When we as solovj’s, backpack journalists, digital correspondents and/or documentary film makers talk about producing content for broadcast, in the past it was a clearly defined paradigm meant for traditional broadcast venues ie; television.

Today, the broadcast spectrum is much wider – entailing not only television, but also internet content distribution to multiple platforms including portable devices.

Traditional post production environments are locked in a rigid methodology about delivering to broadcast and as such, require alot of hoop jumping to get from point A to point B when delivering to alternative content distribution platforms.

What’s required to stay agile and deliver to multiple distribution platforms is a new way of thinking around post production that isn’t locked in that narrow world view.

With the development of post environments such as SONY Creative Suite and Adobe Creative Suite, the confines of what it means to deliver to the Broadcast Spectrum has shifted.

As opposed to rigid post production environments such as AVID’s Media Composer and Apple’s Final Cut Suite – and even to a certain extend Adobe’s Creative Suite – which still have their workflow methodologies rooted in film post production, the third party applications required to go outside this culture of film production only entails moving from the editing suite to encoding apps in order to get things done. Don’t get me wrong – these suites provide a high level of professional post produciton environments for film – but at a cost of productivity to one man army film production entities like myself.

I may sound like a broken record, but until one has actually edited in SONY Vegas Pro, as well as the rest of the Sony Creative Software applications, you know not what you’re missing. The ability to manage virtually all typical aspects of post production inside of Vegas Pro or the rest of the Master Suite rubs against the very culture of post production – ie; separate applications utilized by separate post production editors for sound, color grading, cutting , etc. There will be those who say projects edited in Vegas Pro don’t meet broadcast specification such as certain technical requirements, but in my research and discussion privately with those who have experience in this area, broadcasters have begun to relax some of those standards somewhat due to the pervasiveness of content that’s now available.

The skills of being a “jack of all trades, master of many” in the 21st century requires a new mindset around the complete project – not just shooting a story. It requires the ability to move into the post production environment almost seamlessly, and assembling that story into a cohesive project – without having to learn separate applications – which can only add to the confusion of the post production process.  Specialization has its place, but the sheer volume of content being produced now requires having more than just the skill of shooting or editing – it now requires both and the ability to tell a story while doing both – and doing it well.

I’m sure there will be those who will vehemently disagree with my perspective on this issue.  I’ve tested just about every post environment to some degree. I have both experienced myself and read from others about the hoop jumping to get from point A to Point B with the other options and I can attest that for the most part that SONY’s Vegas Pro – and the rest of their Master Suite, can accomplish more in a shorter period of time than anything else available at the present time.  Is it a perfect solution?  If it were, everyone would be using it.  Just as there are no perfect cameras, there are no perfect post production applications.  Choose one, and discover for yourself what suits your style.

Could my perspective change on my post production choice? Perhaps.

But I have my doubts it will.

As documentary filmmakers, solo video journalists, backpack journalists, digital correspondents, whatever the term, the skills we have as shooters is but a part of the total “Jack of All Trades, Master Of Many” paradigm.

We also need to be efficient editors in post production bringing our stories to the timeline and effectively editing the footage, audio, stills and titles together and cohesively assemble the project in a time efficient manner – all the while delivering to multiple distribution channels.

I delayed this posting for close to six weeks as I needed time to really think through the process of collaboration in post production and whether this has become a less important process given the nature of how content is shot/edited in this digital age – and to what distribution channels said content is being delivered to.

Here are my thoughts and why

As self contained production entities, we don’t typically work in a collaborative post production environment and as such, the need for tools that provide this aren’t necessarily needed.

I’ve been exposed and used, to some degree, just about every mainstream NLE available.  For my needs my conclusion is – as a solo documentary shooter, I prefer SONY Creative Software’s Vegas Pro as my current NLE of choice for the VJ projects and short form documentaries I produce.

My reasons bear witness due to practical experience.

I will state on the outset I have no vested interest in SONY Creative Software other than having used it in my professional work.  I am not compensated in any way from SONY Creative Software.

I acknowledge that my thoughts on my recommendation runs against the industry standard mindset of what application platform to use for post production as a documentary filmmaker, backpack journalist, solo video journalist or digital correspondent.

Having said that, I’ll continue.

With traditional NLE’s like Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Final Pro, etc – the applications are designed more or less to assemble your footage on the timeline with basic audio tools and basic titling.  That’s great if you’re handing off your project to someone else to tweak the audio or to generate title graphics.

