For my final video project assignment, I am choosing to document the Goddard Riverside Book Fair. The event runs from Saturday, November 18th to Sunday, November 19th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is an annual fund-raising event that has been active since 1986, and has so far raised over $7 million. 85 cents of each dollar raised gets contributed to supporting early childhood and youth programs, college counseling, outreach to the homeless and more. I think it is a broad event to cover since there will be much insights and perspectives to obtain from the people attending. I will also see if I can get an exclusive interview with the manager of community and corporate engagement for this event.
With video, we build on the compositional techniques of photography and the structural, storytelling aspects of audio with one obvious additional element: Motion.
How does video storytelling for the web and mobile differ from TV and film?
Need to be CLOSER to your subject. Web videos are smaller and more compressed.
40% of online viewers leave in the first 20 seconds. Another 40% leave after a minute. So you have 20 seconds, max, to grab your viewer and make sure they stick around. Ideally less than that.
How important is audio?
Good audio is of paramount importance. If you have low-quality video and good audio, the video will still be watchable. If you have gorgeous visuals but terrible audio, it will not.
Sometimes, you can let the subjects of your video tell the story all on their own — as long as you edit with care, presenting what they’ve told you in a way that makes narrative sense. One benefit of non-narrated videos is that they can feel more organic. There’s no disembodied voice stepping in to tell the story, which keeps the focus on the characters in the story.
But sometimes, for clarity’s sake or for stylistic reasons, narration is necessary, or text.
Narrated videos
Text-Narrated videos
These are more and more popular thanks to social media distribution because they automatically start playing as you scroll through your feed and they can be watched without sound.
Non-Narrated videos
Shooting Your Video
There are two main components to any video: your interviews and your B-roll. The rules of composition we learned for photography (thirds, colors, patterns, symmetry, etc.) all apply here, but you also need to keep an eye out for motion. Tracking shots involve following the action with your camera, while static shots involve keeping your camera still, but that doesn’t mean there’s no motion involved; you might just be letting the action go in and out of the frame.
Things to keep in mind while you’re shooting B-roll:
Shoot more than you think you’ll need.
Get a variety of shots. Close-up, medium, wide, detail shots, static shots, tracking shots.
Use a tripod whenever possible. If you don’t have one or you’re shooting in a mobile, chaotic situation, be resourceful about stabilizing your shots.
Think about your interviews and let them inform your B-roll shooting decisions. Look for shots that illustrate what the person is talking about.
Hold your shot longer than you think you need to. A good rule of thumb is to hold it for at least 10 seconds (AFTER it’s already steady).
Things to keep in mind when you’re shooting your interviews:
Frame the shot with your subject on one of the thirds, angled so that they’re looking slightly INTO the frame. Have them look at you, not at the camera, so be mindful of where you are sitting. It’s a bit intense when someone looks directly into the camera.
2. If you’re working with a translator, be mindful that the subject will want to look at them, so make sure they are positioned in the ideal place to draw the person’s gaze.
3. Prioritize good audio.
4. Make sure their face is lit, but not too harshly.
5. Think about composing the shot in a way that allows for some negative space where the Lower Third will eventually go.
The Five-Shot Sequence
When it comes to B-roll, your job is to use these visuals to tell a story in a way that is very clear and keeps the viewer not just interested but oriented: clear on what’s happening. Cutting together a sequence is often an effective way of doing this.
The classic sequence that every budding videographer learns when starting out is the five-shot sequence.
Close-up on the hands.
Close-up on the face.
Medium shot.
Over the shoulder shot.
One additional creative angle.
You won’t always edit things in this exact way when you do a sequence in the real world; sometimes it’ll only be three shots, or it might be ten, and they might be in a different order. But the five-shot sequence is a useful framework for thinking about depicting an activity clearly and engagingly with video.
On Wednesday, pitches are due. We’ll workshop them together. Next week, we’ll practice shooting a five-shot sequence with the Sony cameras and microphones, and you’ll have your first lesson in video editing.
Ever since over 50 women have come forward with sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein, America has had to take a hard look at how it has let sexual harassment go unchecked within liberal institutions. Unfortunately, Hollywood is not the only overwhelmingly leftist community that has been enabling a predator for years. The retail chain, Urban Outfitters, is, like Hollywood, unapologetically politically left-leaning, demonstrated by the sale of pro-Bernie and Hillary t-shirts alongside anti-trump memorabilia. It would shock it’s overwhelmingly leftist customer base if it knew current and former employees have claimed the company has a problematic environment of sexual harassment, and the enabling and mismanagement of it.
St. Marks’ hardcore punk subculture has dwindled in the years yet one store still manages to produce the people your parents warned you about. Bondage and lace are a must have in Search and Destroy, one of the city’s last punk stores dedicated to music only. Here to tell you about the myriad of sex toys and spiked vests you can buy is Teamare Gaston.
Living with the threat that North Korea may send a nuclear bomb any second, South Koreans have put it upon themselves to make sure every able bodied man is prepared at any moment. Even young South Korean men in New York City have a duty to uphold toward South Korea. Amberley Canegitta has the story.
Believe it or not… we are now entering the home stretch of the semester. This means that it’s time to get to work on your final projects, which will include our third and final major multimedia unit: Video.
The Assignment
Your final project will be a multimedia feature story consisting of a 2-3 minute video, 800 words of text, and one additional multimedia element of your choice (there also must be at least one still photo as lead image).
Pitches for your final project will be due Wednesday, November 8.
HOST INTRO: As the coffee industry has certainly exploded over the last few years, sustainability is something that consumers and industry professionals take very seriously. According to Business Insider, 90 percent of the world’s coffee production takes place in developing counties. These countries desperately need clean water and sanitation to cultivate the coffee. This year, the New York Coffee Festival launched Coffee Week NYC to raise money to support these coffee growing communities. Angie Martoccio has the story.
HOST INTRO: Anticipation was brewing in Patchogue, Long Island, for their Main Street’s closing, until last week when the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce hosted a fall festival. During the festival, there was a chili and chowder contest taking place, and the street was lined with craft vendors. Here’s reporter Annie O’Sullivan with the story.
HOST INTRO: Tens of thousands of M train riders in Brooklyn and Queens have been forced to find other ways to get to their destinations. For most of the summer, the eight stops along the Myrtle Avenue Line have been closed due to the rebuilding of the century old Fresh Pond Bridge in Middle Village. Starting in September, the MTA reopened the five stations between Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues and Middle Village-Metropolitan Ave, providing shuttle trains, but frustrated New Yorkers say these interim measures just aren’t cutting it. Aaron Salters has the story.
