Importance of Video Skills

In case you were thinking that an increasing emphasis on video was like the weather - everyone talking about it, but no one doing anything - here's part of a Wall Street Journal ad on Mediabistro that you should see:

The Wall Street Journal Online is seeking talented video journalists worldwide to shoot and edit video on a freelance basis. You'll be assigned to work alongside some of the industry's best print journalists, helping illustrate their stories via Web video. Assignments will only be made to excellent storytellers with solid news judgment and a proven track record in video journalism. You must have your own camera equipment and be a strong FinalCut editor. We will pay a reasonable assignment rate for "all-in-one" work.

The Journal is not an easy place to break in as a freelancer, and the opportunities, as I understand it, have always been limited. But no matter what you think of the changes that Rupert Murdoch is bringing, you can make book on his understanding the need for real multimedia more than most in the various media industries. Now is the time to start learning, and maybe invest in a camera (even high definition ones are getting cheaper) and some software (you want the "Photoshop" equivalent in terms of industry acceptance).

Multimedia and the Single Freelancer

A reader of this blog forwarded a link to a post on The Editors Weblog. The World Editors Forum, part of the World Association of Newspapers, publishes it. This post quotes Bas Broekhuizen, a television person from the Netherlands, who argues that the drive to turn journalists into multimedia people is a mistake. He led an effort at the leading Dutch broadsheet to train reporters as video journalists so that they could produce both written and video stories. The experience was less than stellar:

“In my opinion every journalist can learn to be a video journalist, as long as he or she is not afraid of the technical aspects (camera, computer, et cetera). Journalism is about telling good stories and in that regard there's no difference between writing and filming,” said Broekhuizen.

“But to become a real good video journalist, you need talent and time. A lot of time.”

“That's why I do not believe in the so called multi skilled journalist, or in ‘convergence by hardware’. Just handing out cameras to newspaper reporters will – in my opinion – not bring you video reports with the quality you want.”

Broekhuizen thinks that the answer is working with specialist teams, not reporters who do it all. Those who follow my blog might be surprised to hear that I agree, because I've often stated that reporters need to learn additional skills - video and audio and some HTML coding - to deal with the web.

The best approach would be to have separate people doing these jobs, for the same reason that the actors in a professionally-produced play aren't also directing, designing sets and lights, building costumes, and running operations back stage. Specializing does give you the chance to learn something well.

That's the theory, at least. Unfortunately, practice doesn't always follow smoothly. A team is great if someone is willing to pay for it. This Dutch newspaper went that route, and obviously had the money to do so. But publishers keep tightening the financial reins, and it's tough enough these days to get them to send both a writer and a photographer. Can you imagine most of them actually paying for a video crew to join the happy reporting band? Neither can I. And yet, as YouTube shows us, video can become insanely popular on the Internet.

When a publisher looks more and more to the web and sees that video might draw the younger demographics that advertisers, either rightly or wrongly, so passionately seek, what are they going to do? Keep funding long-form articles? Or will they say, the hell with writers, let's get some video on the site? My bet is on human nature, cheapness, and the desire for audience.

Let me be clear: it's not easy to do multiple media at the same time. I've gone into stories both taking notes and photos. When doing one, you can't do the other. Adding video or audio only complicates things. But even my myopia can make out the tall letters on the side of the building. When publishers move to multimedia, you'd better be there if you want to keep clients. So now's the time to start learning, so as the publishers experiment, you'll be there with them, and they'll develop the habit of calling you for the complex assignments.

As for the corporate world, I expect it will do as it has in the past - assume that video or audio is a separate undertaking and pay for specialized crews to do the work. Having mixed skills could offer a competitive advantage (lower costs), but only if the video and lighting and audio come out as well as the writing.

Announcement: Multimedia Reporting Training Seminars

I have no connection with this, but am posting in case anyone might find it useful or interesting:

---

Fellowship applications being accepted for:

Multimedia Reporting Training Seminars
May 18 – 23; June 8 – 13; and July 6- 11, 2008

Knight Digital Media Center
University of California, Berkeley, Graduate School of Journalism

Application Deadline for all workshops is MARCH 28, 2008

The Knight Digital Media Center Multimedia Training Program is accepting applications for 20 fellowships per workshop for journalists to attend these seminars that combine practical instruction in multimedia reporting with in-depth exploration of issues in online publishing.

