Monday, September 03, 2007

Travis Fox, Video Journalist


Travis Fox is one of the seven video journalists working at The Washington Post (do not confuse him with this Travis Fox). This Q&A piece has some good tid bits about the ever-changing field of video journalism such as the Post's use of evergreen stories to stay fresh and NOW.

Fox envisions a day not too long in the future when viewers watch online content on TV sets alongside cable programs without being able to tell the difference.

Fox: I am content with video. Video is where I have made my mark. Video is what I want to do. I am not interested in doing still photography. There are many gifted still photographers out there.

But it's more difficult for single individuals to produce videos from start to finish because traditionally television news has worked in a crew. It is a more unusual for people like me who produce video from start to finish. I'd like to keep exploring that.


This video journalism vision of single authorship throughout the process will get you some really interesting results. And as the technology gets simpler, if more individuals shoot and cut video--like they create writing--you are going to get a lot more interesting styles, and a lot richer body of work as a whole. I am very committed to that process.

And this Q&A has some other gems and here you can see Travis talk about his work. He calls his videos mini-documentaries just like I do! Also, he refers to them as subject driven narratives, unlike TV journalism with voice over. He also uses 100% natural sounds.

I think it goes without saying that this guy has one of the coolest jobs EVER. He travels the world making videos about the people he meets. Wow.

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