Two years ago I covered the start of the 2008 Republican National Convention for WXOW Channel 19 in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I arrived in Minneapolis the weekend before the convention began to get my bearings in the city. When my crew arrived I didn’t want us getting lost driving around town or discovering too late that our media credentials were limited.

Of course I was also curious to get a sense of the atmosphere in the town. This was the first time I had covered a national convention and I had lots of questions along with the excitement that comes with a new assignment. While my husband and I were driving around the streets in St. Paul outside the Xcel Energy Center on Sunday August 31, 2008 we came across an anti-war protest. I suddenly realized that we couldn’t follow them in the car, so I told my husband to stop the car. As soon as the car stopped I was running towards the protesters to catch up. I wanted to capture what was happening on my personal video camera. I had my cellphone in my backpack so I knew my husband and I would be able to find each other afterward, whatever afterward meant.

The YouTube system makes it easy to add text bubbles, annotated notes or even highlight portions of a video that you want to draw your audiences’ attention to. The most time consuming part of creating annotations for a video is placing the annotated notes in the appropriate spot on the video timeline. Once you have written the text you want to have appear as annotated text, YouTube makes it clear where the user should simply copy and paste, or write in, that text.

Below are the steps I took to annotate my video “The other RNC 8.”

How to add annotations using YouTube video

1. Sign into your YouTube account
2. Click on your username and choose ‘My Videos’
3. Choose the video you want to edit and click the ‘Edit’ button
4. Click on ‘Annotations’
   

   Choose the annotation button

5. Choose ‘Sort by: Appearance Time’
6. Click the play icon to find the section of the video where you want to add your annotation. Or you can move the red cursor along the timeline.
7. Decide whether you want to add: speech bubbles; notes; spotlight; video pause
8. The information for each annotation will appear on the right panel
9. You can choose to switch what type of annotation you are using by clicking on the annotation icon.
   

   Editing the annotation can be done in the right pane

   

   Editing can also be done in the video pane

10. You can also change the size and shape of the rectangular box that contains your text.
    

    You can alter the size of the note box

11. If you decide that you didn’t place the annotation is the correct location you can move it using the individual time frames (See the top image under item #9 to see an example) assigned to each annotation or by altering the size of the blue brackets on the timeline.
    

    Slide the blue brackets to move the location of the annotation note

12. To delete an annotation click on the trash icon.
    

    YouTube annotation editing screen

13. Click on ‘Publish’ when you are finished adding or editing your annotations.

Video Transcript
—–
(Annotation) Veterans for Peace participated in an anti-war protest at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota on August 31, 2008.

(Crowd) Will somebody take the bullhorn please?

(Protester) We will continue on with the march…the rally point.

(Protester) If you go to the left you will be participating in the civil disobedience. If you go straight you will not be participating in that.

(Police) We are also following behind the civil disobedience. Over.

(Annotation) Many protesters along with a group that would later be known as ‘the other RNC 8′ left a designated protest route.

(Annotation) A casket representing fallen soldier Lance Cpl. Alexander Arredondo who was killed in Iraq was wheeled to the security fences near the Xcel Energy Center.

(Crowd) Hey guys, turn around. Give me the peace sign. David!

(Crowd) What are they doing? Walking to jail? Hey you all can go over it too, you don’t have to crawl under it.

(Crowd) Be gentle! Be gentle! Be gentle! Be gentle! Be gentle!

(Crowd) Better come quick the cops are coming this way.

(Police) Let’s go back. Will you back all the way up? Thank you.

(Protester) We’re just trying to get there.

(Police) Alright. Thank you.

(Annotation) Elizabeth (Betty) McKenzie, a 78-year-old nun and Jeanne Hynes walked through a security fence.

(Crowd) We love you. Thank you for doing this.

(Crowd) Are you okay? Do you need water? Let us know if you’re not.

(Jeanne) They have been explaining everything very nicely, but they’re gonna bring in a team in to bring us downtown.

(Crowd) Make sure you get vegan food in jail.

(Betty) I’m Betty McKenzie.

(Crowd) Betty, do you live in the Twin Cities?

(Betty) I live in St. Paul.

(Annotation) Elizabeth (Betty) McKenzie is a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in St. Paul.

(Crowd) And how old are you?

(Betty) 78. How old are you?

(Crowd) I’m 34, I think.

(Betty) Oh…well you could be my grandson.

