Back to home page for Building a digital newsroom

Back to home page for Michigan Press Association

SHOOTING AND EDITING VIDEO FOR THE WEB

Part Two: Building a plan to produce news video for the Web

Tell all or part of the story through video?

The Paul Revere exercise on the previous page illustrates some of the ways video for the Web helps tell the story. Video is great for action such as the midnight ride. It also works well for telling stories that include emotion or opinion, such as the profile piece on Revere, focusing on the man, his lifestyle and his commitment to revolution. As a rule of thumb, use video when you want to capture action or reveal character.

Web video includes standalone breaking news or news features, following the broadcast TV model. Another strategy is to integrate video into a comprehensive Web package that includes other text, visual and audio elements, creating a new Web model. If we think of journalism as covering Who, What, Why, When, Where and How, conceptualizing your storytelling requires figuring out whether you want video to tell all or part of the story.

Web video also tends to be more informal raw than traditional broadcast TV news. Web visitors expect to see jittery citizen video of the tornado or low-quality video from a store's security camera, so they tend to extend the same forgiveness to all Web news video, at least for now.

Three levels of video storytelling

Deputy Multimedia Editor Chet Rhodes is responsible for turning Washington Post print reporters into Web videographers in just four hours of training. During a visit to Michigan State University's School of Journalism, he explained that jettisoned traditional broadcast TV jargon and has instead invented three levels of online video skills:

• Level One Video - All Washington Post reporters must learn how to shoot five minutes of Q&A with the subject they are interviewing. Reporters are encouraged to do the print interview first, which typically allows the reporter to identify three or four questions to ask on camera afterward. Reporters learn how to operate the camera to capture the best video and sound and how to use a tripod. The training session also includes framing the shot to provide visual interest and context.
• Level Two Video - In addition to the interview video skills above, Level Two requires learning how to shoot some "b-roll" and a "standup." B-roll video is footage of the overall setting or elements that the interview subject is talking about. If you are interviewing a physicist, b-roll shots could include footage of the professor in his office or walking across campus. If the physicist works at the cyclotron, you would also want b-roll footage of the equipment in operation. A standup is footage of the reporter explaining or commenting on the story.
• Level Three Video - This level involves shooting footage for mini-documentaries - interviews, action, emotion, context, illustration and explanation. It can involve multiple subject at multiple locations, including a variety of different shots and sequences.

Envisioning new strategies and new systems

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that all publications can embrace to begin providing online news video at any level.

The Washington Post wants all of its reporters to learn how to shoot Level One stories, with most eventually moving up to provide footage for Level Two stories. All Level One and Two footage is then edited by a centralized team.

For Level Three stories, the expectation is that reporters will work closely with the editing team. The team's trained videographers will shoot the bulk of the footage and do all of the editing. The reporter will help to script the mini-doc and may shoot some of the interviews. Reporters can also offer ideas and input during the editing process, but it will be the editing team that does the work and makes the final decisions.

The Gannett chain has asked its newspapers to develop 24-hour "Information Centers" that can gather the text, images, video and audio that ultimately become standalone offerings or elements in Web packages.

Can smaller news organizations afford a separate video editor or specialized editing team? Or should at least some reporters be expected to edit their own video footage, at least for Level One and Level Two stories? If so, how will reporters find the time to shoot and edit video on top of their existing responsibilities? What has to give?

Can small news operations hope to build the capacity to produce Level Three stories? What about Level Four Video - weaving all of the day's Web video into an online newscasts hosted by an anchor from the newsroom?

The goal here is not to provide answers, but to pose questions that must be addressed to begin producing video for the Web. As newspapers nationwide struggle to come up with answers, it seems clear that developing the online newsroom of the future requires experimentation and flexibility.

One piece of advice is to envision a phased approach. Develop a plan to begin producing Level One and Level Two video. Until you can do that reliably, don't even think about tackling Level Three mini-docs or Level Four daily newscasts.

Part Three: The basics of online news video - Shots & Sequences

Shooting and Editing Video for the Web

Part One: Exploring news ways to tell stories online

Part Two: Building a plan to produce news video for the Web

Part Three: The basics of online news video
    - Shots & sequences
    - Lighting
    - Basic composition
    - Audio matters
    - Shooting interviews & standups
    - Tech stuff

Online video on a budget

Part One: The camera

Part Two: Accessories

Part Three: Editing software

Part Four: Posting on the Web

Bonnie Bucqueroux teaches digital jouralism at Michigan State University's School of Journalism and is a self-described Web geek.