Video Journalism Boot Camp

Yes, I know I am beating this to death tonight but since I am still up in compression/uploading hell, I might as well blog about another fun bit of "torture."

After two hours of waiting, the Flash file that I uploaded directly to Brightcove without compression looks GREAT except for the awful interlacing whenever anything moves. The sync is funny too. Argh.

Michael Rosenblum, the Papa of VJing, was hired by the BBC to put their staff through vlogging boot camp. They wanted to break down their preconceived notions of journalism and start fresh.

For 3 weeks, Rosenblum locked them up in a hotel room and put them through single shooters video boot camp. Because I have never worked as a "real" journalist, this sort of intimate, low-fi, off the cuff shooting is all I know.

What I would have given to have been there - oh wait, that is my life these days! Trial by fire! Learn as you go! Fly by the seat of your hot pants and do not pass Go!

He says the new process has made his pieces more honest. They have also allowed him to get more exclusives because he can spend more time with his subjects and can gain their trust. Using a smaller camera is less intrusive than having an entire crew. - Stephan Warley

And more on the ever-changing field of video journalism and Rosenblum's huge role within it:

“When it comes to video, newspapers have moved in 18 months from a position of “we don’t really get it” to “we can’t get enough of it” he says. “It’s a massively exciting time. Everybody’s recognising where the growth statistics are.”

“For print reporters, get aggressive. Learn the technology. Become literate in video,” says Rosenblum. “This is not about becoming filmmakers. This is not about becoming TV reporters. This is about blending video into your reporting.

With our own clients we have found that it works best when we equip print journalists with video cameras and have them use those cameras as a kind of digital notebook, so that they can record interviews and impressions in video. Those impressions and interviews can then be woven into a text, audio and graphical presentation online. It’s a very rich new world.” - Ian Reeves