The new generation of visual content creators are wearing multiple creative hats – myself included.

SONY Vegas Pro instills a different paradigm for post production compared to other post production options. It’s my belief that Vegas Pro fits the self contained documentary production paradigm very well.  You can do virtually all editing options on the timeline and they are handled by Vegas Pro very well.  Everything from multiple video format files on the timeline, to motion graphics, titling, audio editing and color correction – with the ability to do both 8bit and 32bit float point in both video levels and full levels for greater color accuracy of your final render – the latter is especially important in color grading for final output.

SONY Vegas originally started out as a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) application, it was designed to handle audio and then later on, the ability to edit video was incorporated.  What this means for anyone on the Windows platform (or MAC user running Bootcamp, Parallels, etc) is an NLE that provides a central application to deal with virtually all aspects of post production for video journalism projects and short to medium form documentaries.  My post production usage incorporates straight cuts, dissolves, advanced color correction capabilities, prepping audio and titling.  These are my mainstays.

Many newer cameras now shoot in AVCHD – the kind of codec that requires transcoding to an intermediate format to edit efficiently in other NLE’s – unless you have a very recent computer – and even then, it’s still problematic for many.  In Vegas you can either edit natively (I don’t recommend this at the present time), or utilize conversion utilities such as Cineform Neo Scene (my mainstay), AVCHD Upshift, scripting utilities such as Vegasaur or by the scripting capabilities within Vegas Pro via Proxy Stream – a free utility that can batch convert your footage from one format to another if utilizing a less powerful editing machine like a laptop. I’ve experimented with using MPEG Stream clip and transcoding my native HDV m2t clips to AVID’s DNxHD 220 10 bit codec which Vegas will read, edit and render to.

If you’re shooting Red camera footage – Vegas Pro is the least expensive native R3D editor on the market – and it does it VERY well.

Maintaining the best image quality during post production is a major sticking point for visual content creators telling stories with moving images.  Vegas Pro’s ability to shift project properties on the fly from 8bit while assembling the footage, then moving to 32bit float point mode with full levels for color grading is a major plus in my post production process.  The switch to 32 bit is quite resource intensive during playback. The method here is to hit “Shift-B” so you can load sections directly into RAM for RT playback depending on the amount of available RAM. This ability to maintain image quality in the post production process is what separates amateurs from professional film makers. Case in point: I had made the switch to Edius earlier this year, but discovered issues of noticeable banding in my footage – a direct result of Edius currently supporting 8 bit color only. Edius is a very capable editing solution, but the inability of Edius to move to a higher bit depth for color grading (and it’s rather crude color correction and audio tools in general) prompted me back to Vegas Pro.

The various tools within Vegas Pro that I use regularly are intuitive.  Color correction is easy to understand and use.  Transitions are a matter of sliding one clip into another – instant dissolve.  No constant click and drag to each clip on the timeline.  Want to apply an effect or filter or even a group of filters to all clips on a track?  Very easy to do with a couple of clicks in Vegas Pro.  That’s not a feature you’ll find in any other NLE on the market.  Video plugins from Red Giant and NewBlueFX provide additional options in post production. Audio plugins can be applied to any audio track and Vegas Pro supports both Direct X and VST audio plugins.  If needed, you can specify an outside audio editor. I recommend and use SONY’s Sound Forge 10 to perform more advanced audio manipulation as needed – and round trip back to Vegas Pro without the overhead of bridging applications using up precious CPU resources.

What this means for self contained content creators using SONY’s Vegas Pro is we are no longer bound to specific hardware requirements that force us to buy into what the hardware manufacturers dictate we have to buy.

Thoughts on Post Production Collaboration

In my work, I have yet to personally collaborate in post production with others on a project.  I concede that Vegas Pro isn’t very friendly with exporting a project to another NLE for collaborative situations – and that can be a major sticking point for some who are less inclined to wear different hats in the post production process.  Instead, Vegas Pro users have come to realize (myself included) that this is a post production environment for one man army independent shooter/editors (unless you’re working with others editing in Vegas Pro).  What Vegas Pro lacks in collaborative features it makes up for in speed and efficiency in the post production process – and it seems designed for the solo video journalist/independent documentary filmmaker as a post production tool.

