Sona Patel

So our Tahoe trip has been postponed because of rain.  Unfortunately, it has been raining in Reno since we arrived last weekend.  Definitely wasn’t expecting that, but I guess we’ll figure out a way to work around it.

We were issued video cameras on Friday to use for our video projects.  I didn’t get a chance to test mine out because we don’t have tapes for them yet, but I’m guessing it’ll function similar to the Sony Hard Disk Drive camera I use at home.  That said, I don’t have a project idea yet.  If you have tips, please share!  I’ll probably do a tourist/destination piece on Lake Tahoe and the area where Bonanza! was filmed.  I’m looking to get more practice on lighting techniques, setting white balance and learning video settings rather than producing content.  Bottom line, I’m trying to get out of my comfort zone!

One of Maynard Fellows, Henry Lopez, Web editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican, shared some tips on some of the key elements it takes to make a good video.  I learned a lot of those same tips from two multimedia training courses I attended last year: a multimedia bootcamp at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the Knight Digital Media training at UC Berkeley. John W. Poole, a producer at NPR, taught us several solid techniques, many of which are included below.

Here’s a list of tips on how to shoot video.  Henry wrote most of them, but I’ve tweaked them a little and added a few of my own points, most of which are in parenthesis.

Story idea: Have an idea of what you expect to get out of the project; be ready to change what you think you’re getting out of the project.  (You can also expect to be in a different setting than originally anticipated so be prepared for that.  Also, make sure to bring a camera cover in case of bad weather.  You don’t want to have to worry about whether you’re going to break your $5,000 camera because it’s getting wet!)

Details: Get close enough to your subject to see details. Remember, Web video requires lots of compression in which detail gets lost so get close enough to capture fine detail that survives compression.

Zooming: Don’t rely on zoom. Think positioning of your body first, zoom second.  (Also, don’t zoom unless you absolutely have to.  Same goes for panning.  Both techniques are used for taking home videos, not for work to be posted on your news organization’s Web site!  I was taught to do it if you have something to actually zoom on, i.e. don’t do it for the special effect.)

Watch the sun: Don’t get it behind your subject or they’ll be nothing but a silhouette.  (Also, don’t underestimate the amount of light in a room.  Make sure to have the proper lighting!)

…Watch the sun: Get it behind your subject when you want to create a dramatic silhouette.

Sound: Hush! Nothing will frustrate you more than hearing uh-huh, mm-hmm and yeah on your audio track. (Also make sure to avoid unnecessary background noise.  If a car drives by, politely interject and ask the subject to repeat his or her answer.  If you’re interviewing inside a home, politely ask if the subject would be willing to turn off, let’s say, the refrigerator, to eliminate any humming, buzzing, or clicking in the background.  Also, lapel mics should be fed inside clothing.  It’s a bit of an inconvenience for your subject, but it looks so much better on the screen.)  Oh, and have a microphone.  You. must. have. an. external. microphone!

Get comfortable with your subjects: Talk to your subjects before turning on the camera. Know what they’re going to say, then let them say it on camera. Then shut up! Let them talk until they’re done. (I’ve always politely asked my subjects to repeat the question when they give an answer so as to get a full sound byte I can use.  Some people may disagree, but it’s better than coming back with a good soundbyte that I can’t use because it has no context.)

What a day. I finished my first week at the Maynard Multimedia Editing Program with a two-hour phone call with the customer service department of a communications company handling our Internet back at the apartments.

A little bit of background: The 14 Maynard fellows are staying in apartments a few miles away from campus.  We each have wireless Internet access. That is, until last night.  About four apartments lost their signal completely.  I called the company’s customer service department today (call time 56 min.) to have a technician come to the complex and address each of our connection issues.

After spending one hour trying to explain my network problems to Jane Doe, I was transferred to another rep … and a couple more after that.  Of course, like any service call, I was somehow disconnected while I was put on hold. Go figure. I called again. Call time: 36 min 34 sec. Not bad. They finally sent a technician out to the apartments and all was restored by 7 p.m. Problem? The modem reset itself to its original settings. How does that happen? Your guess is as good as mine.

The whole incident reminded me of the most awkward service call I’ve ever been on.  I had recently bought a laptop that was on the fritz 10 days after I took it out of the box.  I called customer care which ended up being some guy in call center in South India. The conversation went a little something like this:

Customer Care: “Hello, this is XXXX of [computer company], how may I help you?”

Me: “Yeah, hi, I recently purchased a laptop and the speakers aren’t working.”

Customer Care: “Sure thing, ma’am. Right away ma’am. We’ll hopefully be able to resolve the problem over the phone, ma’am. Can I have your first and last name please?”

Me: “Yeah. It’s Sona. S-o-n-a, Patel. P-a-t-e-l.”

Customer Care: “Thank you ma’am. [one minute pause]. Are you from India?”

Me: “Yes. But I live in the U.S.”

Customer Care: [laughing] “Ah, yes, I can tell.”

I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I’m sure it had something to do with my “American” accent.  He didn’t resolve my issue, by the way.  He did however ask what part of India I was from, whether I had been back to India recently, and whether I had gone to college in the U.S. or in India.  I’m usually the one asking most of the questions, but not this time.

Anyway, we got the Internet fixed and now I’m happily back to Tweeting and Facbeooking in the comfort of my living room.

I’m now trying to update two blogs at once.  It’s getting a little tiring, but I’ve never used blogs.mu before (group blogging software) so its been a fun ride.

We just finished our fourth day of class for the Maynard Program.  Today was non-stop learning, but at a good pace.  We started off with an extensive workshop on social media led by Susan Mernit, a former VP at Netscape and AOL and senior director of product development at Yahoo! Currently, she is a consultant to the Knight Foundation, working with the Knight News Challenge, a program that gives away $5 million annually.

Mernit talked about ways to attract people to your blog and gave some tips on marketing your blog.  We also talked about privacy, and the role privacy settings play in a reporter or editor’s choice to add sources to Facebook and Twitter.  It’s a moving target, but she essentially said that it’s good to make a social media networking policy so you’re upfront on who you will or will not add to Twitter and Facebook.

She brought up a good point, mainly because my news organization does not have a social media policy.  I hope to create one when I get back.  Does your news organization have a social media policy? If so, I’d love to hear about it.

I was browsing some of the front pages around the world on the Newseum’s Web site and came across our Inauguration edition in the archives. I loved the design. Here’s hoping we have the opportunity to do more of that in the future. Definitely turns the newspaper into a keepsake, in my opinion.