What is a vlog, anyway?

Simply put, a vlog is a video version of a blog, or a podcast. Like blogs and podcasts, vlogs feature a person or persons sharing information, opinions or a perspective on a certain issue or topic. The tone is usually more informal and conversational than your general news report, and they’re produced regularly, often once a week.

There are vlogs on travel, beauty, technology, gaming, hobbys, politics – just about anything. If you can talk about it, you can vlog it.

You don’t need expensive equipment to vlog (Photo: Kyle James)

Vlog characteristics

–One or more people talk to the camera. Even if talking about more serious issues, like current events or political developments, vlogs have a more informal style and usually try to bring in the personality of the person or people who are in front of the camera. The reporter may share their personal stories or points of view.

One of the reasons people like vlogs is that they seem more conversational and authentic, rather than highly scripted like a TV news report. In this age of social media and sharing, authenticity and personality is highly valued, more so than slick production techniques. The vlog below was done at a media training workshop in Cambodia. While you might not understand what the speaker is saying in Khmer, you can tell she’s got charisma and can connect with the audience.

–They aren’t too long. Web video is often shorter than produced TV reports. In this era of shortened attention spans, shorter is often sweeter when it comes to vlogs. Usually aim for no longer than five minutes.

–They’re produced regularly. Like blogs, vlogs need to be updated regularly, like a series. You want to build interest and have people keep coming back. If you wait a month between updates, interest will start to wane. Luckily, vlogs are not that hard to produce.

—Production can be simple. Often, a vlog is simply a person talking to the camera in his or her home or office. There’s no need for elaborate sets or backdrops.

—The equipment can be basic, too. Many vloggers use the web cameras on their computers to record the videos. Or you can use a digital camera’s video function or smartphone and upload the video to YouTube. But remember, you want to have good audio. So use a good microphone with your video recording device, or at least position yourself close to any device’s built-in mic. There’s not much other equipment necessary.

–Editing can be simple. Keep your edits simple, at least at first. Learn how to edit the beginning and end of the video and add a title. Later on, you can add in transitions and other more advanced edits. There are many software editing options out there, either pre-installed on your computer or free and low-cost options on the internet (Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, etc. Techradar published this list of free programs, but just do a search and you’ll find plenty of other options.) YouTube now has its own video editor you might want to check out.

–Vloggers engage with their audience. Good vloggers are good at talking to their audience. It’s like having a short conversation with them. The beginning should be interesting, or people will click away. And it’s a good idea to ask a question and encourage people to write comments on YouTube or your own site. If they can interact, they’re more likely to come back. (Although be warned, vloggers should have a thick skin to deal with unpleasant or highly critical comments that might pop up.)

–Successful vloggers build and maintain a fan base/community. Many vloggers start their own YouTube channels, ask for topics ideas and even respond to comments in their vlog entries. They upload on a regular schedule (say, every Wednesday morning), and publicize the vlog updates on other social media channels.

Finding a vlog topic to report about

Vlogs might be about providing analysis of a news development, discussing the reporting of a story, or giving a wrap-up of the week’s news.

At a recent workshop on multimedia journalism I helped teach in Cambodia, journalists at the Women’s Media Centre brainstormed about what kind of vlogs they could create with minimal fuss that would appeal to their audience.

Photo: Kyle James

One group decided to discuss the issue of traffic safety in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. The debut vlog entry looked at the importance of wearing a helmet when riding a scooter. Standing in front of her scooter, the vlogger talked for about three minutes about her own experience with an accident, but also brought in accident statistics and addressed what the law says on the matter.

Another group tackled the issue of the changing nature of relationships among older people. And a third group, whose vlog you saw earlier in the post, decided to take a lighter route, focusing on dating –  a serious topic in Cambodia. Once the vlog was posted and promoted on the station’s Facebook page, it got around 30 views within 10 minutes.

Online vlogging resources

For more information on vlogging, with step-by-step guides to getting set up, production, starting a YouTube channel, and promoting your blog, check out some of the sites below.