Taking Post to the next level with SONY Mastersuite certified computers

SONY announced their Master Suite desktop computers where specified hardware is assembled and tested to help power users to just plug and play their Windows 7 based turnkey workstation class computers with SONY Creative Software’s full suite of post production applications – Vegas Pro 9 (32 & 64 bit), Sound Forge 10 and Acid Pro 7, along with Production Assistant for Vegas Pro, Training materials and two years of Top Level Tech support.  These workstations aren’t cheap, and those who are DIY types, can build their own desktops for less.  You lose some features and tech support, but your pocket book will thank you.  Rumor has it that SONY is also establishing certified laptops as well – a boon to those who need to edit remotely.

There are those who espouse using AVID Media Composer or Apple’s Final Cut Suite for collaborative post production work.  For those in a collaborative environment and/or needing to go to broadcast/film, I agree.  Vegas Pro isn’t without its shortcomings. It’s missing broadcast specification features that in principle, preclude it as a tool for delivering to major network broadcast (but it seems broadcasters have had to relax some of these standards due to the plethora of content being created). It may require having third party apps prep your content for delivery so be aware of that when using Vegas Pro for potential delivery to major broadcast venues or to film.

For me, I need a tool that is fast and efficient – without costing me a small fortune – and a steep learning curve in the process.  Time is money – why spend that time trying to learn to perform basic functions in an archaic workflow methodology for solovj and micro documentary work when Vegas Pro gives you that in a cost effective, professional post production application?

See For Yourself

In December of 2008 I posted a video that was used for marketing purposes by SONY Creative Software for Vegas Pro 8 – and the information in the video holds true for Vegas Pro 9 as well (even more so now). I’m reposting the video again to add to what I’ve said in this post. When you watch the 7 minute video and realize what Vegas Pro is capable of, you’ll understand why I’ve gone back to working with Vegas Pro over other NLE offerings for my solo video journalism and micro documentary work.

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

Click on the image above to watch the video

Given my choice of any NLE currently on the market, SONY Vegas Pro is the tool I’m using to get my projects edited and delivered on time and on budget.

You can learn more about SONY Vegas Pro and download a 30 day trial of both 32bit and 64bit versions by visiting the SONY Creative Software website

There are elements of what video journalism is/has become that has never settled well with me.

The infighting that exists within the old school shooters versus the solovj paradigm has gotten to the point of being childish – and I’m the first to admit I contributed to it in the beginning.

Now I’ve come to a fork on the path I’ve been traveling.  One path is the continuance with the solovj paradigm.  The other takes me down what I feel is my true calling – that of a documentary filmmaker.

This new path feels right.  The slowing down of all the deadlines for short stories, the constant hoop jumping that occurs with trying to keep up with the Jones’ with all the crazy constant gear upgrades many in the profession seem to feel they need to do in order to stay competitive.  And at the same time, all the gear in the world doesn’t make you a great story teller – and most fall short in that regard.

Documentary shooters are more conservative with their gear – it suits my disposition perfectly.

In this process, I had to think about this path.  What was it I wanted to do as a visual documenter? It felt like the content I had created as a solovj left me lacking.

Realizing this, I had been taking inventory of what it was I really wanted to do. I realized I wanted to TELL stories, not report them.

My post production mentor recently explained it to me this way:  video journalists find and report a story.  Documentary filmmakers find and tell a story. Video Journalists win Emmy’s, Documentary Filmmakers win Academy Awards.

It wasn’t so much about the awards aspect that struck me.  It was the description of reporting versus telling a story that turned the light on in a moment of epiphany for me.

I realized the path of documentary filmmaking has been my calling all along.  I was a documentary still photographer in my past work, and it’s that telling of stories in depth that is the core of what I am and do as a visual content creator.

All along, I’ve heard more selling on both expensive and not so expensive courses for shooters – most marketed towards the shooters desperation to become video savvy – and yet the crucial elements of solid story telling seem to get cast aside for the sake of quick turnaround on these boot camps - some costing upwards of $2500. The constant upgrade cycle on gear to have the latest and greatest as a crutch has only added fuel to the flames.

The true essence of real change in society has come from in depth story telling – the documentary genre’ as a tool for real change.  It has been said that it can be used as a platform for propaganda - the same can be said for todays news reporting – look at how Fox News reports “Their” conservative version of the news, while at the same time, MSNBC, CNN, etc reports the same topic, but with a more liberal bias.

The bottom line is news media is now corporate news media – profit margins and viewer eyeballs are what’s important – even if it means selling sensationalist news for the sake of the sheeple masses never ending hunger for the pablum they’re willing to be fed by the corporate news media.

