Five lessons we learned from our first video attempt
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008This Sunday my paper published its first ever video on our Web site. It was for my graduation package (see the main piece and video here, and student introductions and favorite teacher here). [As an aside if you cannot view the video let me know. I can’t on my computer at home, nor on the computer at work. It just flat out won’t load. Our IT guys are trying to figure out why.]
[EDIT: IT guys say if you cannot view the video you need to download Flash 9.]
Years ago, my paper used to cover every graduation. Since there are more than 14 in the area (including alternative schools) it was an onerous task. The entire staff was involved. The editors scaled it down to one profile per school. The whole staff was still involved, but it did not include racing from one graduation to another, or sending four reporters out on a Friday night to cover each graduation.
My task when I came here was to pare down our coverage. We were short-staffed throughout the spring due to inevitable turnover, and editors thought graduation took up too many resources. So I had this crazy idea to invite one student from every school that we had previously covered to a panel discussion. We sat down with the seniors and started asking them questions. Are they ready for graduation? Do they want to keep living in Skagit Valley? Will global warming impact your life? How about the Iraq war?
I asked most of the questions with county reporter Ralph Schwartz helping to moderate. City editor Colette Weeks and reporter Aaron Burkhalter recorded the video.
We got some great answers, and I definitely want to do this again. But because this was my paper’s very first try with video, here’s what we would do differently.