• Vlog Nation
• Simple Vlogging Tips
• How to Be a Vlogger
• 4 Tips to Help You Start Blogging
• How To Start a Vlog: A Beginner’s Guide

RELATED ONMEDIA POSTS ABOUT TRENDS
Using compact cameras to make great TV
Tow Center study focuses on video journalism

Written by Kyle James, edited by Kate Hairsine

A new report, Video Now: The Form, Cost, and Effect of Video Journalism, produced by Professor Duy Linh Tu, of Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, has examined the video production of several American newspapers and online media organisatons.

It’s well worth watching the whole report.

The responses from producers and editors are both candid and insightful, especially regarding time and staff required to produce video and the number of views their pieces attract.

The report is divided into separate chapters that explore video produced at newspapers, digital media outlets such as Mashable and NowThis News and long format video journalism producers such as Vice, Frontline and MediaStorm.

A number of quotes in the report stood out.

Mashable’s Bianca Consunji spoke about producing fun and shareable video to attract high user clicks/views that in turn subsidize the journalism that her colleagues want to do.

“The best way to get more views is to get people to react to it. It’s something that they could either relate to, something that they feel is important that they should share with their friends. And I think that’s really the direction of video right now; it’s about social sharing.”

OnMedia has previously looked at the trend of producing news video for mobile platforms such as Instagram.
Steven Belser of NowThis News sums up why they concentrate on producing for video content for smartphones:

“We wanted to create a product that lived on the platforms that everyone lived on. And so it was targeted for your mobile devices, it was made specifically for the consumer who is kind of on the go. And I think we assessed the landscape and we found that the content that really performs well on those products is short, and it’s to the point.”

And while producing short online video is something we hear a lot about, it’s encouraging to hear how media organizations such as MediaStorm and Vice have clearly demonstrated that quality long form video has a huge online audience.

Vice’s Shane Smith says:

“People want to watch longform video. They don’t want to watch things that are two minutes long. They want to watch things that are 20 minutes long or an hour long.”

Lessons learned

And while this study focuses on US media organizations, it offers some very useful recommendations that could be applied or adapted to newspapers and online media outlets in other countries that are producing web and mobile video.

These include:

– Online video news producers should meet and share their knowledge and experience in dedicated conferences;
– People consume news by subject not by the medium. Video should accompany other content rather than stand alone in a video section;
– Newsrooms should think about producing both long and short videos;
– New viewers should be attracted and engaged through social media such Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Vine;
– Newsrooms should try a two team approach to producing video. For example, reporters can shoot and send video with smartphones, while trained VJ’s can produce more sophisticated video stories.

Importantly, the report reminds us that online news video is still evolving.

“It is still early, and video has not reached maturity. This is a great time to experiment. The technology costs are low. The potential continues to grow, and there is no clear leader yet in the field.”

Along with the Video Now report, the Tow Center also hosted a panel discussion The State of Video earlier this week.

Author: Guy Degen

Producing online video offers a lot of possibilities for creative visual storytelling – even for news items. But if you’re just starting out, honing your basic camera and editing skills and being able to produce simple formats competently will help you to take the next steps.

So far in our Getting started with video for the web series we’ve introduced you to some standard video equipment and accessories as well as discussed how to produce simple video clips and interviews.

In our final post we’ll take a look at producing short reporter dispatches and get you started with shooting simple video sequences.

Basic report from journalist

In its most basic form, this type of video is simply the reporter speaking directly to the camera from a fixed position. Broadcast journalists might refer to it as an “as live” or extended piece to camera which is aired as their report.

For solo journalists, this format is also possible with a lightweight tripod and making good use of a vantage point. For example, overlooking a demonstration. And as we mentioned in our second post, try to avoid filming either yourself or interviewees against bright backgrounds and making video reports that look like this – it doesn’t look good – either move to another position or use external lighting to correct the exposure on the face.

With a little bit of practice, and knowing how to work within the limitations of a small camcorder or a mobile phone, a journalist can produce these basic reports quickly.

And while turning the camera around and holding it at arms length from your face to record a dispatch is not really ideal for good video quality, it might be a technique to use for quick updates when covering breaking news – either record and upload your report or use a live video stream application on a smartphone such as Bambuser. There are a number of examples of Wall Street Journal reporters using iPhones to record these dispatches in this way.