We are accepting concurrent applications for workshops being offered in May, June and July 2008. Applicants may apply to one, two or all three workshops. Because we receive far more applications than we can accommodate, applicants are encouraged to apply for multiple workshops to increase their chances of being accepted into one of them.

Participants will receive six days of intense hands-on instruction on how to do multimedia stories for the Web, including:

• Using digital video cameras, photo cameras and audio recorders;
• Doing storyboards, stand-ups, voiceovers and other broadcast techniques;
• Digital video, audio and photo editing; Creating photo slide shows inFlash;
• Web page creation and multimedia Web site design.

Fellows create a multimedia project as part of the seminar. In addition, there are evening and noontime presentations by online publishing experts on the most pressing issues in digital media.

WHO SHOULD APPLY: Professional print and broadcast journalists seeking multimedia skills. Fellowships include lodging, meals and instruction. Cost of travel to the workshop must be paid by the applicant`s news organization.

HOW TO APPLY: An online application form and instructions are available at: multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/training

If you have questions about the workshop, please consult the Frequently Asked Questions page on the application site, which addresses the most commonly asked questions about the application and selection process. To view the FAQ page, click here: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/training/faq/

If your question is not addressed by the FAQ page, contact Lanita Pace-Hinton, director of multimedia training, at pacel@berkeley.edu or (510) 643-7429.

COMPLETED APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MARCH 28, 2008

Time for Online?

When trying to understand publishers and where they're going, it always makes sense to watch the usual business leaders - like Time Inc. It's not necessarily the most cutting-edge or experimental, but the organization is one of the most prestigious in the industry, and others look when it moves.

So it's interesting to see a couple of items about the company's commitment to online publishing. About a week ago, Gawker reported that Time Magazine was "shoving its reluctant writers online." As managing editor Rick Stengel wrote in a memo:

I suspect that some of you regard writing for TIME.com as an obligation, and not what you came to TIME to do. But times have changed, and we have to change with them. If you care about what you do - and I know you do - then you need to display your talent, your expertise, and your dedication online as well as in the magazine. That goes for editors as well as writers. Everyone should now have beats and areas of responsibility (Ratu has the list), and you should talk to Josh as well as your editors about what your contribution to TIME.com should be.

And now Advertising Age has an article about how 1.2 million subscribers to the company's publications are getting emails pointing them to People's first digi-mag - a 30 page magazine/website hybrid found only online with an animated cover. The print version of People (notice how we adjust our language almost unconsciously to address the changing circumstances) will also promote the site.

The online world is already business as usual, but emphasis will continuously shift there. Now is not the time to bemoan print magazines folding or how the world is changing. Yes, it is - and it always does. Now is the time to position yourself to become an expert at online work. If you asked most writers now, I'd wager that they'd say it's just a matter of writing.

That will change. You'll see a growing push for additional skills that make the lives of the publishers easier. At least some degree of HTML coding. Knowledge of popular web software. These and others will become what business calls barriers to entry. Then there will be the additional skills - multimedia, use of specialty programming languages, comfort with databases - that will be the additional value making some people worth paying more than others.

So how are your skills?

New Radio Frontier

According to ReclaimtheMedia (and thanks to Slashdot.org for pointing this out), low power FM stations might get a chance to break current radio interests to limit their existence:

The Local Community Radio Act of 2007 would remove the artificial restrictions imposed on LPFM by a 2000 law passed at the urging of corporate radio giants and NPR, claiming that small community stations would interfere with the signals of larger stations. While these claims were debunked by a taxpayer-funded study in 2002, Congress has not yet acted on those results - denying many communities the opportunity to apply for LPFM stations.

If this passes, what it means for writers is an experimental medium to try new forms of reporting and telling stories. Non-profits, schools, unions, advocacy groups, and other community groups, will be able to set up lower powered FM stations to broadcast alternative content. In the same vein as my post about blogs being a way of practicing writing, you could look for such opportunities to expand your reporting repertoire. If you want to continue writing over the long run, you need to break out of old concepts of publishing. This could be an opportunity to learn how to handle a mic and to edit sound - giving you the experience to produce audiocasts and part of the multimedia packages that, I think, will ultimately drive the industry. The more you can offer your client, the more value you bring, which means more money and greater security in the market.