On-camera storytelling that engages viewers can be a challenge.  But if you watch the work of this multimedia journalist, Joe Little of KGTV/San Diego, he makes it look easy. 

How does Joe do it?  He outlined the steps to Poynter’s Al Tomkins.

1. Plan out what you want to see. (For this exercise, let’s say you want two images of yourself in a room — one of you smiling and one of you frowning.)

2. Frame up your camera (on a tripod) wide enough so that there’s room for two images of you that don’t overlap.

3. Lock the tripod in that spot.

4. In the viewfinder (this is easier if you can flip it over), find a marker near the middle of the screen. It can be a lamp, the edge of a picture frame, whatever. This is your barrier that you cannot cross.

5. Hit record.

6. Stand on one side of that barrier and smile for a few seconds. Do not touch the camera. Let it roll.

7. Stand on the other side of that barrier and frown for a few seconds.

8. Stop recording. You’re done shooting.

9. You can edit this tape-to-tape by simply wiping halfway, basically putting that wipe on the barrier. Same for non-linear editing.

10. Lay your first shot of you smiling on the first video line (V1). Now, lay the second shot of you frowning right on top of it on the second video line (V2). Using whatever tools your system has, wipe to that barrier. For Final Cut Pro users, go to Motion, Crop, Left (or Right) and start cropping toward that barrier until you see both images of yourself.

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From Professor Ken Kobre who teaches photojournalism at San Francisco State University:

Free Tips from Bob Kaplitz’s Multimedia Minutes

We found a terrific resource for videojournalism instruction — and it’s free!

Bob Kaplitz is a principal and senior strategist for Audience Research & Development (AR&D), a TV news marketing firm which he joined in 1980 after a distinguished career in broadcast journalism, which included reports on the CBS Evening News.

He’s created a slew of excellent short instructional videos that offer tips for improving your video. He offers these “Multimedia Minutes” on his blog.

What makes them especially valuable is that Kaplitz uses actual footage from pros, and has annotated it with superimposed text that crisply points out the attributes and deficits of various aspects of the video and audio, as you’re looking and listening to it.

It’s like having the teacher right there at your side, critiquing it as you watch.

Among his topics:

* How to Use a Hidden Camera
* Creatively Shooting Your Own Standups
* How to Take Control of a Story
* The Most Important Word in Storytelling
* So You Want to Save the Best for Last?
* How to Spice Up a Story
* How to Use Words Sparingly
* Shooting Your Own Standups
* How to Shoot a Story that’s Tough to Shoot
* Asking Better Questions with Facts
* How to Lure Viewers and Hold Them
* Action-Reaction Approach to Strong Storytelling
* From Ho-Hum to Engaging Storytelling
* A Lesson Thanks to Jay Leno & Kanye West

Visit Kaplitz’s blog for free videojournalism lessons from a pro.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 4:13 pm and is filed under broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.