Time For A Movie

My boss jokes that his fiancé hates going to parties hosted by reporters because inevitably there will be a conversation about the woes of the industry. At a party last week, I think maybe an hour or two passed before the topic arose. The main subject was the Tallahassee Democrat, a Gannett property that has slashed its staff leaving behind few reporters and little newsroom morale. But we also talked about the push for video on news Web sites and whether readers are actually viewing the video. The Democrat reporters involved in this conversation said not a high percentage of videos were being viewed by a lot of people.

So, is the amount of work worth it? I say yes, but with a caveat. There doesn’t need to be video with every story. Many news organizations seem to put up video just so they can say they have video, which is pointless.

MAKE IT GOOD VIDEO THAT PACKS A PUNCH!

As a Penn State grad, I have unwavering allegiance to the Daily Collegian, which is doing a great job with video. (Sadly that started after I graduated). The Collegian does not do video with a lot of stories though, only big ones. For example, after the Nittany Lions thrashed Ohio State earlier this year, Penn Staters poured into the streets of downtown State College to celebrate. The result: a mini riot. Not exactly the finest moment for Penn State, but a great moment for the Collegian, whose quick thinking staff caught most of it on video and posted it online. Is it the same quality that highly trained videographers could put out? No, of course not. But the video captured that riot scene better than words could.

And on top of that, the video was seen by 70,000 people in the first two days it was posted, said Collegian Editor In Chief Terry Casey. Even my sister, who attends a private college in Pittsburgh, saw the video after hearing about the riots. A friend of hers had been in State College for the weekend and mentioned the riot to her, so my sister logged on to the Collegian and there was the video.

Of course, this isn’t a piece of cake. You need a camera (ideally your news organization will be providing one). I bought one at Target for about $100 last year so I could teach myself. Your computer probably came with some sort of video editing software, so start learning on that. My sister the film major notes that Avid and Final Cut Pro are the editing software giants, but playing around on your computer will definitely give you a leg up.

Also, check out the blog MultimediaShooter for some advice from a pro. This blog does a great job at recommending products and showcasing great multimedia projects from journalists around the country.