Electric Fishwrap has moved

Throughout October and November, Western Washington SPJ has been hosting its fall continuing education series. On Nov. 3, Seattle PI breaking news reporter Casey McNerthney taught the video workshop.

McNerthney went over some basic tips about video from his personal experience. It is worthy to note that he does not have any fancy equipment and all of the software he shared is free. In this realization lies the value of his training: You don’t need expensive equipment. Anyone can do this.

His equipment/tools:

• Canon Powershot
• Windows Movie Maker (WMM tutorials on YouTube, or iMovie)
• A computer for editing, nothing too fancy

Most importantly is the attitude he brings to every story. McNerthney said he bought his Powershot about a year ago. Since then he appears to interview most, if not all, of his subjects with his Powershot running. His reason for videoing everything: “Sometimes daily stories turn into something big.”

(Note: I record audio of almost every interview I conduct. Not only does it help me keep quotes straight, I also have the option of using the audio later for a multimedia project. Obtaining audio in this way requires no extra effort on my part and I can only imagine if I had a small video camera with me all of the time, it would be just as easy.)

He shared one particular example of video he shot recently, about a crane operator who helped police nab a fleeing fugitive:

McNerthney talked about what shots you need to get if you’re going to record your interviews. Check out the crane video. It only takes a few seconds to get b-roll (the flavor shots of the crane in the middle of the story).

A few other tips he shared:

• Pay attention to lighting and don’t be afraid to move your subject to a more favorable location.
• If it is breezy outside, try to shield the camera’s microphone from the wind with your hand. You can also try to aim the microphone at the subject to get better sound quality.
• Everyone has a couple of seconds to talk to you. The man in the orange shirt said he didn’t have time, and yet McNerthney still got a great interview out of him.
• Evaluate who will care and why. If the video does not generate hits, then editors will be reluctant to approve projects in the future. Examples of videos many people will watch include technology, events with lots of participants and breaking news.
• Some people are not used to media exposure and shy away from the camera. Try to keep examples of your work on the camera you carry to convince them to consent to an on-camera interview.

How does he shoot video and write the story? He practiced with his friends by holding the camera and notepad at the same time, at about lower-chest height. Then he would watch the resulting video and adjust the camera angle accordingly. Now that’s multitasking!

For me the most valuable item out of the training was a free Web site he shared: Media Convert, which converts dozens of file types. This site saved my bacon a few times when editing audio for a SoundSlides last week. He also shared, Picnik is a photo-editing Web site with the functionality of PhotoShop.

A final note. McNerthney said there is a time and a place for quality multimedia. He frequently called his video “crappy,” and from a quality standpoint, I suppose it is. But his videos are interesting and, most importantly he said, they keep people on the site for a few minutes longer than they otherwise would have. Video is another layer to the reader experience.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 9:55 am and is filed under multimedia, tools, training, video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.