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The new multimedia class camera

September 12, 2011 in Academics, Multimedia Course, Tech Talk, video

As many readers of this blog know, I’ve used two different cameras for our Intro to Multimedia Journalism course here at Eastern. The first year, we bought tape-based Kodak cameras. The second year, we upgraded to disk-based Kodak Vixia HD cameras.

Each  semester, I ran into several problems with the equipment: it was too complicated, or it wouldn’t work well with the software, or the files were so huge that it took forever for students to back up their work.

This year, we rethought the needs of the classes while making a purchasing decision on a new set of multimedia kits for the classrooms.

The upshot was that we wanted something simple and easy to use, that would also work well with our software. First, we looked at the Flip Camera, but at about the time we were getting our proposal together, Flip stopped producing cameras.

Then, we looked at the Kodak Zi8, similar to the Flip because it had the ability to use an external microphone. But after we’d put together the proposal, Kodak discontinued the Zi8. Grrrr!

So now we’re in possession of two classes worth of Kodak PlayTouch cameras. The cameras include a dual-purpose headphone/mic in jack.

The cameras are very easy to use. On-screen menus are not terribly confusing, and the video and audio quality are pretty good for a pocket video camera. They also record in m4v format, which makes importing into video editing software incredibly easy.

One of the purposes for choosing a pocket video camera instead of a higher-end camera was to remove as many technical obstacles as possible for beginning students, many of whom aren’t planning on careers as videographers. By removing the technical obstacles, the idea is that they (and their instructor) can spend more time focused on the purpose for video – telling the story.

I know some college media outlets are already using these cameras for reporters. For those who were looking at the Flip or Zi8, this seems like a pretty good alternative – at least until they discontinue it too. The price for the camera itself is around $125. I would encourage you to invest in a carrying case, however, as these things are definitely small and seem like they’d be easy to break.

I’ll report back more after we’ve used them for a semester.

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College online media checklist for a new year

August 22, 2011 in ideas, innovation

Students are returning to campus for the new year. No doubt, the college journalists on your campus are excited to get back to putting out a product for the community. As I’ve done a couple of times in the past, I’m putting out this checklist of things to consider for your online presence.

  • Have you got your news org. online?
  • Do you have a content management system?
  • Have you posted any videos online?
  • Have you included any audio soundbites in a story?
  • Have you done a photo slideshow?
  • Have you put up an audio slideshow (perhaps using Soundslides)?
  • Have you used a map to highlight the location of a story?
  • What about a timeline?
  • Have you used weblogs on your site?
  • Have you uploaded source documents (PDFs, excel spreadsheets, etc.) to accompany a big story?
  • Have you used social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) to market your stories?
  • Have you tracked what others are saying about you via Google Blogsearch?
  • Have you used the web site to post breaking news online FIRST?
  • Have you moved the online editor out of the back office and into a position of authority?
  • Have you allowed comments on your stories?
  • Have you encouraged writers to write for the Web and include hyperlinks in their stories?
  • Are you selling ads for your online site?
  • Have you tried something experimental?

Obviously, I don’t expect you to be doing all of these at once if you’re not doing them now. But if you’re doing some of them (you have a site online, congratulations!), maybe it’s time to consider adding to your online toolbox.

Remember, your online presence doesn’t replace your print edition, but it adds depth to the stories you publish. Point people to your online site. Encourage them to “like” your Facebook page. Tweet and respond to people who tweet back to your Twitter presence.

If you’re short-staffed, pick one thing and try that for a semester. See how much you can build that one thing into a reliable skill for your student journalists. If it doesn’t work, try another thing. Above all, keep pushing.

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It’s easy to forget video rules in breaking news: Don’t

April 29, 2011 in video

I’ve been looking at a lot of video footage from the tornado outbreak that devastated vast areas of the southeast United States. Some of the footage of the tornadoes from Alabama (like this and this) has been absolutely breathtaking.

Second day videos have attempted to capture some of the scope of the destruction the tornadoes left in their wake. That’s a good use of internet video. But in the rush to show the destruction, reporters seem to lose sight of some of the basic principles that help make for strong video – especially Internet video. Watch this short clip from al.com showing devastation from Concord, Ala.:

There are some powerful images in that video.

The destroyed car.

QuickTime Player 7ScreenSnapz001

The people picking through the rubble of their house.

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The woman comforting the child.

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The frustrating thing is that you never get to feel the impact of these visuals, because the video is constantly panning from side to side. Even as the video is panning, you only get fractions of seconds to view the scene as it passes by.

One of the first “rules” I hear from newspaper videographers about Internet video and I repeat ad nauseum in my multimedia classes is this: Don’t pan or zoom. Shoot steady shots. If you are trying to capture the extent of a horrible scene, shoot a wide establishing shot – steady, and then shoot a series of medium and closeup shots – snapshots of the devastation.

I don’t want to single this reporter out – I’ve noticed this frequently with breaking news videos. It’s easy to forget the basics when you’re staring at an event of a lifetime, or even of the year. Time is of the essence. Editors are tapping their feet for the latest images from the scene. Don’t forget the basics. If it helps, write Don’t Pan or Zoom on a strip of tape and tape it to the back of your video camera/mobile phone/whatever so you’ll see it every time you get ready to press the record button.

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Radio reporting with the iPhone

April 5, 2011 in ideas, Tech Talk

Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase

Neil Augenstein has a good post up at the PBS MediaShift blog about using his iPhone 4 for radio reporting. It’s worth a read because Augenstein is producing professional radio news with his phone, and it works.

