"the present and future of an exciting industry"
March 31, 2011 Leave a comment
By VideoJournalismOnline
On VJO we’ve been looking ahead to the future. What’s in store? And how will the latest developments prove to alter the direction of online video journalism?
In the second part of VJO Interviews, Ross Cullen asks Alex Dibble, Umar Farooq, Chris Creegan and Phil Georgiadis where they see the industry going:
March 28, 2011 Leave a comment
By Toby Coaker
Away from the UK, I draw your attention to two trends in overseas online video journalism that could come to influence how the medium is operated here.
USA – Vidcaster
As Ross Cullen mentioned in his latest post, video journalists are becoming more impatient with mass-content provider Youtube. It provides limited control over advertisements, offers little in the way of traffic reporting, and promotes a repellent comment culture.
In the US, Vidcaster is fast becoming a preferable platform for professional video makers to distribute content. You can create your own website, which is hosted on the Vidcaster platform. Yet the key point is that you can host your Vidcaster site on your own domain so that appears to users as if its your own. Think of it as a vloggers wordpress. Like the latter, it allows immediate interaction with a variety of social media and video sharing websites – meaning that video journalism can be professionalized and marketed at a convenience not yet present in British journalistic culture. Follow the link below to watch an introduction by co-founder Kieran Farr:
Vidcaster offers users video site customization, as well as control over web distribution of content. In the US its now easier than ever to market one’s video journalism on the Internet. Let’s hope that a similar platform will emerge here soon.
France – Citizenside
As citizen journalism distribution becomes more established, one company has come up with a novel idea to encourage higher standards amongst its network of amateur journalists. Citizenside, a Paris-based syndicator of user generated content, sells its footage on to over 100 professional news organizations around the world.
Now, in like of heated competition from other companies, it’s decided to turn its journalism in to a video game. Users are rewarded with points for posting videos (and pictures etc.). The more points one accumulates, the closer one gets become to achieving virtual promotion (from reporter to correspondent to editor-in-chief of a region, for instance). The managers of Citizenside believe it is social validation that pushes people. Such an incentive will, it is hoped, encourage greater standards and thus the acquisition of more lucrative and engaging video content.
There are concerns that increasing the level of competition will promote ‘cheating’ and the doctoring of false material. We’ll have to see whether this technique will increase the ever-growing role of user-generated-content in online video journalism – it’s certainly an interesting idea!
March 27, 2011 Leave a comment
By Umar Farooq
The results are in. 20 very kind people and video journalism enthusiasts (I’m guessing) took part in my “Online News Video Watchers Survey” published on 13th Feb. The aim was to get to know:
1) Our audience, and…
2) …their viewing habits
The raw data
The facts and figures from the Video Watchers Survey (in their raw form)
So what can we conclude…
A fascinating set of results. From the research, based on the short sample, I think the following findings are interesting.
A big thank you to all the entrants who took part in this short experiment. I think the results point to habits of a modern-day video journalist. The details are interesting and I shall leave you with them.
* The links in this post can be accessed and shared on the VJO delicious page.
Thank you!
March 26, 2011 Leave a comment
By Ross Cullen
The rise in use of video by both professional journalists and citizen journalists has called for an increase in online portals to aid the editing and storing of such videos.
You grab your smartphone or high-powered pocket camera and go. You shoot; you capture; you record. You have a lot of footage that needs tidying up before, finally, you can tell the story. Where do you go?
To follow the upward trend in use of video and the posting of videos online, there has been a rise in the number and capabilities of online video editing websites.
As this is a fast flowing and developing medium, editing-software designers have also had to adapt to the changes. There are many of these sites and some of them rival each other directly with what they can offer.
Both A-Frame (website shown above) and Pixorial have realised that video journalists need somewhere to store their work online, without having to use a default mass-content provider such as YouTube. There is a need for websites that have a more professional and editorial feel than YouTube, which can be seen, at times, as a multinational giant overlooking the small, corner shop-keeper.
For pure, simple editing, many use YouTube’s software, (although that can feel a little raw), Adobe’s ‘Premiere Express’ and JayCut (website shown above).
There are also sites like photobucket (website shown below) which strive to promote the simplicity and pleasure of photo and video creating and sharing. On the other hand, other sites such as Kaltura, try to show off how their technical, unique editing platforms can help you.
However, the danger for these websites is that they can be squeezed for space in a growing and changing market, of which, as noted above, YouTube is the dominant power.
The Internet is now the base for video journalism, with the days of shelves of tapes and film reels long gone. Companies are moving their bases online as well, and offering the range of adaptable services that such a moveable medium demands.
March 11, 2011 Leave a comment
Many of the posts on this blog have been looking at how powerful user generated videos have been at documenting the unrest throughout the Arab world.
Clearly, the power of social media offers a glimpse into events which otherwise would go undocumented, as mobile phones and digital cameras become powerful tools at offering the outside world glimpses of events.
