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Still open to suggestions regarding the Videojournalism textbook for high schools. See post immediately below for the overview and table of contents. Read and let me know what is missing or you don’t need.
Here’s a summary of feedback so far from teachers and co-authors, plus some re-thinking on my part.
Can we just begin with the gear section?
I would guess many teachers would rather cut to the chase and focus on teaching writing, shooting, editing and not begin with history/law/ethics.
No – in fact we may expand that section. This is a book introducing students to videojournalism. A very big part of VJ is ethics, knowledge of history and law, albeit an overview. Ethics is the heart and soul of journalism. Knowledge of rights protects journalists. History helps you understand why things are done a certain way.
We will (in the teacher’s PowerPoints) change the order in which you have to teach. I understand that getting gear into student hands as soon as possible is a great way to excite them about the class and its possibilities….but these lessons have to be in there early so students know what they can/cannot do.
Christine Stricker wants more on scriptwriting. Me too…I admit it is an area I struggle with. I’ve developed some short lessons and templates (and suggest LOTS of practice) to help. We’ll include fact sheets and raw video with interviews to assist in that area.
The suggested “do’s” and “don’ts” brought up something we’d used in the past – giving good and bad examples. We will try to incorporate as many of those as possible into the book (both in text and video examples).
One of our original considerations/now a firm decision is to include a DVD with raw video, examples and in the teacher edition PowerPoint lesson plans with video embedded to drive home points/he.p students visualize lessons.
The questions is – would that help? Would teachers prefer completed examples or perhaps also raw video files that students can view and log and then write their own scripts and edit?
Also in teacher edition – national standards? A guide to tie in with your state standards? Interested? Let us know.
Angela – thanks for the mention in your blog. I welcome professional input, but the book is meant to be a basic beginner book for high school students. Please please send me your input…but I need to keep this focused on my target audience. (I do want input on the newsroom flow though…what works/what doesn’t…how a video story progresses through a newsroom and onto the web.)
We are also trying to avoid being product specific as much as possible. Technology is changing so rapidly that we can’t get into how to use one camera/program to shoot/edit. By the time we go to print, it will have changed.
Lisa touched on something we will include – a resources chapter with recommended websites/links/etc. The best way to stay current is to use the Internet as much as possible.
Which brings up another point. What FORMAT would this work best in?
Larry keeps returning to the idea of a binder or spiral-bound book so that material can be changed easily. Then book would be a workbook – a consumable.
Is there a preference for such a book or is the traditional bound book preferable? You let us know. (I kind of lean towards Larry’s idea. He is the practical one.)
So keep emailing/adding comments.
One fun thing I’ve learned – I contacted my district curriculum person about using the book in binders for a trial run next term (Spring 08) and was told it needed to be approved by the curriculum committee. Apparently what I use as teacher-generated materials in class is different when I put it in a binder (and mention it is a precursor to a book).
Note to myself 10/01/08
Ya know…this makes a good notebook (as I’m about to head out the door to pick up a van load of students for a field trip to Caples Lake).
Question: Where did I put the chapter on converting video to files and types of files and getting it on the Internet?
Answer: in the back of my brain of course. Mentally told myself we need something in that area and then forgot to note down. This should be the final chapter – almost. Once you’ve exported to the correct file format – then what?
Well, I’m always prepping my gear the minute I’m through using it…mentally preparing for the next story. Actively looking for the next story. It never ends.
For the past couple of years I’ve been casually working on my “book.” (Yeah Lens…I know. Every journalist has a book inside him – and that’s where it should stay.)
This whole thing began more than five years ago when Larry Nance and I sat down and tried to design a workbook for a class we wanted to put on at our local community college. It has morphed, been field tested, and is expanding to a point where I don’t think we can call it a workbook any more. Now Larry and I are both VERY experienced (read aging) and need to finish our epic within our life spans…and Kathy Newell has hopped on board to help out.
What WAS a workbook about video production in general is now (nearly) a textbook focusing on videojournalism aimed at high schools (maybe a bit higher/maybe a bit lower). It is a combination of hands-on exercises, lessons, and a bit of ethics, history, and law thrown in.
What I need now is some input from you teachers (and learners) out there. Here is (tentatively) what’s in the book, by chapter. YOU tell me what isn’t in there that you want/need.