(Jeanne) Well that’s one of the reasons why we are here. There are too many young men and women who are dead…I’m Jeanne Hynes. My message here today is no war.

(Crowd) Who are you trying to deliver it to?

(Jeanne) To anyone that is interested in hearing it and maybe some people who have not heard it before. Because we believe that marching with the veterans is a great honor.

(Betty) There is never a justification for war.

(Jeanne) If you’ve ever marched with a group of men and women who have been there and done that or who are parents and brothers and sisters of the dead and the injured it makes you feel as if you really owe them something. And we are willing to go one step further than just march.

(Annotation) Eight protesters from the August 31, 2008 Veterans for Peace march were found guilty of misdemeanor trespassing. They were sentenced to pay a $100 fine or perform 20 hours of community service.

Hilary Fosdal is the associate new media editor at the Law Bulletin Publishing Company located in Chicago, Illinois. You can follow her tweets @hilaryfosdal.

Last month, I was at the mall when I saw some security guards tackling a woman with a baby in one arm and a purse stuffed with clothing on her other arm.   At that moment, I wished I had my Sony Cybershot camera with me.  I never thought I’d see  a struggle in front of my eyes.

What I do know is two things; that video of the security guards and woman could have come in handy on a story on shoplifting, and I should have had a Flip camera in my purse.

Most of us will try to use the best video camera we can on a story, but in a pinch—a Flip camera is not a bad tool to have in your bag.  There are several versions of this small camera, including the Flip Ultra HD that costs about $200.

It’s easy to use, because you press a button and you’re recording.   It’s very convenient when you need to upload your video right away, because it has a flip out USB connector.  You can plug your Flip camera right into your laptop. Yes, it’s that easy. 

You can also buy an underwater case for your Flip camera.  This is great if you want to take shots in a pool.  I bet it would come in handy right now for those reporters covering the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.   

I found this video blog by a citizen journalist who uses a Flip camera for her reports.  It’s an excellent tutorial:

http://dev.freevlog.org/

Here are some basics on the Flip:

FLIP ULTRA

-Fits in your pocket

-Records about 2 hours of video on 4GB

-Uses double A batteries

-Any standard tripod can be used with Flip

-Also has microphone

FLIP ULTRA HD

-Fits in your pocket

-Captures about 2 hours of HD video on 8GB built-in memory

-It comes with rechargeable AA battery pack

-Also has a microphone

-Any standard tripod can fit the tripod mount

Search YouTube for more tutorials on the Flip camera.  Good Luck!

Rebecca Aguilar is a freelance multimedia reporter in Dallas.  She has 29 years of news experience and has been awarded numerous awards, including several Emmy awards.  She’s also on the board of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.  Rebecca conducts reporting workshops around the country (Finding Sources and Stories, Networking, Live Shots, Getting the Best Interview, Writing to Video, and The Basics Of Multimedia.) She can be contacted at aguilar.thereporter@yahoo.com.

This is the third and final post in a series of mini-tutorials on the basics of shooting video. If you know how to turn on a video camera and press record, this series is intended to help you take it to the next level for better news video results.

When it comes to video, there are three basic areas worth focusing on that will bring the quality of your final product up a notch to look and sound much more professional than Uncle Bob’s 2008 Christmas footage. Technique, planning, & publishing. This post deals with the topic of publishing. Publishing video is all about delivering your video to a “potential” audience of millions. Sure, you can slap the video up on your news organization’s website and cross your fingers for pageviews to go through the roof. The better alternative is to consider a variety of “platforms” for publishing your video in order to reach viewers where they are. These days, video publishing is about more than just posting your video. It’s about making it embeddable, subscribable and mobile. Here are some tips for maximizing news video publishing:

