Multimedia Minutes: Effective Use of Nat Sound + On-Camera Storytelling

September 19th, 2010

Natural sound effectively communicates the feel of the story.

Also, on-camera storytelling works well — shot in a moving car in a story about game day gridlock. 

While viewers don’t believe a reporter or multimedia journalist needs to be visible in every story, they do appreciate show-and-tell on-camera storytelling to help them better understand the story.  Also, they would much rather see the reporter on camera from the scene on tape than generic video, which puts them to sleep.  In short, sometimes you can be your best video.

————————————————–

From Professor Ken Kobre who teaches photojournalism at San Francisco State University and author of Photojournalism: The Professionals’ Approach.

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.

Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | 6 Comments »

Multimedia Minutes: Creative Stand-Ups

July 20th, 2010

Your stand-ups can reveal your creativity.  And they beat shooting and voicing over boring video.  Plus on-camera storytelling from the field helps build your identity. 

For many more Multimedia Minutes, click on the links to the right under Recent Posts.

Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | 38 Comments »

Multimedia Minutes: Can You Do Too Many Standups in a Story?

July 10th, 2010

Can you do too many standups in a story?  Watch this, and judge for yourself.

For many, this story worked well.  The on camera storytelling helped viewers better understand the information.

Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | No Comments »

Multimedia Minutes: Stand-Ups that Stand Out

July 6th, 2010

One of the most frequent requests is for examples of strong on-camera storytelling. 

Here are a few standouts from our files.

Viewers value on-camera storytelling because the reporter helps them experience what it is to be there — an opportunity for first person reporting.  Also, on-camera storytelling engages viewers far more than generic video, video of court documents, meetings, and buildings.  Don’t be shy.  As a multimedia journalist, you can be the best video in those cases.

Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | No Comments »

Multimedia Minutes: Lacking the Right Elements Can Sink a Story

April 16th, 2010

“My story would have been much better if I had the time.”   We hear that quite often from multimedia journalists.

It’s true, of course.  But the bigger issue is to anticipate the strongest elements you’ll need, then gauge the chances of being able to pull them together in just one day.  You must be realistic.  You can’t tell a producer at 3:30 p.m. that important elements failed to pan out.  You can, but you put the producer in a bind.

The more successful multimedia journalists make calls to ensure they have several stories working, so they don’t have to turn just “day of” material.  For example, in a story about a crime trend, they’ll have a crime victim available because they made calls a day or two before.  If breaking a story about bullying in the schools, they’ll have a parent and child lined up.

This reporter who did this package forged ahead.  But time ran out, making it difficult for her to create compelling television with limited elements.  We’ve all been in this situation.  The lesson is not to slot a story needing these elements.

For more learning videos, click on Recent Posts to the right.

Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | 1 Comment »

Multimedia Minutes: Stand-ups with a Creative Twist

March 19th, 2010

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.

————————————–

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.

Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | 3 Comments »

Multimedia Minutes: How to Shoot Your Own Stand-Ups

February 26th, 2010

Here’s how to shoot your own stand-ups.  Tips from an MMJ who does just that.�

Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | 15 Comments »

Multimedia Minutes: How to Shoot Your Own Stand-ups

January 27th, 2010

Award-winning MMJ Galen Culver and a trainer for AR&D’s MMJ workshops, offers tips on how to shoot your own stand-ups.  The first step, Galen says, is to put a light stand where you plan to stand.

Learn more by clicking on the video links on the right.

Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | No Comments »

Multimedia Minutes: Stand-Up Storytelling without a Frame of Video

November 21st, 2009

With storytelling at the core of powerful communications, we can learn alot from listening to a youngster.  Tara’s  assignment:  Find out what concerns parents the most about their kids. 

Tara has improved her storytelling after this first try.  She contributes stories to KRNV-TV/Reno as a community correspondent.  She provides helpful information to safeguard kids from predators in this report: 

 You’ll find more learning videos by clicking on Recent Posts to your right.

Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | No Comments »

Multimedia Minutes: Standups — Avoid this Common Mistake

November 1st, 2009

When we test viewers’ second-by-second reaction to stories, interest drops for live from the newsroom.  Viewers believe reporters can do a better job when they see them at the scene, not sitting back at the station.  As one viewer said, “I like reporters who go where the action is.” 

An exception is when the reporter just found out something very important and needs to tell viewers.  Or previewing a tomorrow story for the morning news because you just found time to get the information.  When you multi-task, that happens, as you know.  Or your news director or producer asked you to do it.  But remember:  Pictures and sound tell the story best, then standups from the field build your image and make for more engaging TV news.  

Never say never.  You’ll find times you report from the newsroom because that’s the best option.  It won’t hurt your career.  It just won’t advance it.

For more Multimedia Minutes, click on the links to the right.

Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | No Comments »