP award-winning book by World Press Photo.

Eppridge is a past recipient of the Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award, the National Press Photographers Association's highest honor. He was on the road with Robert F. Kennedy, covering his 1966 and 1968 presidential campaigns for Life magazine, when he took one of the decade's most poignant and iconic photographs: a stunned Los Angeles busboy, Juan Romero, cradling the candidate in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, just seconds after Robert Kennedy was shot. Those photographs are in Eppridge's most recent book, "A Time It Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties."

LINKS:

* Bill Epperidge bio
* Award announcement
* About the Honor Medal

Why Still Photographers Need to Make the Transition to Video

noreply@blogger.com (Prof. Ken Kobre) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:15:00 +0000

From In the New Media World, Photographers Who Embrace Change Will Succeed, by Wayne Ford (pictured), on the "Black Star Rising" blog.

As an art director, I can certainly envision photographers utilizing their skills across a number of emerging sectors to broaden their commercial base and fill the voids left by declines elsewhere.

For example, it was predicted at the recent Online News Association conference in San Francisco that by 2012, 95 percent of all online content will be video. Even if that figure proves optimistic, that is certainly the direction we are heading. And that presents opportunities for photographers.

A photographer assigned to produce a portrait for a magazine, for example, could easily produce a short sound-bite video of the portrait subject to accompany the story online. Using a camera like the video-enabled Canon 5D, there would be no need to bring additional equipment.

Taking advantage of this access gives the photographer an inside track as the market for online video continues to grow.