So, I’ve chosen to take the road less traveled – that of a documentary filmmaker.  I’ll apply the construct of the solo video journalist paradigm, working as a self contained production entity to meld the two into a new paradigm – that of the microdocumentary filmmaker.  The “Micro” is the less is more production process of compact equipment while at the same time, bring a more thought out process for the creation/production of thought provoking documentary content across multiple distribution channels.

Taking the road less traveled as a documentary film maker will not be easy, but in the end, the rewards will be both financial and personal for me.

Another paradigm shift has begun for me in my pursuit of defining what it is I do as a visual content creator.

A recent discussion I had with my editing mentor brought to light a dramtic shift in defining what video journalism is compared to documentary film making.

In that discussion, a major epiphany took place for me.

My mentor described it this way:  Journalism wins Emmy’s, Documentaries win Academy awards.  Journalism finds stories and presents them at a surface level.  Documentaries tell stories and go more in depth.

I no longer call what I do as solo video journalism.  I’m a micro documentary film maker.

As a result of this shift, I’m attending film school to refine the craft of documentary film making.  I’m going to utilize the skills of what I’ve learned about the solovj paradigm – ie; working self contained, and apply it to shooting short, or “micro” documentaries.

The learning process for full on documentary production is way beyond my experiences in journalism, but by the end of this journey, I will come out more knowledgable around the complete process of producing documentaries for clients that will take the level of quality up several notches

I’ll post more as I go thru this new journey.

Welcome to the Micro Documentary Paradigm

Looking at the current state of the industry as a solo video journalist is sobering.

Many started their educational efforts 4 years ago and in the middle of that process, watched as the profession began burning to the ground – in what seemed uncontrollably – to the point of almost depressing for those who aspired to what was once a noble profession.

But all is not lost. For those willing to roll up their sleeves and make the effort to adapt and become agile there is hope.

But journalism schools for the most part arent’ teaching the necessary skills to prepare these graduates to go out into a very competitive and volatile job market.

Then comes Adam Westbrook’s ebook that touches on the very topics for these aspiring journalists to make it.

Filled with concise, to the point information on new trails to travel depending on the style of journalism you are working in, a rather unconventional approach compared to what’s being taught in journalism schools today.

As a solo video journalist, I realized to stay competitive, I had to find new avenues to pursue in order to keep myself earning an income.  Let’s face it, journalism was at one time a good paying career to go into – these days, it seems dog eat dog.

Having a means to tap into new revenue streams while staying true to the heart of journalism isn’t such a bad thing.

It will mean diverging so to speak from the traditional course journalism has taken til this time, but by maintaining integrity with a purity of purpose in the spirit of journalism, there can be found a balance in earning a living, and reporting.

As a backpack journalist, solo video journalist or digital correspondent looking to make a go of it, or looking for additional avenues to generate an income, I can tell you Adam ‘s insights are profound in my opinion.  The second chapter alone is well worth the modest price for this material.

Disclaimer:  The only vested interest I have in this material is as an affiliate who is providing a link in this posting for those interested in purchasing this reference material.  It will help support my continued efforts in this blog so if you feel compelled to purchase this important resource, I ask that you do so by clicking on this link to purchase this valuable resource – it’s a modest commission, less than $1.00, but any little bit helps.

One of the mainstays for solo video journalists, backpack journalists and digital correspondents is honing the craft of editing their finished video projects.  Without post production editing skills, you’re just shooting video, and today’s video journalist needs to be more than just a shooter.

With online content distribution as a viable delivery platform option, many may ask if they have to use a top level production suite or if they can edit their work with a more modestly priced post production application for finishing their product.

I offer some options for affordable video editing applications that I’ve used and recommend.

The Scenario for Post Production for Online Video Content Delivery

Online delivery doesn’t require the stringent specifications required by broadcast for video levels, color range, etc in order to deliver your content.  In layman’s terms, you have the full contrast range of the video available to you for delivering online. Broadcast specifications impose limitations – in simple terms – a contrast range of 16-235, or 0-100. Going outside that range is considered “illegal”. As such, there are several semi-pro NLE’s on the market that provide the majority of the functionality of their older siblings for each companies offerings – ideal for those in backpack journalism or solo video journalism delivering their content online only.

What these video editing applications share in common are a limited feature set of file formats they support.  This includes Tape and Tapeless acquisition in SD, HDV and AVCHD. You can also incorporate other file formats such as WMV, QT MOV files, etc on the timeline as needed.  File formats like XDCAM, DVCHD Pro and others are only supported by full video production suites.  Stills and audio are all supported.  Depending on the application, third party plugins are available as well, such as VST audio plugins and video effects filters.