There are of course variations on this basic format.

If you want to produce something more elaborate that looks more like a short TV package, you’ll need to use your video editing software (or an editing application on a mobile phone) to overlay images of scenes, objects or action that are relevant in your report. Or you could insert a clip from an interview.

Your studio or newsroom could also adapt this technique to a reporter Q&A / two-way from the field. The reporter finds a good vantage point, then records answers to questions they hear through headphones connected to a second mobile phone, or questions set beforehand by the newsroom sent to them by email or SMS. The journalist then compresses and sends the video clip answers back to the newsroom. The anchor/presenter could either record their questions live, if they are directly speaking to reporter by phone, or they could be pre-recorded in studio, and mixed together with the video answers for a bulletin, or as a video Q&A for online coverage.

Some media organizations may use this technique in place of a live two-way interview – “Earlier I spoke to our correspondent…”

Tips

– Find a good vantage point or position, where possible think story context
– Marking your standing position can help when composing and focusing your shot or if you have to move
– Use an external mic if background noise is very loud
– Record a few seconds and playback to check your framing and audio
– Plan the points you want to make, and know the point to end on.

Filming sequences

Watch a film or television news and you will start to see how a scene or some sort of action is often edited together in a sequence using a variety of shots.

If you want to produce short video stories you will need to start practicing how to film sequences – telling your story in pictures.

Wide, medium, close-up, extreme close-up, over the shoulder – these are just some of the terms you might hear from camera operators to describe shots they produce to film a scene or some action.

Here’s a very simple example of filming a variety of shot and matching them together to build a sequence. No it’s not breaking news, just your author launching an internet radio app on his iPad. But try doing something similar at home for practice. You could film anything. Film the process of making a cup of tea, or collecting mail from your letter box. And in the spirit of this web video series where we’ve focused on using small camcorders, we shot and edited this example using an iPhone.

Again, the key thing to remember is to film a variety of shots – when you have a variety of shots you have more options for editing. You’ll often hear trainers refer to filming five shots – in other words, aim to film at least five different shots for each scene, event or action to help you build a sequence.

That’s good advice. But if you have time, shoot five and a couple more. And always look for opportunities to shoot from interesting angles – a shot that surprises your audience will help keep up their interest. If you’re looking for inspiration, we love this example from film maker Philip Bloom.

Tips

– Plan. A little bit of planning always save lots of time
– Make a list of shots you think you will need to tell your story
– Record each shot for at least 10 seconds
– Remember to breath calmly and stay relaxed when filming handheld
– Film a variety of shots. Aim for at least 5 shots in each setting/scene
– Look for interesting angles. Move your feet rather than use the camera zoom
– Be aware of not “crossing the line” when filming a subject
– Be careful to avoid making handling noises that your camcorder or mobile phone mic may pick up

What next?

Keep practicing, and have fun! Developing your camera, editing and video storytelling skills takes time. But once you’ve mastered the basics look for opportunities to be creative. Online video doesn’t have to be the same as TV news. Analyze and deconstruct good examples of video journalism on leading news websites such as the Guardian and New York Times. Borrow and adapt from other visual storytelling genres. For example, take a look at our blog post on different approaches to video vox pops. Or, experiment with innovative web video tools such as Mozilla Popcorn Maker.

And finally, if you want to stay up to date with the latest camcorders, video equipment and discussions about video for the web formats, it’s worth following the hashtag #onlinevideo on Twitter.

Additional resources

Vimeo Video School

Links to DW Akademie blog posts on video

Basic video shooting tips: lynda.com tutorial

Shooting tips for small screen content: lynda.com

Author: Guy Degen

Remember, your camera is a tool for telling stories and no camera is perfect for every situation you’ll encounter. Importantly, try to become familiar with the operation of your camera.

– Know how to operate the focus controls
– Know how to manually adjust the main exposure settings of  S-I-N-G: shutter speed, iris, neutral density and gain;
– Know how to adjust audio settings
– Know under what conditions your camera produces its best images
– Know the limitations of your camera: this will help your planning and workflow

Really, what it comes down to is practice. Video for the web offers you the chance to use almost any camcorder. But no matter what camera you have, you need to start clocking up the hours of using it under a variety of conditions. Practice. When you are comfortable and confident in using your video camera you can concentrate more on your story.