Controlling Chaos
Objectives
The New Paradigm
Where We’ve Been
- One Minute History of Journalism
- Photojournalism
-A Slice in Time/history of broadcast cameramen
What’s the Law?
- First Amendment
- Hazelwood, Tinker, and Bong Hits 4 Jesus
- Open Forum v. Class
Beyond Law: Ethics
- Overview
- Professional Codes of Ethics
- Scenarios
What changes and what doesn’t (gear vs. process)
Gear
- Tape
- Other media
- Camera(s)
- Tripods
- Mikes
- Lights
- Other accessories
Composition
- Rule of Thirds
- Weighing In On Light and Dark
- Strong Foregrounds
Light
– The Color of Light
– The Hand Trick
– Natural Light
– Supplemental Lights
– Light Experiment
– Light Summary
Audio
– Audio as an Equal Partner
– Mikes
– Nats
– Miking an Interview or Standup
– Listen and Monitor
– Shooting/editing tips to save bad audio
– Highs and Hazards of Music
Shooting
– Procedures
– Basic shots
– Axis Rule
– Sequencing
– Patterns
– Angles
– In-camera editing
– Shooting ratios
– Interview Framing
Shooting Interviews
– Implied consent
– Conducting an interview
– Checklist for interviews
Boring But Gotta Be Done: Logging Tape
Producing Order from Chaos: Writing the Script
- Storytelling
- Beginning/Middle/End
- Hit Audience with Strongest First
- Objective Voice
- VJ Voice
Narration
– Reading narration properly
Editing
– Overview and Media Management
– Editing video
– Editing Sound
– Adding Titles
– Narration
– B-roll
– Covering an Interview
– Using Stills (and Freeze Frames)
Assignments
– Basic shots
– Interview
– Simple assignment
– Field story
– Research PowerPoint
– Data Collection
Forms
Terms and definitions
Resources
Handouts
Basic Camera Diagram/parts
Basic Tripod Diagram/parts
Right now I’m down to the hard stuff (for me)…stuff VJs do every day, but is hard to define – hard to tie down. I’ve been able, through this blog, to analyze a lot of what I did in broadcast news…except the writing. Even production is easier. But it is coming together. I wish I could remember who said that writing cannot be taught – it must be learned. At the time I saw that quote, I felt the same way about shooting and editing.
Tomorrow I meet with my two co-authors/collaborators. We’ll discuss what needs to be done to finish up, what illustrations we’ll need and how to go about acquiring them, how we will publish and distribute.
But we’re keeping our ears open for your input – what do YOU need/want in a textbook. Let us know.
Now what is THAT about?
The new header….just looks like a buncha boxes with light. And that, my readers, is exactly what it is. Some brain up at the state fair (Cal Expo to you out of staters) got the bright idea (pun intentional) to make a line of boxes with a different temperature florescent bulb in each box….so you could SEE how light has different temps.
Ya gotta love it.
Yeah – please do raise your hand. You are a techno-geek with all of the goodies and know how to use them. And (more than anyone else) you know it isn’t the goodies that make good video…it’s the mind and eye behind the camera.
How many of you have this fun rush every year (details may vary, depending on location, state, time of year)? Mine is called senior project…and I should have seen it coming last year when we produced our very first senior class at McNair High School. Each senior is responsible for a research paper and a physical product. The latter means show something that proves you learned a skill, a concept…whatever.
So last year a couple of seniors in my broadcasting class used video in their projects to demonstrate what they had learned. They realized the potential of video as a tool.
A few weeks ago I meandered through the admin part of the school and was cruising through this year’s crop of posters produced by seniors…posters had the name of the project and how they would prove what they learned. Oops. In a casual count, about 1/4 or more were making videos. I could see the tsunami heading my way, so put out a quick advisory to senior teachers. Do NOT even ALLOW your seniors to come to me on short notice expecting to borrow equipment or learn what I teach in one day.
But (not wanting to be a total spoilsport) I did demur. Next week during fall break I’m putting on a workshop for seniors only – a basic video production for dummies on how to pull off making a quick and dirty video with minimal gear. Will repeat after school later in October.