NLE’s For the Windows platform

My first recommendation on the Windows platform is Grass Valley’s Edius Neo 2/2.5 which is a powerful NLE for anyone looking to produce video content for online delivery.

Grass Valley Edius Neo 2

Grass Valley is well known in the broadcast industry, producing hardware for broadcast networks that has proven itself in many broadcast venues. So it’s no surprise that their Edius NLE line integrates very well with some of their hardware offerings.

Edius Neo 2 is powerful in its handling of AVCHD, in addition to HDV and SD.  If you’re running a new i7 Intel processor for your editing computer, Neo 2.5 Booster allows for real time editing of the highly compressed AVCHD footage. For those with lesser hardware, Edius Neo 2/2.5 provides the ability to transcode your highly compressed AVCHD footage to their high quality Canopus-HQ Codec (4:2:2 Intra-Codec) at the expense of larger file sizes. For those who are working on less powerful computers, this can make a huge difference in performance when needing to edit your AVCHD shot footage.  The disadvantage is this requires waiting to begin editing since the footage needs to be converted first before editing and requires about 5 times the hard drive space.  The advantages are the application is probably the most stable NLE for the money I have come across.  And I’ve tested several.  You have all the color correction tools as its bigger sibling Edius 5, sans the vector scopes/waveform monitoring that allow you to fine tune your footage to meet broadcast spec, and multitrack audio mixing capabilities – the latter I sorely miss when video editing in Neo 2.  But, you can open the same project in Edius 5 and continue working, thus you have the ability to hand off your work to someone else who has Edius 5 to fine tune your work if it does need to go to broadcast.  Neo 2 also supports industry standard VST audio plugin filters to provide the additional capabilities for working with your audio as needed.  There are many free VST’s plugins that can provide increased funtionality of Edius Neo 2 when fine tuning the audio in your project.  NewBlueFX provides support for Neo 2 with their large selection of  video and audio filters for a nominal fee.

Grass Valley HDSpark Card for Edius Neo 2 & Edius 5

A unique feature of Neo 2 is that it is marketed by Grass Valley as a stepping stone for full broadcast work by utilizing their HDSpark card, a dedicated preview card that integrates with both of the Edius NLE’s to attach a second dedicated preview monitor to show RT preview on an HDTV.  This is a reasonably priced hardware option for a Windows based desktop computer, and is a very appealing feature that no other NLE in this price range offers.  An ideal setup is using a smallish HDTV like the Viewsonic N1630w LCD HDTV attached to the HDSpark card with your desktop computer, which provides the ability to preview the timeline in real time if delivering to broadcast is a possibility.  Having this option greatly increases the post production process as your content on the secondary preview monitor will closely match how it will appear for broadcast. You don’t lose your investment in the HDSpark card either when transitioning to Edius 5 as the card provides the same functionality as it does in Neo 2.

Although the most expensive mid level NLE of those listed, Edius Neo 2 is a wise decision to make when considering an NLE – especially if considering the move to the full Edius 5 application.  The interface remains virtually unchanged so there’s no relearning the interface and Edius workflow methodology. Edius is making a stronger presence in the broadcast industry, in part to their hardware being standard equipment. Using Edius is a wise move if the possibility exists you will be working in that field.

You can download a 30 day trial of Edius Neo 2 from the Grass Valley website.

Sony Vegas Studio HD Platinum is another mid level video editing application that provides a wealth of tools to deliver your content online.  It’s workflow methodology is not the same as known conventions of other NLE’s and it has it’s advocates that espouse a new workflow methodology for the internet generation of content production.  The disadvantage is that you are limited to what file formats it’s supports – ie, it does not allow for batch transcoding of your content to another file format, so you will have to consider third party utilities to convert your footage, that can mean alot of lost time if under deadline since there’s no guarantee that the utility will support transcoding your footage to something usable in Vegas Studio.

SONY Vegas Studio HD Platinum

Vegas Studio HD Platinum has many of the same features as it’s larger sibling, Vegas Pro. It’s strengths are in handling audio and applying real time transitions.  Color correction is very intuitive. There is no hardware integration and the move back and forth between Vegas Pro is one way – your project file can be opened in Vegas Pro, but can not be read in return.  The additional advantage for this NLE is you get Sound Forge Audio Studio, a very capable, solid audio editing application is included. For those who come from an audio background like radio, this may be quite appealing as a tool that is available in their post work.

