How-to do VJ for the clueless editor

What does it take to implement a regular video feed in a newspaper with little or no background in videojournalism?

Preparation

- “There has to be a bottom top-up meeting of minds,” says Dunkley. Concretely, managers and staff must discuss and agree on how they want to use video in their paper. VJ requires neither a complete overturn of internal organization nor a complex (and costly) IT infrastructure.

- Don’t venture into VJ if you’re simply aiming to cut costs and because video has been defined as a priority. “If you’re going to do this, do it 10 times better than TV,” says Dunkley. The most needed resources are thus dedication and time. Doing the opposite will result in a cheap product that turns users away.

- Grow ties with the local college or university so it sends some bright and motivated students to the newsroom. Film students can offer (at a low-cost) input, both as typical audience members and as resourceful video-oriented journalists. In some cases, they may even bring some training and help set up a website to accommodate embedded video.

- Invest in equipment to build an “updated inventory,” as opposed to typical newspaper assets, which are relatively old. These investments don’t have to be extensive. In some cases a video camera and editing software are just what it takes.

Below are Dunkley’s recommendations for equipment, although he insists that any lightweight HD camera, PC and film editing software will do for beginners. Flash Media software is more esthetic than Windows Media Player or Quicktime, but all have the same basic functionality.

- Sony HDVCam from 1700 UKP to 5000 UKP
- Apple Powerbook, 1500-3000 UKP for video editing and production
- Apple Final Studio software 800 UKP or equivalent
- Portable HardDrive

Training

An editor can either recruit specialized videojournalists (VJs), or, in most cases, train existing staff. It can take as little as three weeks to teach an 'ignorant' print journalist how to shoot, edit and publish a functional video (here’s a typical training schedule as per Dunkley’s program):

- 1st week: trainees learn “TV language,” technical jargon and use of the camera. They are repeatedly sent on the ground for practice runs. The camera stays on the tripod.                                          
- 2nd week: trainees do more work on the ground, the camera comes off the tripod, they start breaking the baby rules of filmmaking.
- 3rd week: trainees apply their ‘video thinking’ to think past guidelines and adapt to real-life journalistic situations, building a story in terms of the medium.

During the whole process, the trainees log their shots onto computers and learn the essentials of editing. Eventually, a well-formed videojournalist can potentially ‘editorialize’ enough during the shoot to have a mere 15-minutes of footage for a 5-minute video. This greatly reduces video editing time, making it theoretically possible for a single videojournalist – or team – to produce a daily video.

Not always included in strict video training programs, it’s always a plus if VJs have some knowledge of related computer and graphics software, such as Photoshop and Flash.

For newspapers that can’t spare staffers for such a long period of time, or don’t have the financial resources to follow such a training, send out your journalists with a camera! Given sufficient dedication, background material, and an ‘eye,’ VJ can be in great part self-didactic. Editors must be aware though that most localities have strict policies concerning public filming and license approval (issues that are covered during an integral formation).

Videojournalists at work

- Be flexible with videojournalists, who might need to work around a special schedule. From Dunkley’s experience, a rotating system with three or four-day shifts is effective. In smaller newsrooms, at least one day of the week should be devoted to story research.

- Dunkley pictures the ideal newsroom as being only composed of multimedia journalists. A videojournalist is usually one of the most ‘integrated’ assets in your newsroom. Dunkley’s favorite justifications for VJ: it integrates six media, enabling the creation of video, still pictures, text, audio, promotional content and multimedia pieces). This means that VJs can be used to create a variety of alternative content when they are not out shooting or editing videos.

- Unless you have a team solely dedicated to VJ, don’t let your new VJs be blinded by the esthetics of video. As they should know, they are first and foremost journalists.

Evaluation and growth beyond                       

- The traditional metrics such as time on site and web traffic can be used as basic indicators of a video’s success, but they give no guarantee that users will come back or as to the video’s quality.

- If possible, some organizations (Press Association in the UK) offer one-day video trainings for managers and editors. This enables editors who completely lack an ‘eye’ for video to supposedly have an idea of what their videojournalists are doing, how long each stage of the video process should take, and simply being able to judge whether the final product is up to standards.

- Just as for anything published in a newspaper, there should be editorial oversight of the product. This doesn’t necessarily mean creating a special position (especially if the top editor went through the one-day training). A ten-minute daily meeting to ‘applaud’ good work can be enough.

- Work with what you have. A small newsroom may have few staffers with a particularly talented video eye, but there will almost always be people with some background: usually a photographer, but even a movie critic or fan can bring useful insight as a ‘video editor.’

- Don’t settle for success once the first videos are published, have attracted some traffic and bolstered your multimedia offerings. According to Dunkley, a trained videojournalist can teach much of his or her trade to a fellow colleague. So consider your first VJs as being your new trainers, and set up a schedule for staffers.
 

Beating television at its own game

Revenue streams from newspapers’ online video are still relatively limited but within a few years, Dunkley expects the emergence of news agencies specialized in aggregating and distributing newspapers’ video content. He also predicts the emergence of newspaper video channels on television.

Although he doesn’t know how soon, he is convinced that, in the same way a user may now go to a website to read his favorite columnist, people will go to newspaper websites for their video content (instead of TV websites).

Why would videos produced by newspapers potentially be better, or sell better, than those produced by TV specialists?

For four possible reasons:

- Paradoxically, newspapers’ videojournalism may be more innovative precisely because they aren’t burdened by “TV luggage,” the mindframe and methods used by TV.

- Also because video – whether online or in general – is televisions’ stock and trade, so TV stations have been reluctant so far to give away all of their content online for free.

- Newspapers may add an opinion and partisan component to VJ that the BBC’s 900 journalists aren’t allowed to, away from the ‘objective’ two-legged approach. Just as people read a paper for its opinion pieces and editorials, users will watch newspaper videos with those expectations.

- Whereas TV works on a fixed schedule with a quick roll rate for news, newspapers can bring the layering and follow-ups they already do in print or online. A video can become a departing point for a detailed investigation, linking to articles, pictures, and more.

With tools in hand, a booming market for online video and many programs to help editors establish videojournalism, there should be few reasons not to give it a try… We'll be back with Dunkley soon for more about specific video strategies implemented in newsrooms.

Related articles:
- "In the future online video will be the norm for all newspapers," with David Dunkley and Paul Hartley
- New Nielsen/NetRatings criteria could spark Web site changes
- David Dunkley’s viewmagazine.tv, for all information about videojournalism

Source: David Dunkley