In this post, while you’re still practicing with your camera and equipment, we’ll introduce some basic video for the web formats that will hopefully offer some ideas that you could apply or adapt to your online stories and newsroom workflow.

Video clip

A short video clip is the most basic form of video for the web content to produce and it offers a very simple way of adding a multimedia element to your story.

Video clips can be used to give more meaning to your story subject, or help to explain or illustrate a point. A video clip can also be the element that attracts the audience to your story, especially if it is shared via social media. Or, it might be the multimedia element that your audience explores first before reading the rest of your story.

Short web video clips are probably at their strongest when they show “the moment when” something happened. The meteor explosion over Russia captured on video by CCTV and by dashboard mounted video cameras in cars is one example. Another recent example was the Boston Marathon explosions filmed by staff photographers of the Boston Globe newspaper.

Wall Street Journal reporters are now equipped with iPhones and file a range of video for the web content to their WorldStream section and the WSJ social media networks. The planning, purpose and quality of the video content produced by reporters varies considerably. Given that it is mainly mobile video you expect production to be a bit rough and ready. But this example below showing the passenger ship Costa Concordia aground in Italy does a very simple thing well – the journalist was on board a vessel passing the ship and just kept the camera was steady to produce a quick clip. Nothing fancy. It’s short and simple and illustrates the scene. Click the image to watch.

Here’s another example of how a video clip could be used for online news. A couple of years ago I was with journalists reporting on a fire that had started within a government office building in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It was a chaotic scene of firefighters, police and office workers trying to put out the fire. There was a lack of working fire extinguishers and it was hard for fire crews to get adequate water pressure to the fifth floor. For an online news story this short 23 second clip filmed with an older iPhone 3GS could give the audience a good sense of what was actually happening at the scene. And by the way, the office on fire reportedly contained records of land titles.

Tips

– Keep it short and simple
– Whenever possible, plan your shot. Avoid “hosing the garden” with your camera
– Rather than trying to film everything, filming one important thing for your story is better
– Hold your camera steady and try to avoid handling noises
– Trim your video and upload the best part that adds value to your story
– We’ll say it once here because even big newspapers have done it, hold your camera the right way to avoid VVS: Vertical Video Syndrome

Video interview

A video interview is the bread and butter of web video content. You can offer your online audience a short interview, or perhaps just use a strong clip that helps to explain a particular point. Whatever you do, if you get it right you’ll have a good visual element that’s relatively simple to produce to include in your story. Get it wrong and your audience will get bored and click back to Facebook.

If you’re filming on your own, think about producing a straightforward interview with your interview partner – either standing or seated.

A tripod or monopod is going to help you produce a better quality interview – no shaky cam and getting tired arms from holding the camera during the interview.

For this type of basic interview you would ask your interviewee to look at you when they answer questions instead of looking down the lens.

Importantly, try to get the eyes of the subject, the lens of the camera, and your eyes at about the same height.

If you’re working with small cameras you probably won’t be carrying lighting equipment. So, think carefully about using available sources light effectively. Look to where the light is coming from. Move your camera and position your interviewee accordingly.

Have a look at the slideshow to see some examples of working with just the available light in a variety of conditions. View in full screen and click on show info in the top right hand corner for details on each shot. We’ll add more examples, both good and what to avoid.

Tips
– avoid filming your subject against a bright/white background (see example in slideshow)
– think about the Rule of Thirds in composing your shot for interviews
– leave some space at the bottom of the frame (lower third) if you need to add a name and title
– turn mobile phones off to avoid interference or distractions
– use Airport or Offline mode for filming with mobile phones to avoid incoming calls
– avoid interviews in rooms with surfaces that produce hard sounds or echo, for e.g. a tiled bathroom
– use an external mic where possible and avoid locations with loud background noise
– if your camera/mobile phone lacks headphone output, record a few seconds, playback to check audio levels

In our next post we’ll take a look at producing short video dispatches and how to start filming sequences.

Author: Guy Degen

Keep it simple, keep it short and a little bit of planning helps of lot.