You can download a 30 day trial of Vegas Studio HD Platinum from Sony Creative Software’s website

NLE’s For the Apple MAC platform

Apple’s iMovie is a consumer oriented NLE package much in line with Windows Movie Maker.  Basic transitions, dissolves, titles, etc can be assembled and you can output your content to high quality h.264 for online delivery.  If you know your content won’t be needed for broadcast delivery, this is a user friendly option.

Apple’s Final Cut Express is a huge jump from iMovie – and the only option on the MAC platform worth mentioning.  FInal Cut Express provides the same interface as Apple’s Final Cut Pro.  Much in line with Edius Neo 2 in relation to Edius Pro, Final Cut Express provides the stepping stone for those who edit on the MAC.

Apple Final Cut Express 4

The features of FCE provide all that one would need to deliver their content online when editing on an Apple computer.  It utilizes Apple’s high quality Intermediate codec for RT performance with highly compressed AVCHD shot content.  That means you will need to wait while FCE transcodes your footage if you shoot tapeless.  Features such as title graphics via LiveType, and audio are handled better than how Edius Neo 2 handles them. You don’t have vector scopes to fine tune your footage to bring it into line for broadcast specifications, but Final Cut Express wasn’t meant for that.  Final Cut Express is flexible in that you can import your iMovie project into Final Cut Express if needed.  You can also open your Final Cut Express project file in Final Cut Pro to finish your project and utilize the advanced features not offered in Final Cut Express, again, much in the same way Edius Neo 2 project files can be opened in Edius Pro. The biggest disadvantage is that everything in Final Cut Express and it’s bigger sibling requires rendering anytime a change is made to the timeline, not very efficient when it comes to meeting short deadlines.

There are no trial versions that can be downloaded from Apple.

Some may ask why haven’t I touched upon Adobe’s application, Premiere Elements?  Consider it a personal bias. I don’t feel for the money, you get the feature set necessary to seriously edit your work.  The jump to Premiere Pro is such a large one, and the latest hardware requirements for CS5 preclude it from this recommendation list for that very reason.

The idea here, the solo video journalist paradigm, is to be agile – lean and mean so to speak. These NLE recommendations I’ve made fall in line with that – features, performance and price all meeting that “less is more” paradigm.

None of these recommendations are perfect.  Each application has been developed with certain features missing to protect the respective companies sales of their top tier video editing applications.

Whether you’re editing on a laptop, a desktop – or both, each of these recommendations provides the best bang for the buck for editing your video projects for online video content distribution efficiently and professionally.

There are practical aspects to be considered when working as a freelance solovj.  That of paying the rent, keeping the lights on, etc.

Sometimes it requires thinking outside the box somewhat and seeing how one can meld journalistic story telling with a commercial project.

Case Study: A Passion For Pinot

I approached Noble Estate, a local winery to produce for them – on spec – a marketing video for their website and trade show booth.  The winemaker was very receptive.  I spent from mid October 2009 thru the end of the year shooting at different times during “Crush”, or harvest & bottling.

The end result is a 5 minute marketing video that the wine maker absolutely loved – and it was shot in the solovj paradigm.  I shot and edited this project without any form of assistance from a production crew.

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)
Click On The Image To View The Video

The  wine maker telling the story provides a great opportunity for other self contained solovj’s to produce work in a fashion that is high in quality without the need for expensive cameras or others to help.  It requires the presence of mind and skill set to manage not only shooting video, but handling your audio levels, asking questions and then being able to assemble the footage into a cohesive finished product.

The equipment used for production and post is not the latest and greatest (I still shoot with a couple of tape based SONY HC7′s – they are reliable and get the job done).  Post production was completed in Edius Neo 2 on a Windows 7 based desktop utilizing NewBlueFX Video Essentials II and proDAD Mercalli filters in post.

In the end, this case study provides insights into what skills can bring to the table as opposed to the constant bantering of needing to have the latest and greatest in equipment to be marketable.

In my never ending quest to redefine what it is I do and why, it occurred to me that as a solovj, I feel most compelled to tell a story that has personal meaning.  At the same time, that story should reflect to the viewer, a sense of their humanity, to let them know that we are not alone, that we are a part of something greater than ourselves.

How does one do that given the imposed limitations that currently exist in broadcast news, newspaper video, etc?
I believe it requires a conscious choice to take a stand and stand for what you believe in.