So is it worth it? A year in, iPhone-only reporting isn’t perfect. While audio editing works great, with the phone’s built-in microphone I’d estimate the sound quality of my field reports is 92% as good as when I use bulky broadcast equipment. Getting better audio for my video is a real challenge. And if I ever have to cover a story from a subway tunnel or location where there’s no WiFi or cell coverage, I won’t be able to file until I resurface.

As digital equipment continues to morph I’m sure my tools will be substantially different within a few years. Every day, new applications open new opportunities for a reporter who’s willing to work around the limitations of iPhone-only reporting while maximizing the benefits.

This semester, we’ve been looking at using smaller equipment in our multimedia reporting class precisely because of the miniaturization of the news gathering equipment. I’ll talk more about the changes we’re making soon.

Is anyone out there in college media using mobile phones or iPod Touches (for instance) for gathering news on a consistent basis?

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Deadline approaching: Summer multimedia opportunity

January 18, 2011 in Academics, Educational opportunities

Description: The train-station of Perpignan, F...
Image via Wikipedia

Rachele Kanigel reminds that the deadline for applying for the multimedia journalism summer program is fast approaching: February 1, 2011.

More details about the program below the fold:

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Louisville workshop videos now part of Mapping Main Street

November 29, 2010 in CICM shop talk, Conferences, video

louisvillemainstreet

The stories produced for the CICM workshop in Louisville are now up on the Mapping Main Street site.

Mapping Main Street is collaborative documentary project funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard.

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Gaming the news: Different methods to similar goals

November 17, 2010 in fun, industry news, innovation

fixthebudget

Some decent buzz on the Internet this week about the New York Times’ recent interactive “You Fix the Budget” game. I found the game interesting (and yes, I fixed the budget), but somewhat dry. Part of the reason for that is I was familiar with a previous budget-balancing game called “Budget Hero,” introduced in 2008 by American Public Media’s “Marketplace.”

budgethero

“Budget Hero” has more movement, more explanatory details when you make selections, and even some cheesy sound effects. And it has a storyline, which sells it as a game, in my opinion. “You Fix the Budget” feels like a Sunday Crossword, which may be the intended effect.

But this got me to thinking: Do people have a preference when it comes to games as journalistic explanation? Is the “Budget Hero” better than “You Fix the Budget”?

I’m sure there is a certain amount of “different strokes for different folks” involved, and I can’t imagine this:

budgethero2

showing up on the NYT web site.

Still, I’m curious which method of gaming does a better job of illustrating the challenges involved in the budget process. Any thoughts?

And as long as we’re mentioning games related to the news, APM has a new “game” called Future-Jobs-O-Matic that might be worth mentioning for college media audiences.

futurejobs

And there are a wealth of related topical games linked at gamesforchange.org. I like the idea behind Free Rice, a definition game that adds rice grains to your total that are then donated to a hunger charity. Strengthen your vocabulary while helping out with world hunger.

(Future-Jobs-Orama link found via Nieman Labs)

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Get off my lawn: the tired, tired refrain that we’re teaching too much tech in journalism schools

November 10, 2010 in Academics, blogging, Tech Talk

Editor’s Note: This piece has been sitting in my “draft” folder since mid-September, which means it’s ancient in blog years. But since the topic is bound to come up again sometime soon (see the rule of online journalism discussion below), I’m posting it for posterity.


crankyclint

After five years of blogging about college media, I have formulated the following rule of online journalism discussion:

If you follow the “journorati,” i.e., the navel-gazing portion of the journalism industry that spends an inordinate amount of time talking about journalism, you will eventually hear the same arguments repeated, usually in 12-18 month cycles.

Which brings me to to the latest in a long-running, seemingly endless series of pearl-clutching, couch-fainting, concern-trolling articles about how journalism students are learning too much technology and not enough fundamentals.

This scene of the badly-scripted remake of “Groundhog Day” comes from Tony Rogers, a journalism instructor and journalism “Guide” at About.com (found via Dan Reimold). Rogers believes there is too much technology in journalism schools. The title of his article posted in September: Is There Too Much Tech Training at the Nation’s Journalism Schools?

NO.

This concludes another edition of Simple Answers to Simple Questions.

For a more detailed response, follow me below the fold.

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Free online tools to expand your story

October 30, 2010 in College Media, ideas, Links, online software, Tech Talk

links

I have created a page under the “Resources” tab at the top of the blog with a list of links to free online tools. This is a gathering place for links that I showed during a presentation at the National College Media Convention in Louisville (and also a couple of other workshops). I’ll be updating it in the future with other sites. Check it out here.

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Telling stories with video – Mark Hoffman

September 23, 2010 in video

journal sentinel seriesMark Hoffman, photojournalist with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, was at Eastern this week as part of a visiting professionals program. His main focus was on still photography, but he spoke to my multimedia classes about videography, mainly telling stories with video as opposed to other forms of presentation.

In class, he showed several videos from a series the JS did about Wisconsin’s alcohol problems, and talked about how he progressed from one story to the next. I’d encourage you to check out the videos. Unfortunately, the J-S doesn’t allow embedding, and I can’t get to a permalink to the videos. Here’s the landing page for the series “Wasted in Wisconsin.” Scroll down a little bit to get to the video player.

Particularly pay attention to the part of the series about the detox center. Since Hoffman produced the video report, the detox center uses the video in presentations around the state. They were also able to secure further funding for their work. He is hoping to expand the story in collaboration with Wisconsin Public Television.

paintinghorses

Hoffman also showed a video he shot of a horse that paints (!). Not as deep as the “Wasted in Wisconsin” series, but Hoffman’s point was that the story wouldn’t be the same without video of the horse actually working at the easel.

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