So why soften up? Reality. The kids are gonna make the videos – not matter what. Then when it looks bad or they just can’t figure it out, they’ll turn up on my doorstep, one by one, with big brown eyes pleading for help. The only sensible way to do this is to simplify and make them responsible. Give them the basic information they need so they can have some kind of success. And keep it simple. Students need to realize there are limits – they need to set realistic goals.
Not that I’m against setting high goals. But if you barely know how to run a camera and have no concept of production values, keep it simple. Know what your gear (and you) can do. And please keep your audience in mind and be kind.
Yeah…I’m one hard case all right.
Mexicanos, viva Mexico! Mexican independence from Spain is celebrated today. And no, don’t correct me by saying that Cinco de Mayo is the day. The fight to regain their country began in 1810 on the 16th of September. The new government took power in 1821 after more than ten years of fighting.
But those pesky Europeans weren’t to be kept away that easily…they came back in force (Spaniards, British and French) to collect debts (and land if they could grab it). Cinco de Mayo celebrates a victory against the French forces, which did not accept warrants guaranteeing eventual repayment.
Enough history for now. I’ve been collecting ideas and scraps of newspaper (yeah…I am one of those) that have tickled my mind. It’s time to bring them out for exposure and discussion. If the first segment dithers on, here’s what will crawl across your retina this morning:
*remedial classes for entering college freshmen
*support my favorite author
*a weighty issue regarding VJ gear
“College spend billions to prep freshmen.” That’s a headline in my local rag over an AP story. Now there’s a story worthy of any high school paper…and it can be localized easily. Students graduating from high schools with high grades who need to take remedial courses. Who’s at fault for students not learning? First off – I heartily commend the colleges for refusing to lower their standards. If a student can’t hack it, they should not take full college fare. Remedial classes help them catch up.
Now the snipe hunt begins. Let’s blame the high school teachers – they were the last to have hands on and pass these kids. Oops…but the high school teachers say they’re getting kids out of middle schools who are unprepared. And the finger-pointing goes all the way down the path, including uninvolved parents and society in general.
Take a look around at your school or school district. Find out how many of your local college-bound students hit the hard wall of reality and have to take remedial courses just to understand and pass those regular classes. Is grade inflation at the high school level to blame…poor teaching…poor communication of what colleges expect? Let me know when you get the story.
Ever diverging and crossing paths. 1974 – I land my first job as a TV news photog and get the night shift and reporter Joann Lee. One intense year for both of us in the trenches…she with at least two or three more months on the job than me. We developed the kind of bond that can last a life-time, based on our unique status as only cameraWOman and Asian in our jobs at that time in the Northern California region.
In Sunday’s SF Chronicle (9/14/08) there’s a review of her second book, written in a style she excels at – the interview. “Asian Americans in the Twenty-First Century.” Haven’t read it yet, but will always support my local (or very distance yet close) author.
Head scratcher: why are TV stations converting photogs to VJs and hiring new folks as VJs and MAKING THEM DO THE SAME DAMN JOB THEY DO ALREADY? Plus, of course, more. Got this from perusing numerous job sites.
Newspapers have it right to some extent. Videojournalism is all about being portable and being able to shoot and produce on your own.
Broadcasters are sending their crew (or is it person now?) out with the live truck, the twenty or thirty pound camera with heavy tripod, light kit. The works. Why?
In the 1970s a cameraman shot with a reporter…sometimes they were lucky and had a sound person. With live trucks came engineers (bless them).
Well some smartie figures out that cameramen could run live trucks. Ouch. Job pressure and danger increased…all that running back and forth between live shot and truck. One station (KXTV) lost a fine photojournalist – Dick Terry when in the rush between truck and shot he fell and impaled a stake through his eye. Trooper that he was, he did the live shot and THEN went on for medical care. He didn’t make it.
Now the job of reporting and shooting and editing and running the live truck all fall on one person.
Come on – just give us (well, really your employees) a break. Quit living in a world where you have to impress folks with the size and cost of your gear and look at quality and weight and portability. You may be surprised at the results. Happy people work harder.
Oh – and rethink that live truck policy too.
Uh-oh. 6:25am and time to skedaddle to school. But before I go – why the heck am I getting so many hits for folks looking up “three daughters” online? Baffling. If you’re one of them, let me know.