One of the things we as visual journalists have in common is our interest, our sensitivity to telling stories that touch on topics that are outside what the pablum generating corporate lamestream news media would have spoon fed to us.  That is, finding a story that may somehow right an injustice, to bring to the light that which isn’t fair or respectful to others of the family of man.

Documentary film making has been an avenue to speak on various topics that have brought about change at many times in our society.

So now we come to the gist of this posting:  What does shooting as a backpack journalist or solo video journalist have to do with documentary film making?

I say it has much to do with it – and I’ve coined a new term around it that may help to shed light on yet another facet of working self contained, telling stories with video, stills and audio.

The Micro Documentary as a story telling medium.

I have been thinking on how to define this term and it has forced em to to realize that maybe working as a solovj or backpack journalist could be interchanged with micro documentary film maker.

The differences of course require a shift in how the story is told.  It’s going to require more pre-planning on the topic. Thus the research aspect of the craft begins to play a bigger role.   IN addition, one also needs to go in without expectations on how the story will unfold, as many documentary film makers will attest – the premise of the story can deviate from the initial concept and as a self contained production entity we have the ability to be more agile and adapt accordingly as needed.

I’m going to be delving more into this paradigm.  With the ability of content distribution via the internet, social networking such as Twitter to create viral marketing interest in finished projects, it seems that creating good stories is now up to the ability of the shooter themselves.

The gatekeepers no longer have a hold on showing those stories we feel need to be told – just because said gatekeeper says so.

Welcome to the Micro Documentary Film Maker.

Over at Newslab, Deborah Potter has posted some valuable insights around the notion of what is termed “The TV Package”.

As a solo video journalist,  I believe a shift is required – especially for local news stations – that requires a radically new paradigm of what’s being produced for television news that needs to take place.

The TV Package, in its current iteration, needs to be put out of its misery and buried for good and replaced with a more narrative style of story telling.

News Directors & General Managers of tv stations need to grow a spine and take the initiative of producing stories in longer form, telling stories of their local communities, not the formulaic pablum that is passed off as “Experienced Journalism” on local broadcast, let alone, regional and national news reporting today.  The over stylized lighting, the multi person production crews, the perfect looking on camera personality provides nothing for the story being told.  It’s a stylized film production now instead of being a true news story.

The face of how news is consumed has changed.  The dropping numbers for viewers and ad revenues reflects this.

So what’s the answer?

I don’t have any definite ones, just my observations.  I do believe that maybe, just maybe, a different tack should be taken on how stories are produced as a good starting point.

First off – dump the old production model of multi-person production crews for the most part.  Yes, there will still need to be the occasional crew sent to cover major new stories like forest fires, etc, but for the most part, even solovj’s can do so with with the proper training from such entities as the Backpack Journalism program at American University taught by Bill Gentile.

Secondly, get rid of for example, the talking heads with their ever present, yet totally irrelevant, head nodding, etc. and start delving deeper into better story telling, letting the subject bring their narrative instead of constant voice overs from the journalist themselves.  Lose the suits, ties, fancy makeup, coiffed hair, etc.  News isn’t a fashion show.  Broadcast Journalists think portraying themselves in this way is some how professional.

In my opinion, it’s disingenuous.

Start telling longer form stories – micro documentaries if you will, maximum of 5 minutes long – engaging the viewer into a deeper story of the subject.  Give the digital correspondent more time to really tell the story – and tell stories of the community, stories that reflect a human side instead of trying to capture viewer ratings.  Those ratings will take care of themselves with solid news stories.  Give people genuine real stories, and they will soon realize they’ve been led astray by corporate news medias feeding pablum to the sheeple masses.

Train your digital correspondents that they are going to have to learn it all.  Otherwise, it’s time to find those journalists who are willing to learn to do so.  Being a jack of all trades, master of many isn’t as difficult as most think. It can be done, it only requires a willingness on their part to see it as such, learn it and then apply it.  There are many excellent resources that provide professional level training for this new wave of solo video journalists, backpack journalists, digital correspondents – however you want to define it.

And one of the most important things that needs to be implemented.  The freedom to experiment – and fail – without fear of losing ones job.  BY doing so, you learn what works – and what doesn’t.  The 21st century has brought about massive changes and to hold on to archaic ways of reporting is not doing the viewing public any favors.  QUit treating them as if they’re not capable of thinking for themselves.

Broadcast news is trying to keep what they’ve known on life support – out of fear of change.

It’s time to pull the plug and let it pass away.

