Monday, September 17, 2007

Deconstructing video journalism at Viewmagazine.tv

In the coming weeks we'll be deconstructing video journalism at viewmagazine.tv

I'll be talking in more detail about working with the Financial Times and how video journalism is working there, as well as the 150 or so newspaper journalists we've helped train. Business and Economics have often been the most testing reportage to produce on TV because of the lack of "strong" visuals, so what can video journalism offer?

We'll show the basics born from television to the more advance VJ - docs and some of the new visual language you could use. We'll show you more VJ pieces from 14 years ago - reports on the newspaper industry in the UK talking about where the industry's going. Then we'll look at more current trends.

Video journalism broadly offers "made-like-TV" shoots or a the more aggressive personalised paradigm. We'll look at both as well as the hybrid

Jon Staton used to be head of TV at Saatchi and Saatchis. He was my MD in his London Soho-based ad agency re-active.net and here we used video journalism to make ads for among others London Underground's new XTP project.

We'll also show video Journalism's core points were used to produce an ad in 12 hours for a Washington based client, aired on CNN International

We'll look at techniques for assessing the film/len's energy. You'll often find composers talking about this when scoring for a film.

Video Journalism is not a one size fits all. In many cases I believe the term can be limiting as it assumes it's fit only for news, so we'll talk about the Ferrari 599 GTB shoot, without all the Top Gear trappings.

Then we'll deconstruct a Fashion Show shoot, and One-on-One interviews with key industry figures, plus off-the-beaten-path travelogue programmes and Sport shoots.

And we'll look at Youth Current Affairs. Before Current.tv, in the 90s the BBC had a programme that defined a generation of film makers and media pundits. Its name was Reportage.

Then we'll talk about where video journalism may not be suitable, but the underlying theory will stand you in good stead as a director speaking everyone elses language: an L cut to the editor, Pull focus to the camera operator, blondes or redheads for lighting, ambient sound and working close to the mike with sound.

Then news, conflict and Nato's war games using blog swarming techniques to cover stories.

We'll combine video journalism with Integrated multimedia profiling people whose paths we've crossed, who shoot and build css sites on the fly, such as the BBC's new Gaza Correspondent, Tamer

And then we'll look beyond video journalism into the realms of (Video)motion graphics with a good pal and one of the most talented souls for his generation Rob Chiu.

And then we'll go have a beer on face book.

Video journalism ~ it's about technique and not just technology

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