Sometimes ya just can’t get your head into a story. That was the case with the annual Lodi Grape Festival this week. I went by Wednesday evening to shoot the grape murals – nothing. I knew I had to put something out this weekend for the Lodi News Sentinel, but the motivation wasn’t there.
So how do you shoot a story if there is no “there” there? What do you do if you’ve done it so often you think you’ve done all there is to do? Well, if you’re lucky, something about the assignment grabs you – but at times you need to go out and find something to grab. You have to dig, look, really examine.
I went back yesterday…and wandered and wandered. And wandered.
Now I’ve been going to this event since I was – ??? Seven or eight?? Fifty years with a few years skipped. The wandering, as could be expected, turned into a trip down memory lane…and something began to wiggle on my camera hand. A shot here. Another there. Not a story…just a few flashes of a vision.
Went out to check on the husband, who was playing bingo – in our family we call it Bingo for Meat because if you win, you get a ham or a brat. Almost thought that was the story…no…maybe next year.
For a while I tried to convince myself that the folks buying and sipping wine would be the story…but it wasn’t.
Through the Fine Arts exhibits and commercial buildings…and kept checking out what has to be the strangest show I’ve seen at a fair. A greenscreen setup. Plop down your bucks and sit on stool with a few friends and allow yourself to be draped with lime green cloth. The proprietor turns on the music and – voila – there you are/well at least there your head is – dancing on a cartoon character body in exotic locales. Possibility for a story.
Out to the midway…and up in the sky a giant ball soars. Another quirky possibility – the Slingshot. Get strapped into a cage and be propelled into the sky and jerked back by giant bungees.
Now I’m beginning to get shots and sound and interviews. I still don’t know if I have a focus. I am getting video.
Back through the Fine Arts building…hmmmm. There is a trio of teens hiding behind one of the display tables. They’re relaxing and joking. Oh. And charging a cellphone. The nerve of them – stealing public electricity! A few quick questions and it seems to be taking shape.
This isn’t a single focus story – it is a look at an event through a prism. Light coming in and scattering in unexpected directions. Facets that appear to reflect one thing, but shimmer into another. A community coming together…young, old, resident, stranger…in the mystery and grandeur of darkness. Okay, so now my fingers are flipping along with words…I’ve logged the sound and interviews and it is now time to put it to proof.
Watch this space…I’ve put the youtube url above so you can see how it looks. As soon as the Sentinel posts, I’ll switch to their site.
Finally it’s happening…I’m settling into a routine at school and home and life is beginning to be good again.
Not totally – the two English Support classes for second language learners are a bit rough. I’m going to workshops to learn how to teach them effective writing, so we’re muddling through this together.
Today all but a handful of these students were in for CELDT testing…to check their English skills. So the three I had in first period and the two in second period got some personal instruction in – of course – video production. One even liked it enough to stay through his lunch period (he’s a keeper).
Broadcasting has settled into a somewhat chaotic routine. The students are done with Basic Shots, Animations (I have GOT to get permission to post some of these – they are amazing), and are working on their Research PowerPoints and Autobiographies.
The new routine, begun last spring, is that after the basics, they must bring me assignments. I do, of course, offer up general work – be the video producer for football, wrestling, etc. But I want them to think and look around and write proposals. I’ve heard talk about a music video here and a movie short there. Some students are checking out the contests I post up in the front of the room.
All the while they will be learning some basics of news writing, shooting, editing…but the bulk of their grade after this will be generated by them. After all…isn’t this the way it is in the real world?
It’s been a few years since I hosted a Digital Day. Right now I’m waiting for a new “toy” – a betacam deck, which should be here by next week. Old technology you say? Not me – with a pile of my own tapes and a whole slew of Willie Kee tapes that need to be digitized, I call it current tech. Plus it’s a draw for old comrades who want to spend some time together watching themselves bumble around in their youth.
So if you’re in the area, the (fifth???) somewhat annual Digital Days are coming up – date to be determined, but I’m guessing later this month or early next month. What do you bring? Your enthusiasm and your toys. I show you mine, you show me yours. There’ll be folks who still struggle with turning on a computer to experts and everything in between. This is NOT a public event – just like-minded spirits converging in time and space for a few hours of companionship.
Angela Grant may have a date with Gustav this week, so I’ll be posting a few submissions to newsvideographerthis week to help her out. Go on over and take a gander.
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