• Understand that the current trends in digital video distribution now include 1) the web; 2) internet-enabled TVs and; 3) mobile devices (Smart phones, iPods/mp3 players, iPads, etc.)
• Know which distribution tools will help you reach audiences through web, TV and mobile channels. I recommend the free platforms YouTube.com or Blip.tv. (Paid platforms such as Brightcove.com or Episodic.com offer a bounty of features and publishing capabilities worth checking out if you have a budget).
• YouTube by far has the most traffic and is the most popular video hosting and sharing site on the planet. It is worth having a presence on YouTube even if you use another video hosting service. Benefits of YouTube, beyond the visibility, include detailed analytics, customizable players, and near universal portability and integration on other websites and mobile devices such as the iPhone. Drawbacks include video uploads limited to 10 min. which rules out longer form newscasts, shows and interviews. Blip.tv is free and designed specifically for regular programming including newscasts, shows, and feature videos. There is no time limit on videos and the Blip.tv player is even more customizable than YouTube’s. Blip.tv is also designed with the modern video distribution landscape in mind. Through your Blip.tv account, you can have one click access to publish your video to iTunes, most WordPress, TypePad, Movable Type, Blogger and Tumblr blogs, TiVo, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Blip.tv is also working to bring its videos to internet enabled televisions.
• Make sure your news videos are portable. This means making the hyperlink to your video a part of the news story. Don’t just post the video on some obscure page on your site. Make sure you use hyperlinks to “point” visitors to your video from the story page and home page of your site. It’s also beneficial to make your news videos embeddable. This means allowing visitors access to the embed code so they can put the video on their own blogs and websites. Some newsroom leaders worry this is giving their content away, but I believe that strong branding in the video itself works for your organization when you allow others to embed the video on their sites. If there is a logo, watermark or “bug” on the lower righthand corner of your  video, then your brand is being represented where ever viewers come across your video. Lastly, make your videos downloadable (syndicate them). This means enabling sites like YouTube and Blip.tv so that visitors can download or subscribe to videos. Blip.tv syndicates to iTunes, an online music and video store where people can subscribe and download audio and video for use on their iPods and other portable devices. We are entering the era when people are demanding this kind of portability. If your content is professional and relevant, folks will want to put it on their iPods.
• You can also “livestream” your video content. This means using services like Ustream.tv or Livestream.com to cover events or broadcast live to the web. With the right advertising and promotion, it’s possible to get a high number of viewers for live events on the web. Especially panel discussions, prominent speeches and political debates and events.

Jeff Achen is an interactive media strategist for the Minnesota Community Foundation, The Saint Paul Foundation and GiveMN.org, nonprofit organizatons in Minnesota. He is also a consultant, freelance photographer/videographer, and blogger at www.mnvideopro.wordpress.com. You can follow him on Twitter.com/jeffachen or email jeffachen@mac.com.

In television news you quickly learn what makes a good video story and what should be information put in a script for the news anchors to read.

Video stories have become a vital part of online and newspaper multimedia reports, but not every story should be turned into a video report.  I thought I’d ask three television news videographers to help us in our quest to figure out what makes a good video story and when should it only remain a story in print.

Chuck Denton is a multiple Emmy Award-winning news videographer based near Los Angeles.   He has 23 years of experience and has been a long time freelancer for CBS, FOX, NBC, and ESPN. He’s also won awards for his video editing.

Bonnie Gonzalez works as a one-man-band for an Austin television station.  She’s been a reporter/videographer for more than five years, and admits doing it all has taught her to be creative and resourceful.

Jim Kent is another news videographer with a long resume.  Jim has 10 Emmys and has been awarded Region 10 Photographer of the Year by the National Press Photographers Association.  Jim has more than 20 years experience and has freelanced for Fox and ABC.  He owns his own company in Phoenix called ArtGecko Productions.   

What do you look for in a good video story?

Chuck:  Are there “visual” elements to help tell the story? Covering a city council or school board meeting can be a snoozer to watch unless you can use video to help illustrate the issue. Sometimes local news covers a crime and has no crime scene video from the night before. It can be a challenge. Are the interviews dynamic?  Are they compelling enough to keep folks interested in tuning in?

Bonnie:  Is there action and lots of nat sound or natural sound?  That’s the sound you hear within a story that really pulls you in and makes you feel like you’re there. For example, say I was doing a story on fishing. I’d want to pick up the sounds of splashes, the reel, a fisherman’s laughs or groans, and place a lot of emphasis on those sounds in the story. Watch a story with a lot of nat sound versus one without, and you can really tell a difference.

When do you know it’s just a good print story and not really a good video story?

Chuck:  It’s a good print story when there’s no real video to use or shoot to tell the story. Meetings come to mind!

Jim: TV is a visual medium, that’s a given.  I believe  a great still shot and a well written print story can’t be beat when the story is complicated and complex, and can’t be told in a minute and half in video.

How important is it to have good characters?

Chuck: Having good characters is always a plus, but boring interviews can be offset by compelling video and by keeping the sound bites short.