What have they got to lose?

I’m calling it as I see it.  DSLR video is a fad – at least in solo video journalism it is.  Plain and simple.  There are many who have become enamoured with the so called uber cool extreme shallow depth of field flavor of the moment, equating it to creative license and thus making it their top priority, and in the process, losing sight of the first rule of solo video journalism:  It’s the story, not the gear.

I have a real issue with this whole mind set of DSLR’s/Shallow DOF perspective that has been flooding this profession for the past several months.

Time and time again, I read forum posting after forum posting from so called pro’s wondering if they are going to get more work by switching to a DSLR that shoots video.

In a word – No.

From my professional experience, I believe it only makes a mediocre shooter look desperate (and I’ve seen plenty of that lately) if you have to use technical gimmicks to make up for your lack of compelling story telling shooting skills.

As someone who has seen alot of still and video content in my career as a visual content creator, I’d rather view a compelling piece shot on a single chip SONY A1U or HC7 that has clean audio, proper exposure, proper compositional framing, utilizing compelling story telling technique, etc than a boring story shot with the latest fad video DSLR with shallow DOF as the gimmick to save a mediocre story. That’s not to say a solid story can’t be shot on a DSLR that shoots video – but it’s my belief that it’s 98% operator and 2% equipment and the vast majority of shooters have lost sight of that.

My mentor from afar, David Dunkley-Gyimah, has posted his experiences and insights around the notion of tradionally laid out video cameras versus what it takes to shoot with one of the Hybrid DSLR’s .  Having read about, seen and even handled these flavors of the moment has provided some insights on my end that I’m going to take liberties with.

Here’s some things most don’t seem to be addressing.  The purchase of additional gear just to get the DSLR to work the way a traditional video camera works out of the box.  Now tell me why a self contained backpack journalist who is having to carry all their gear why would you want to have to carry viewfinder magnifiers, matte boxes, rails, shoulder stocks, etc to get your story shot?  More gear to carry, more to assemble, and in the end, will probably get in the way of producing the story.

Yet that’s exactly what all the spin doctoring proponents would have you believe is needed to create compelling content.  They couldn’t be more wrong.  In fact, the form factor of video cameras remains virtually the same for a good reason.  It’s already known.  There’s no relearning where/how to focus, where to place mics, how to manage audio in post due to poor audio quality of Hybrid DSLR’s thus having to manage a separate audio recorder that has to be synch’d in post, etc…

The next generation of video cameras recently announced at NAB prove an important point.  SONY, Panasonic, JVC, and Canon stay the course with the tranditional form factor of video cameras for those who make their livings shooting a variety of content.  Sure, Canon’s DSLR’s were the darling s of 2010 NAB, but many don’t seem to have taken much notice that the mainstay video cameras for those who shoot video content for a living still hold to traditional form factor and their known acquisition codecs as they are time tested and proven in both acquisition and in post production.

Yes the cameras are bigger, but you retain all the features needed to produce professional content – without having to Rube Goldberg your gear together.  And there’s no hoop jumping in post – another bane of the DSLR Video equation.

The funny thing is, I came from a stills background – having shot stills for over 25 years, and yet I find the idea of shooting video with a DSLR as not being quite right.  I personally would rather produce video content on a camera that was designed from the ground up to do so, not as an add on to a tool that requires firmware updates, limitations of recording time a heavy investment in accessories to get it to shoot video.

Too many mediocre shooters have become worked up (and plain lazy) over the shallow DOF film look. For all practical purposes, they lose all the features that standard video cameras provide – ie, they are stuck in manual focus, audio control is still a kludge, they have to buy more accessories just to compensate for the lack of proper features needed to shoot properly – but hey, it looks really cool when they shoot with it.

If you’re more concerned about the equipment instead of the story – it’s time to get back to basics and learn to produce compelling content with the gear you currently have before moving to the latest.

If given the choice between the hybrid DSLR and a traditional form factor video camera – I’d still go for the latter.  I know what I’m getting through the whole production process.  Time is money – why waste it on inefficient processes to be “cool”?

In closing, Hybrid DSLR video is a kludge – having to duct tape together all the parts necessary just to get the tool to do what it mostly should.  Mainstream video cameras  present a known quantity – they do what they do because they were designed to.

Why trust your livlihood on anything else?

Update:  Just came across this video that has Vincent Laforet confirming much of what I’ve said in this posting. (Thanks to Jonathan Shuler for having this posted on his blog)