But some of the professional journalism which we have been watching throughout the unrest has highlighted the flaws in citizen video journalism.
Youtube clips of demonstrations and atrocities do not offer a coherent picture- instead they are snapshots into events, often presenting a dislocated narrative which it is hard to form a clear picture through.
Recently, Sky News has been showing a report by its mulit-award winning Asia correspondent Alex Crawford, which documents the battle for the Libyan town of Zawiyah with extraordinary clarity and power.
If you haven’t yet watched it I recommend you click on the video below- it is a brave and compelling piece of journalism.
Most importantly, this is a rare opportunity to gain a full idea of what was happening on the ground. Instead of snatches of footage from the protestors, this is a linear narrative of a full weekend in the town, as it came under relentless assault from pro-Gaddafi forces.
The fact that it is also presented from a personal perspective, the first person narrative is particularly striking, adds both to the coherency, and also verifiability of the piece.
Crawford is a trusted journalist, we know when watching the report that isolated incidents are not being hyped upped- it is instead a sober and realistic view into life under assault in Libya.
It is a staggering piece of journalism, and although online video content delivered via social media has essentially been the heartbeat of media coverage of regime crackdowns in the Middle East, this report should make us all take stock, step back, and remember that on the rare occasion that it is possible- professional journalism from the scene remains the most powerful way of reporting global news events.
March 11, 2011 1 Comment
By Ross Cullen
What more can women do to increase their online presence?
I attended the Broadcast Video Expo recently with other videojournalismonline colleagues. We ensured that we captured the interviews on mobile devices, to try to explore the immediacy and portability of the video medium. However, this was not without problems, as will be discussed later on in the post. You can view the first blogpost from this exhibition here – VJO at the Broadcast Video Expo 2011, 07/03/11.
The event was mainly focussed on the technical side of the industry and in my next blogpost, I will look at an interview we conducted with a representative from that area.
But to investigate the role that women have and could have in the world of online we visited Women in Film and Television. According to their website, “Women in Film & TV is the premier membership organisation for women working in creative media in the UK, and part of an international network of over 10,000 women worldwide.”
Here is Siobhan Pridgeon, Awards and Events Producer, Women in Film and Television.
The most significant points that Ms Pridgeon raised were:
1) The importance of women using the Internet as a video medium to promote themselves, through showreels, for example
2) The need for women to recognise that the Internet is a global brand and a free, reactive, marketing medium
3) The online world can be a less scary place to make yourself known than proactively making person-to-person contact
Technically, as you can see, the choice to use a Blackberry to capture the footage raises contradictory points. On one hand, using the camera on a phone allows you to start and stop filming immediately, wherever you are. But on the other hand, the footage is not of the highest quality and the lack of an external microphone diminishes the standard of the sound. Yet, it is not practical to carry expensive and heavy recording equipment with you at all times and for this reason one has to rely on the phone to provide immediate platforms for on-the-go video capturing.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IbXIsgrvRU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
March 7, 2011 4 Comments
By Umar Farooq
Last month, a few of us at Video Journalism Online (VJO) were fortunate enough to attend the Broadcast Video Expo 2011. The 3-day event at Earls Court 2 was home to production staff and broadcasters keen to market the future of the industry.
We felt the event had to hold an online element and we weren’t far wrong. Upon arrival, I was able to track down representatives from three different online video providers and conduct short video interviews. The key question was: how does your website help or promote video journalism in the online world? The analysis follows the video:
Maria Elena, ClipTV
Clip TV describes itself as an online viral video agency. The company deals with caught on camera reality footage from the comedy to dramatic rescue. In other words, the site encourages and promotes citizen journalism and clients can browse through a selection of the material online. Looking through the site, I came to the conclusion that the agency was like a ‘You’ve been framed’ video library. So, how does it help the video journalist? Well, although it doesn’t help them directly, Maria makes an interesting point when she says that the film-makers tracking reality footage have a great deal of variety to look through on Clip TV. However, whilst the market for viral video cannot be ignored, the lack of journalistic content on the website is a worry.
Cato Salter, Clip Canvas
At Clip Canvas, the attraction is high quality HD footage and graphics. In simple words, the website hosts an online catalogue allowing potential clients to look through a number of animations, backgrounds and landscapes. The site offers top quality stock footage for documentary and studio-programme makers. The catalogue itself is generic and some of the content can be used in journalistic video. There are, at the moment, 140,000 clips online so the diversity and variety cannot be questioned. The only small criticism which Cato himself alludes to in the interview is once again the lack of journalistic content on Clip Canvas. Despite this, providing high quality and HD video for clients means they’re on to a winner.
Emma Simpson, Journeyman Pictures
It was a pleasure to meet Emma from Journeyman, a film distributor specialising in “topical news features and documentaries.” The website is a video store, allowing you to either watch online or purchase on DVD. The YouTube channel has video clips from over 350 films and around 112,000 subscribers. The company itself was found in the 1990’s but the online elements are the most fascinating for our purposes. Content is journalistic, most specifically current affairs documentaries and there is a great variety once again. The ability to watch the documentaries online upon the payment of a subscription fee is a feature worthy of praise. It means Journeyman is a niche video-sharing website with a catalogue which can only be described as immense.