That’s probably the best advice for anyone who needs to start producing video for the web content.

It goes without saying that we’d recommend you do a proper video for the web course. Or even better, a video journalist course to learn more about the techniques of filming and the craft of visual storytelling.

But if you’re looking for some tips to get started, our blog series on producing video for the web will cover some of the basics and point you in the right direction for online resources.

Which camera?

Trainers will tell you this is a question that comes up in every video course. The big question you need to ask yourself is: what is the purpose of the video I need to produce? Short clips? Interviews? Feature stories? That’s going to guide you to what sort of camera will be appropriate for your needs. Below is an overview, but also check out this short video guide.

Smartphones

All major brands of smartphones have cameras that offer video recording in a codec such as .mp4 or .mov. Smartphones are useful for quick video clips and interviews. The position of microphones on smartphones is sometimes not helpful for capturing good audio, so to produce better quality video use an external microphone if a cable or adapter is available for your phone. Remember, smartphones are small and light, but that makes it harder to produce a steady shot hand-held.

Pocket camcorders and point & shoot cameras

Yes, you could say that pocket camcorders such as the Flip or Kodak range have been largely superseded by the growth of better smartphones offering HD video. But models such as the Kodak Zi8 and PlayTouch offered an external mic-input – a valuable addition. Most small point & shoot digital cameras have a movie function, and like smartphones, are OK for quick video clips or interviews so long as the interview subject’s voice is not drowned out by background noise. And remember, just like smartphones, pocket camcorders and small point & shoot digital cameras will be hard to hold steady hand-held – a tripod or monopod will be useful for stability.

DSLR’s

The video functions on many DSLR and mirror-less micro four-thirds cameras can produce stunning video – an advantage of having a large sensor. This is really useful for photographers who may need to file video clips at events they are covering. There are few of drawbacks to consider. For example, mic input – not all DSLRs have it. And you’ll most likely find that in good lighting conditions you’ll need to add an ND filter to your lens, especially if you’re filming at a standard video frame rates such as 24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames a second.

Video camcorders

Obviously there is a wide range of camcorders from consumer models through to professional VJ camcorders. In short, a video camcorder should offer the advantages of a good lens, in-built ND filters, plus an external mic input (either 3.5mm or XLR) and headphone output to monitor audio.

Good exposure and working with available light

Most journalists working with small camcorders, smartphones or pocket camcorders probably won’t be carrying lighting equipment. So, think carefully about how to use the available sources light effectively. This will mean looking for good sources of natural light, and working with whatever practical lights are available.

If you have manual settings on your camera, try to use them to stay in control of exposure. Setting the correct exposure on your camera means adjusting your iris / aperture (F-stops), shutter speed, neutral density or gain. And, make sure you’re using the correct white balance setting.

If you start producing a lot of video, then a small inexpensive LED panel may worth considering for your kit – even one panel supported on a small flexible tripod could be useful.

This short video tutorial from the Vimeo Video School is an useful introduction to the principles of setting the correct exposure and filming with available light.

Audio

A good microphone will improve web video quality

Small cameras are often used for web video, but we can not stress enough the importance of good quality audio. Good video needs good audio. Where possible, use a video camera that allows you to plug in an external mic. But if you do not have a camera with an external mic, you need to think carefully about the conditions you are filming in. There’s nothing worse than watching an interview in a crowded room, say at a conference, where you can’t hear what the subject is saying because there is too much background noise.

Basic equipment checklist before filming

It doesn’t matter what type of camera or camcorder you have, there will be some essential things to think about before you head out of the newsroom.

Battery             – charged? Do I need spare batteries or external power?
Audio                – microphone: Is it the right type for this job? Fluffy wind cover?
Headphones  –  if you can: ALWAYS USE HEADPHONES
Memory           – have I got enough recording space? Do I need extra cards?
Tripod              – steady shots? Interviews? Or use a monopod?

Online resources

– Vimeo Video School

– Choosing a camera

– Introduction to DSLR cameras

– Overview of older HDV Cameras

– 5 pocket video camcorder tips

In Part 2 of Getting started with video for the web, we’ll take a look at producing basic interviews and short video clips.

Author/Photos: Guy Degen