4802 - Journalistic video on the web

"Mysterious tree poisoner strikes again"

http://www.3news.co.nz/The-mysterious-tree-poisoner-strikes-again/tabid/1216/articleID/182312/Default.aspx

For the most part, I think this news story is pretty solid, I like how they introduce interviewees (in a visual sense) before the sound bite and I like the use of archival footage to highlight what has been happening in the story so far. The one thing that did bother be a bit was the reporter sound bite during the story - we didn't really have any need to see her as previous images had already established a context and setting.

I think if this story had been made for print, it would have been a lot shorter. When you think about it, this story is basically a follow-up from an incident that happened 2 years ago, I felt the video story dragged a little bit (probably because the b-roll clips were pretty long) so if they were going to turn this into a print story a lot of it would have to be tightened up - quotes shortened a bit and everything made a little bit more succinct.

Also, because it is a video story - and it relies largely on images to tell some of the story, the print version would have to be much less ambiguous so readers know exactly what is going on.

4802 - Video: My thoughts so far

So, I have just submitted my first video piece for 4802, which was an interesting experience. While I have a scattering of experience filming and editing video (I have never been so thankful for the year long Media Production class I did last year at AUT as much as I was last weekend!) I have never filmed a journalistic piece, i've never interviewed someone for video or filmed b-roll for a news piece so it was a new experience for me in many ways.

On the whole, I was suprised at how much I enjoyed filming the women while they practiced as I didn't think I would enjoy it. Two of our readings directed my thoughts as I was shooting, the CNN article and the video techniques from Berkley. A lot of the tips were just common-sense things you don't normally think about and inadvertently do - for example, the Berkley article suggested we make sure our interview subjects don't have poles or anything awkward sticking out of their head, Lucy, the girl I interviewed had exactly that when she stood in front of the camera and I had to move her - if I hadn't read that article I wouldn't have recognised that at all. Related to that was the fact that you're not supposed to talk during shooting b-roll, coming in to this assignment I naively assumed that it wouldn't matter if I talked while I shot b-roll - though I was proved wrong.

I really appreciated the practical tips the CNN article had, one thing I was really worried about was what to film for my b-roll. But the CNN article (along with Lynda's "visual cha cha cha"!) gave me some perspective and I just tried to get as many different wide, mid and close up angles as possible so when I edited I had lots of options and could hopefully create a visually stimulating video. I don't quite know if I got the "cha cha" bit down, but I really tried and it certainly helped once I had to decide on final shots!

The worlds most generic news report

happy feburary :)