I will be back with more video journalism analysis, in the meantime don’t forget to take part in the “Online News Video Watchers Survey.” The results will be analysed very soon.
Thanks.
* The links in this post can be accessed and shared on the VJO delicious page.
February 21, 2011 2 Comments
By Ross Cullen
Trainee journalists are constantly reminded of the need to bridge the different media and be cross-platform reporters. But what of those who have already broken into the industry? How do they adapt?
Budding hacks are well aware of the importance of starting their career with established blogs, Twitter accounts and audio and visual editing skills, as well as the ability to write for online and printed media. They are not alone; the reporters ahead of them on the career path have also recognised that they have to change with the times. How are they doing it?
Staff at the Reading Post, in Berkshire, have turned their hands to online video journalism. Long gone are the days when a newspaper journalist only had to be a fast shorthander; now there is a need for video skills. The paper’s decision to launch a daily online video news bulletin illustrates a few different things:
1) An awareness that newsprint readership is diminishing and/or moving to the online versions of the publications. The editors need to hang onto their readers and interactivity is a great way of doing so.
2) The public love video. Citizen journalism is on the rise and, as previously discussed on this blog, broadcast media have already built whole pages on their online presences dedicated to video. Newspapers have to follow suit.
3) Time is of the essence. People are in a rush. Understanding that they might not have hours to sit down and read the paper cover-to-cover, the editors can still hold onto loyal readers as they visit the Post’s homepage by offering them quick, direct news in a free, 60-second video.
The Post uploads their daily video at lunchtime, giving online readers updated news during their midday breaks. As the media world changes around them, reporters need to be ahead of the game (and their competitors) in order to remain relevant and exciting. For a newspaper, enlisting the help of video on their webpages is a relatively easy and effective way of expanding their reach.
The margins of the different media are blurring. Local news services have to elbow and barge their way to the front of the public’s minds to continue to be noticed. The major TV channels tapped into video long ago. Online streaming is now clearly not solely the preserve of broadcasters.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvPtzG-6Bzg&feature=player_embedded#
February 20, 2011 Leave a comment
By Emily Craig
Press journalists are being forced to adapt to the new media environment and now they’re almost as likely to be dispatched on a video assignment as to be penning copy at their desks.
We’ve talked previously about how UK newspapers – even local ones – are increasingly using video to attract, or at least retain, their readers. And, as the price of video equipment continues to fall sharply, it’s now far cheaper for newspapers to cut and shoot more of their own video.
But how does a press journalist become a video journalist? After all, whilst some newspapers want (and, crucially, have the money) to recruit experts from the field, many are relying on their staffers to create video pieces. At a time when editors are seeing their budgets slashed, most of these newsroom journalists are now expected to go out, get the story, write it up for the print and online editions whilst also, on top of it all, shooting and editing a video feature for the website. And they’re probably doing all of this for more or less the same pay.
But who is training these newspaper journalists to film and edit video content? Are there enough people out there with the expertise? And how is that expertise being shared?
There’s one fact that answers a lot of these questions and it is this: it’s becoming more and more difficult for journalists to get staffer jobs. And, if you’re a freelancer, you’ve got to do all you can to show you can provide content for different platforms – and that includes video. It’s surely no coincidence that all the Frontline Club’s training courses currently being advertised focus on helping journalists master video techniques and Final Cut Pro editing software.
A video screening at the Frontline Club in London (Creative Commons)
These Frontline Club courses will set you back £125/day or £650/5 days (on average). A 5 day video journalism course at the European Journalism Centre costs most than £1000 (at the time of writing). Some lucky journalists (maybe those on staff jobs) will have their costs covered, but freelancers will be funding their self-improvement out of their own pockets. The message? Adapt or die.
So at some level the industry recognises that journalists need to be (re-)trained. But, according to several high-profile journalists who work in both print and video, the training on offer is normally too limited. And this means the quality of the video journalism on most newspaper websites is, in fact, quite poor. A lot of the best stuff is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the work of American journalists (more on that at a later date).
In an article for the American Journalism Review, Charles Layton sums up the situation: “The bulk of online news video occupies a broad, gray middle ground in terms of quality, as the industry stumbles toward a goal it cannot yet quite perceive or articulate.”
However, help is at hand with the likes of findingtheframe.com. This website describes itself as “a gathering spot where multimedia journalists can receive feedback on their videos, audio slideshows and multimedia projects from industry professionals and fellow visual journalists”.
Through initiatives like this, the experts are sharing their wisdom. Perhaps it’s less a case of Darwinism in action (different species of journalists competing for survival) and more a case of journalists of all kinds collaborating. After all, in this unfamiliar and continually evolving technological landscape, no group is guaranteed survival.
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