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Why lighting is important for vlogs

October 20, 2008 in video

Here’s a good example of what not to do when you’re doing a vlog (video blog) relating to lighting. Check out the video: Blair Kerkoff’s College Football Vlog. Here’s a screenshot of the video:

kerkoff’s vlog

Because Kerkoff’s facing the camera, with no lighting on his face, he has raccoon eyes. I should also mention that the fluorescent lighting casts a sickly green tint to his skin. Compare that with this video I shot of Seth Gitner at Roanoke.com’s video studio.

Out in the field, there’s at least some excuse for poor lighting if you don’t have good equipment. In the newsroom, not so much. It’s not that difficult to get some decent lighting for your video. If nothing else, find a window nearby. You can also buy some relatively inexpensive flood lamps to throw some light on the face (I’ve used a clip-on desk lamp with a 100W bulb before to decent effect).

This isn’t to single Kerkoff out for derision (his delivery is actually very good, and seems well-rehearsed), more to point out how important lighting can be when doing video. For a better understanding, check out this short tutorial on three-point lighting techniques.

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Extracting audio in iMovie ’08

September 30, 2008 in software, Training, video

iMovieImage via Wikipedia

UPDATE: This post apparently still gets a lot of traffic via Google searches, so I’m posting this update to let you know that Apple restored a much easier method to extract audio and do b-roll in iMovie ’09. So I highly recommend you upgrade if you are suffering under iMovie ’08.

For a long time, I labored under the impression that the ability to extract audio from a video clip was non-existent in iMovie ’08. Turns out, that’s not the case. There’s a way to do it, but it’s less straightforward than in iMovie HD. Colleague Doug Lawhead turned me on to this relatively simple explanation of the process.

I still dislike the interface, but iMovie HD is buggy and not being upgraded. I’m using iMovie ’08 in the beginning multimedia class for the first time. We’ll probably be moving to Final Cut Express for our classes in the future.

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Platypus workshop blogging – online video

August 13, 2008 in Training, video

framelessImage via Wikipedia Angela Grant points to the Multimedia Evangelist, who’s blogged about his experiences at the Platypus Multimedia Workshops.

Check out parts one, two, three and four. He promises more updates on editing, so check back.

There’s a heckuva lot of information out there about online video, so I don’t expect to spend a lot of time on it much anymore here on the ICM weblog. But it’s good to file some of it away for future reference.

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BBC video training guide and the 5-shot rule

August 7, 2008 in Training, video

Talking with Mindy McAdams yesterday, I mentioned the BBC’s short video that explains the 5-shot rule, which she didn’t have a link to, so I’m providing it here for everyone. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a good introduction to sequencing, and an easy-to-remember series of shots. Here’s a link.

And while you’re there, you should check out the entire Good Shooting Guide series of training.

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NAA video report

May 15, 2008 in video

I bookmarked this in del.icio.us the other day, but wanted to point everyone to the NAA report on online video. It’s a very comprehensive write-up and well worth your time to get a handle on what’s taking place.

One suggestion: make the whole report available as a downloadable PDF, with embedded links, so I can view it off-line.

Related articles

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Video checklist

May 15, 2008 in blogging, Multimedia views, video

Doug Fisher writes some bullet points every news media outlet should consider when pursuing a video strategy on the web. I’m reproducing his list here, but you should RTWT:

  1. Video has to be as consistent in playback as YouTube or some of the other similar sites. I can’t think of a time I’ve had a YouTube video stall while I was on broadband. Maybe it’s happened, but I’ve never seen it.
  2. Video has to be enabled to be easily embedded, linked to or otherwise shared.
  3. But also disable the auto-start. The whole point of the Web is to leave the user in control. I’ll decide when I want to start something. And can the automatic rollover to the next video. Maybe I want to look at this one again.
  4. Along those same lines, when the video is ended, don’t disable the scroll bar. Maybe I want to go back and review something I didn’t quite catch.
  5. Use links that real people can read.

It’s somewhat mind boggling that we’re still having this discussion so late in the development of web video.

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Al Tompkins on videoblogging

April 21, 2008 in industry news, video


VideocuePro is a new software to me. Really cheap ($80) teleprompter program with some added features.h/t Rachele Kanigel

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Tracking video viewing

April 17, 2008 in video

Via the Washington Post, an article about how marketers and media outlets track video viewing. Here’s an interesting insight from a YouTube video producer:

Jodie Rivera, 24, posts spoofs and comedy sketches on her own YouTube channel, called Venetian Princess. Through YouTube’s reporting tool, she discovered that viewership of her videos typically peaks on Wednesday evenings. She now uploads her videos on Tuesdays in hopes they will qualify for the “top-viewed” list the following day.

There’s more info about YouTube Insight on this page (scroll down to “YouTube Insight”). That’s one advantage to using an external service to host your videos. Of course, you could do the same thing with Google Analytics on your own web pages, but that’s a bit more tricky.

Also related to YouTube, they’ve got an interesting collection of video shooting basics in their Video Toolbox.

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LCTV launches web site

April 15, 2008 in video, Websites

lctv screen shot

Daniel Randolph at Loras College writes about the launch of LCTV13.com, the web site for the TV station at Loras College in Iowa. They’re using a WordPress install. You can read the details (and a gentle slam at our “print-centric” focus around here) at Daniel’s blog.

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College Newspaper Video list update

April 9, 2008 in CICM shop talk, video

I just finally got around to putting the college newspapers doing video list into a database (using Zoho Creator). The list is sorted by state, and you can see it here:

Video List

What’s even better is that you can submit your own student news site to the list without e-mailing me! Go to this page:

Submission Form

and fill out the form. It’s just that easy.

Right now, I have 36 schools on the list, and I know there are several I didn’t get on there because nobody let me know, and I don’t have time to keep adding to the list by myself. Think of this as a crowdsourcing exercise.

BTW, if you submit your site to the list, please include as specific a URL as possible. If you have a page where you keep all the videos, or a youtube channel, please put that URL in the space, rather than the main site URL.

The list is also available now in the updated right-hand nav bar.

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