Bonnie: If you have an interesting character, viewers are going to pay attention. Journalists tend to look towards people who are energetic, emotional, etc.

Jim:  What do we all remember about our favorite stories? Is it the well written copy or is it that great opening or closing shot? Most likely it was that fantastic character that led us through the story. People relate to people, not reporters, besides we all know reporters aren’t people, right? Just kidding.

How important is it to have good sound bites and action?

Chuck: Great sound bites can portray emotion and incredible context of the situation/story you are trying to tell; a grieving family member, a witness to a crime, a victim of a scam, someone well-known who may say something outrageous or out of character. How many times have stories been made for television, because we have terrific home or surveillance video?

Bonnie: If there’s no action how interesting of a story is it going to be? I once did a story on the housing market. My video was only different shots of houses and my interviews.  Not too exciting is it? Maybe I could’ve connected with a realtor and got video of a person showing a house otherwise it was a better print story.

Jim: I never stop shooting until I know I have great sound to tell the story. It’s that important.

Here are some examples of their work:

Chuck’s stories on CBS Evening News “Going with the Grain” and “Fallen Hero’s Story Inspires.”  You can contact Chuck at chuckdenton@yahoo.com

Bonnie’s story on News8 Austin “Prehistoric Mammoths Debut in Waco” and “Junior Chefs Shine in Temple Culinary Class.”  Bonnie can be contacted at bgonzalez@news8texas.com

Jim was one of the videographers on ABC’s 20/20 report “Revenge Against A Religious Sect.”  Jim can be contacted at  artgeckojim@cox.net

Rebecca Aguilar is an Emmy Award winning freelance multimedia reporter in Dallas. She produces videos, digital slide-shows along with her reports. She can be reached at aguilar.thereporter@yahoo.com

O.K. -  so you just shot some footage with your digital video camera.

Now what?

Well, if you’re one of those kids who can’t afford a slick Mac, and you’re stuck with an ol’ PC (like me), you can still edit and produce decent videos with Windows Movie Maker. It’s a standard video editing program that comes with most Microsoft media software packages. Nothing fancy, just basic tools and enough features to allow you to create some nice-looking clips.  It’s a good program to practice on – once you know how to use one video editing program, you pretty much know ‘em all – IMHO, they all pretty much work the same way.

Now then, the only way to learn to edit video….(and sorry for sounding like a sneaker ad here)…. is to just do it.  Here’s how you can get started, in seven easy steps.

1.) First things first: Connect your camera to your PC and transfer your video footage to the computer.  Import the video files into Windows Movie Maker.

2. ) Once you have some video footage to work with, click and drag the  clips to the storyboard at the bottom of the screen. (If you have a lot of footage, it’s a good idea to write an outline ahead of time, so you know where the scenes should fall on the timeline. Oh yeah…and once you start editing, don’t forget to save your Windows Movie Maker project!)

3.) Trim and arrange your clips as necessary. To shorten a video clip, use the “split” button on the bottom right hand side of the screen. Delete the bits and pieces you don’t need.

4.) Add some audio. Mosey on over to the Movie Tasks Pane, look under Capture video, and click on Import audio or music. Drag your song of choice to the video clip where you want the soundtrack to kick in. (If you need to raise or lower the volume, right-click the music on your timeline, and then click on….can you guess?….Volume. Then adjust accordingly.)

5.) Or maybe you want to add a voice-over. To do that, you can record a sound track separately, or connect a microphone to your PC, click on the  Tools menu, and then click Narrate Timeline, and do it right there. You can record your voice to go with individual clips or do the whole movie all at once – it’s your call. But whatever you do – make sure you write a script beforehand. Seriously. Believe me, it’s worth it. If you wing it, and try to narrate your vid on the fly, it’s not going to sound good. (Believe me, I’ve tried. Don’t repeat my mistake. You will not save any time.)

6.) Add titles and credits.  To add written words to your video, just click on the clip where you want to add some text. In the Movie Tasks pane, under Edit Movie, click Make titles or credits. From there, you can choose how many lines the title will have and how it will move. You can also change the size and color of the text.

7.) Preview your movie. If you like what you see, then it’s time to produce your video. Use the Save Movie Wizard to save your project as a .wmv or .avi video file. Once your video file is ready, you can upload it to the web  for all to see. If you don’t have a place to show it off, you can always post it on a free video hosting service such as YouTube or Vimeo.

