Learning to be a more versatile journalist

By Liam Casey

 We have been learning to be more versatile journalists at Camp VJ 2010 at the Toronto Star. Or, more accurately, we have been learning how to become a photographer/videographer/multimedia editor at the three-day workshop that began on Monday.

This is an age of convergence. Photographs, slideshows, podcasts, interactive maps and videos can all augment our story-telling ability on the web.  

Camp VJ students hear about capturing audio.

Angela Pacienza, director of online news at the Canadian Press, had a few tips for the journalist looking to add video skills to their repertoire. Many CP journalists use a Canon FS200 to record video while reporting, even for spot news.

The trick, Pacienza says, is to limit raw video footage to 10-20 minutes and to keep the final video to two minutes. Gone are the days of the five-minute cinematic documentary — we’re journalists, not auteurs. 

Something as simple as a raw, unedited 30-second video can augment a spot news story online. Video editing becomes even simpler if you’re a CP journalist: shoot the video on scene and hand over the raw footage to Pacienza, who edits some videos herself.

But editing video isn’t that hard – especially with user-friendly programs like Windows Movie Maker or Apple’s iMovie. More sophisticated software, such as Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro, can be used, but it’s not necessary – I mean, who really needs Alpha Transitions? (Answer: non-linear video editing nerds probably do.)

What works best to tell a story? This is an important question to ask yourself when reporting. Sometimes video is the best option, but other times it’s photographs, or an audio slideshow. Plus, it’s important to be mindful of the shelf life of a project. If it’s a short news story that will be outdated in a few days, then spending a few days on a slick video is pointless. 

Some tidbits from Pacienza’s Twitter feed: AoA is a cool (free) tool to help you extract audio from video. Gives you mp3 or wav file.http://ow.ly/1MChf I subscribe to ibaudio for affordable royalty-free music. Great for video, multimedia projects.http://ow.ly/1MzSo

And Pacienza’s five approaches to telling a video story. 

Ellin Bessner, a journalism professor at Centennial College, then took to the mic to talk about the world of audio.

Details of her tips on audio recording and editing is especially helpful, and more importantly, written in plain English. Audio as a story-telling form has been around a long time, but people are still listening. Radio has taken different forms of late from podcasts to Internet radio stations and satellite radio, which means learning the art of audio is not an outdated skill.

Gear is important for high quality audio, but even an iPod or an audio recorder will be good enough for the web with the proper microphone — of which there are many.

"Being a multi-platform journalist is great - you have so much gear, you lose a lot of weight!" Bessner says. An omni microphone is the most versatile microphone, according to Bessner.

The BBC’s training centre explains the various microphones available. Simple sound editing software like GarageBand, which come standard on Macs, are intuitive and offer royalty-free jingles, sound effects and music. The software is also perfect for creating podcasts as well as your next synthesizer-laden 80s rock anthem.

A couple of quick tips from Bessner:

Hold the mic firm and six inches below a person’s chin.Be mindful of the cable that connects the mic and the recorder — the cable itself could be a source of interference if it is moved around.Jewelry, cell phones and refrigerators can also lead to sound interference.

To avoid these problems, remember to wear headphones while recording. This will allow you to hear for sound problems and to adjust on the fly. 

Richard Lautens, a Star photographer, was next, and he gave a quick tutorial on photography.

"Photography is like a chess game ... think about three moves ahead," Lautens says. That is, think about what you want to shoot and where you need to be in order to get that shot.

Lautens took out his professional telephoto lens and body, which looked more like the Terminator’s minigun than a camera. The body cost about $5,500 and the lens a mere $18,000. Fortunately, some good work can be done with point-and-shoot cameras and even iPhone and BlackBerry cameras.

The trick, he says, is to play around with them and try out the various settings, like the night-shooting setting or the sport setting that captures moving objects better than the standard settings. Apparently it’s all about settings.

Don’t forget the rule of three, Lautens stresses.

Take shots from three different distances: short, medium and long. Also, take shots from three different angles at each distance. That equals nine photos, by my math, which gives photo editors some choice.

This will avoid any grumblings over a lack of selection. Well, they may still grumble.

Lautens also points out that on the Star’s website, photos receive significantly more hits than video. 

More of Lauten’s tips:

Portraits are good, but don’t forget about action shots, they can explain a story in a single glance. Don’t forget to crop photos, this creates a close-up image, which may look better than the original photo.

A worklight with a clamp from a hardware store, at a cost of $10, is a much better option than expensive lighting kits. And some tinfoil wrapped around the bulb yields a spotlight effect. Signs like “Exit” or “For Rent” can add colour or commentary to an otherwise pedestrian shot. Want an underwater shot? Place your camera in a dry, empty fishbowl and partially submerge it under water.

Presto, MacGruber, an underwater camera. 

Check out the Star’s photoblog and their photodesk — just give yourself some time, it’s worth it. Now, what to do with all that audio, video and photographs?

Chicago-based journalist Robb Montgomery, the brains behind Camp VJ, reveals VuVox, a free online tool that creates slideshows, with or without audio. Video can be embedded into the slideshow as well. Fact: it’s much more intuitive than Sound Slides, which is considered a dinosaur by many in the digital world. If it’s a conference on multimedia, than where are all the slideshows, podcasts and movies? Stay tuned for some of the work we produced in the afternoon session.

Liam Casey is a graduate student in the Ryerson journalism program, and begins an internship in the Star newsroom next month. Follow him on Twitter: @liamdevlincasey