So that’s my 7-Step tutorial on Windows Movie Maker.

The main sources of information for this article came from the Windows Movie Maker product guide and tutorials on the Microsoft website, and from my own personal experience. FYI, I’ve been editing video for over five years now, and during that time I’ve used many different programs – Final Cut, Cyberlink PowerDirector, Avid, and (of course!) good ol’ Windows Movie Maker. But I must confess, Windows Movie Maker is not my first choice, and I don’t use it that often. So if I missed anything here, please let me know.  I’m especially interested in hearing from any regular users out there – if you have any tips/tricks/hacks to share, please comment below.

————————————————————

Emily Sweeney is a staff reporter at The Boston Globe. You can follow her on Twitter (@emilysweeney) and find her on LinkedIn among other places.

Quill isn’t just SPJ’s print magazine – it’s a multimedia resource for all journalists. To accompany his Digital Media Toolbox column in the January/February issue, videographer Jeff Achen made this brief training video on getting better video from a digital SLR camera. Enjoy.

Follow Jeff on Twitter, @jeffachen, or e-mail him at jeffachen@mac.com. And please feel free to share.

Interactive timelines are a great visual way to inform and engage users about your news topic.

Dipity timelines can do more than display simple text. Adding photos, links, and pulling in RSS feeds are just a few of the fun features you can play around with.

Timelines created in Dipity can be displayed using a standard linear graph or in ‘Flipbook’ mode which is similar to a multimedia carousel or ‘List’ which displays the content in a cataloged format.

Whether you are detailing a series of events that lead up to a major news event i.e., the spread of the swine flu, or providing a historical and chronological display of events i.e, the History of the New York City Marathon timelines are no longer confined to the boring textbooks of yesteryer.

HOW TO START CREATING YOUR OWN DIPITY INTERACTIVE TIMELINE

Go to Dipity and create a free user account.

Click ‘Add a Topic’

A window will appear asking you to choose a method to craft your timeline: Web search, RSS Feed, Blank.

To begin creating a standard timeline choose Blank.

The window will allow you to give the timeline a Title, Desciption, upload a timeline profile picture, add SEO tags, pick a theme, a timezone, and allow you to determine who you will allow to view your timeline.

I would suggest picking a free theme and allowing anyone to view your timeline.

To start creating events on your timeline click the blue button ‘Add an Event’.

A new window will appear that asks you to include a:

• Title
• Date
• Description
• Upload a picture or paste an image URL
• Add a link
• Include the location of the event (Dipity will generate a map for the location of the event)
• Add a video URL

Once you click ‘Save’ the event will be added to your timeline which you can view in the standard Timeline format, as a Flipbook, List or on the Map.

You can always go back and edit or delete any of the fields by clicking the event located on your timeline.

You can click ‘Add a Source’ to feed other online account data into your timeline i.e., Flickr, Tumblr, FriendFeed and Yelp, to name just a few.

Once you have completed adding in all your ‘events’ you can embed your Dipity timeline into your website, blog, or Facebook. Dipity will generate a customized embed code when you click ‘embed widget’.

Dipity is also social media savvy and allows other Dipity users to comment on your timeline and has Twitter, Facebook and a host of other social networking apps to help you spread the word about your cool new timeline.

Still have more questions? Check out the Dipity FAQ.

If you experiment with the RSS timeline feeds you’ll discover that Dipity automatically pulls in the images embedded into your posts or articles. Personally, I think this is a great feature – one less field for me to fill in!

Examples of Dipity interactive timelines:

• All things SPJ
• H1N1 Vaccine
• Apollo Timeline

Hilary Fosdal is the Interactive Content Manager for Barrington Broadcasting Group. She blogs at hilaryfosdal.com and tweets @hilaryfosdal.

This is the second in a series of mini-tutorials on the basics of shooting video. If you know how to turn on a video camera and press record, this series is intended to help you take it to the next level for better news video results.

When it comes to video, there are three basic areas worth focusing on that will bring the quality of your final product up a notch to look and sound much more professional than Uncle Bob’s 2008 Christmas footage. Technique, planning, & publishing. This post deals with the topic of planning. Planning for your video includes the kind of thoughtful consideration you’d give to story angle and style. You must determine the reason you’re doing video, then execute it in a way that makes sense given your technology, time and storytelling commitments. Planning is also required in order to effectively do your job. The requirement to carry a video camera and still camera along with your usual notepad and pen can be intimidating, but proper planning makes it possible.

• News video is all about letting the viewer EXPERIENCE the elements of the story for themselves. In writing we do this through narrative writing, but video lets viewers see and hear the elements for themselves.
• When planning to shoot video for a multimedia story, ask yourself if the story you’re telling has some “action” element that would be exciting to show others. One way to think of it is by asking yourself, “what would I show my best friend if he/she were here on this story with me?” It could be how parts work together to make something important happen, it may be a process, it may be a demonstration, or it could be a person or animal doing something that’s more interesting on video than as a still photo.
• Consider asking if the interviewee has video. In cases where you’re interviewing a missionary to Africa or Peru, the volunteer may have taken video of their time there and can submit it for your use online. Police can often provide squad car camera video of traffic stops, etc.
• Consider video slideshows. Ever had a story with tons of great photos, but not enough room in the paper for more than two? Consider editing them together in sequence with a voice over that we could post online as a video.
• Capture important people saying important things. If someone is making a speech and you know you’ll be standing there for more than 20 min. just taking notes, why not set up the video camera on a tripod to get some footage of the speech. You could post a memorable selection or quote from the speech online.
• Longer form videos of political debates or controversial meetings can be of value to online viewers. Consider these types of videos as a resource for those readers who want more. Not everyone will watch a 45 min. video, but some will find it extremely helpful to know that they can find such coverage on their local news site!
• Sports – Even if you don’t get video of the championship game (which is a good idea), we can go out to team practice for video of the featured athlete doing their thing. Our, if you’ve got a unique sport or unique aspect to a sport, video could enhance a sports feature story.
• Plan out your use of digital cameras, video cameras and interviewing to make sure you’ve got your bases covered. For instance, when covering a rodeo cowboy, perhaps you arrive and snap some photos while he’s practicing. Then, when he takes a break, you take up your notepad and interview him, maybe even conduct the interview with the video camera rolling. Then, when he enters competition, you get some great b-roll video of him doing his thing. You’ve now got your interview notes, photos and video. Congratulations, you’re a multimedia journalist!
• If you’re covering a breaking news story, my rule is always leave the video camera rolling. Get video of the fire, interview the firemen on camera, don’t stop rolling. Then when you get back to the office, pull notes from the on camera interview.

• Some cautions: Video of school plays or other copyrighted works is prohibited by law. We also have the same obligations as still photos when taping kids. Get permission and cover your butt.
• Just think about what you’d be willing to watch online. Don’t subject your readers/viewers to something you wouldn’t waste your time watching.

Jeff Achen is an interactive media strategist for the Minnesota Community Foundation, The Saint Paul Foundation and GiveMN.org, nonprofit organizatons in Minnesota. He is also a consultant, freelance photographer/videographer, and blogger at www.mnvideopro.wordpress.com. You can follow him on Twitter.com/jeffachen or email jeffachen@mac.com.

Click here to listen to the Thomas Loudon Interview

Listen to Jeff Achen’s interview with VJ Movement Founder Thomas Loudon. VJ Movement (www.vjmovement.com) is an exciting new independent news organization based in Holland. The brainchild of Thomas Loudon and Arend Jan van den Beld, VJ Movement is a completely new model for sourcing, selecting, aggregating, distributing and presenting professional video journalism.

This is the first in a series of mini-tutorials on the basics of shooting video. If you know how to turn on a video camera and press record, this series is intended to help you take it to the next level for better news video results.

When it comes to video, there are three basic areas worth focusing on that will bring the quality of your final product up a notch to look and sound much more professional than Uncle Bob’s 2008 Christmas footage. Technique, planning, & publishing. This post deals with the topic of technique.

• Use a tripod whenever possible. Steady shots add a feel of professionalism to the video and don’t give you a headache to watch. If you don’t have a tripod, try placing the camera on something steady or leaning against a wall while taping.
• Since online video appears in such a small window, it is essential that you get tightly framed shots. Frame up shots similar to still photography, except you need to think about the time length of each shot as well. A good rule of thumb is to frame the shot, hit record, then count to 10 before shifting the camera or zooming in for another shot.
• Let the action be the action. What I mean is, don’t overuse pans or zooms or camera motion. Simply set up your shot, use a tripod and let whatever action you’re taping speak for itself. Every once in a while, a pan or zoom works well, but it’s not necessary. (more…)