annex business media presentation by ellin bessner, centennial journalism

Storytelling with VideoAnnex Business Media

Cambridge, Ontario Nov. 2, 2012

Why video?

• Broaden your storytelling

• Extend your brand (seamlessness between print, online and mobile editions)

• Extend to new audiences

• Extend opportunities for advertising (pre-roll, sponsored segments)

• Drive traffic to your website –stay longer= BOOST engagement=Boosts Google SEO

You are already…

Doing many things right!

Great story IDEAS

A series about Canada’s safest employers

Promos for forums

Tons of product videos…

Showcasing your audience to themselves

Annex Bus Youtube channel

Putting Your EditorS on-air

FIRE videos

• http://youtu.be/88ucQzm1RS4

Some of you

• Are going GANGBUSTERS

• Others, can certainly improve

• Many are at the same stage as your competitors, i.e.Rogers-owned publications: extremely limited use of multiplatform storytelling

AWARDS

What you told me in the survey:

No time for videos…

Need $$ resources

Lightweight, versatile, cheap

Want training in shooting and interviewing…

Tip:keep camera beside you during interviews

Need some training in editing

More host/reporters on camera on location and more DIY videos

How to shoot a better Video story

• Remembers that Web video is different then video for BIG SCREEN TVs or MOVIE THEATRES

• It is intimate (watched by one person at a time at the time of their choosing).

• Sometimes wearing headphones.

• Shots need to be close ups and medium shots. Not wide landscape shots. Sequences. Engaging.

Think visually

• It’s a different animal then Print.

• It shouldn’t be an afterthought.

• It needs to be planned BEFORE you go to an event/location

• It’s different then PHOTOGRAPHY. It has to be told in sequences.

Video storytelling

• FIND A COMPELLING CHARACTER/SUBJECT

• Make us care about them, in the first 20 seconds

• Let us hear from them very soon: min by 20 seconds

• Next, tell us the reason we are doing the story: issue/conflict/drama/problem/ over b-roll

• Then add one (or two more) interviews with experts.

• People make the best video BUT not boring talking heads. Video works best with Action. Emotion. Natural Lines. Movement.

Video sequences

How to choose….Different formats

• Steal a lot! –Masthead Magazine publisher.

• Experiment!

• Choose a compelling location (get out there)

• Find compelling guests

• Have story meetings about video

So many possibilities

• Vlog : Sean Mallen, GLOBAL NEWS

• Round table with industry leaders; “At issue panel on CBC” : create celebrities that readers won’t want to miss (EPIC Mealtime—BACON STRIPS)

• Discussion with editorial staff: find articulate people

“Take a tour with me” – Globe and Mail’s Mississauga story

• Insider subscriber perks eg: different magazine covers/web exclusives

• Industry/market updates: as often as daily, weekly, monthly

• Guest features (CAJ does a regular profile of a new member or newsroom)

Decide on format

Structure of a Full Video package

For a 2 minute story:

• You need lots of different kinds of video shots

• Probably 10-15 different video shots –each held for between 8 to 10 seconds

• Plus an interview and a stand up (reporter /you on camera)

Wide/Establishing Shots

• Tells the viewer “Where are you?”

• Locates the action for a viewer

• Shoot each shot and hold it for about 8-15 secs

• DON’T ZOOM OR PAN in every shot

Medium Shots

• More interesting.

• Viewer can detect some specific activity but still not 100% sure what is happening--this needs your/someone’s narration to help explain it better.

• Shots last approx 8-15 sec each

Close ups

• Even more interesting visually. You now care about the person/thing being shown.

• Usually introduces an SOT(sound byte/excerpt of interview)

Extreme Close up

• Used to show extreme emotion.

• Not used in every story but good to shoot these just in case you need it later for editing purposes.

cutaways

• Related to the story but not the main action.

• Often used as reaction shots to action.

• Medium shots and close ups

Use varied shot angles

Make your shots visually interesting

Use lines to make it interesting

Subjective shots

• What the subject sees

Point of View

• From behind the subject’s head

People are most interesting

• Medium and close up shots with people are engaging for viewers and work best for t.v. esp. on the web/mobile phones

Interviews (SOTs)Framing is important

In interviews

• the reporter IS usually NOT on camera but can be

• We use an interviewee’s ANSWERS only

Keep the camera behind you/to the side, and at eye level with guest

SOT/Interviews FRAMING

Left side or

Right side

Looking in

How to frame them:eyes at top third of screen

Framing of the face

Bad Good

Height of tripod

• Tripod

• At the guest’s eye level

• Not at Videographer

level

Best videoAnd audio :02 sec thenVoice over pix

SOT-protagonist/Hero interview

History/facts/statsnutgrafVoice over video

SOT sExperts/opponents/witnesses

Your voice gives more info over video

Your closing on- camera stand up

Start end

DoDon’t shoot ONLY panning shots

or zooming shots. They make the viewer nauseous if they are

edited back to back. Use movement for a reason. Instead Use sequences. Build our story

around a protagonist/hero/subject.

On Location Do’s….

• Use a tripod! Shaky video looks amateur

• Hide the audio mic cable UNDER the person’s shirt. Loose cables distract the viewer from the content.

• Use an external mic! Poor audio is annoying. They will click off.

DO White Balance

BAD-blue indoorGood-white balanced

• Always WHITE BALANCE when changing locations

• the camera needs to reset its white colour in different light conditions (daylight, indoor light etc)

Do

• Listen for loud background audio when you are shooting (if there is a loud hum from a generator, move!)

• Take CLOSE Ups and Medium shots for web video. Beautiful wide shots are great for big screen tvs but not for mobile screens (IPADS, Phones, Laptops)

• Use video sequences…to tell a story. Video is different then photography.

In Post prod: After

• Use Background sound/natural sound on Videos –it gives the story credibility.

• Adding a musical track can be distracting –so do it only for a good reason.

• Use TAGS, proper File naming conventions, and make the story SEO friendly. People won’t click on a file name of a video that says “Gala Intro”.

• Help the viewer know immediately where this video is (LOCATION subtitle) and who is speaking (guest and or interviewer subtitles)

DON’T

• Don’t use same shots twice in the video. Viewers hate that.

• Don’t jump around chronologically. Viewers hate that.

Do show one sequence, then move to the next area or scene. Don’t show snippets of an indoor scene and then go outside, and then return to the indoor trade show next, 20 seconds later. Viewers get confused.

My Other hats

• Our students make great interns

• Launching 7 new niche and b2b

• magazines in December

• Would love your feedback

Paul Grossinger’s or mine?

Canadian Association of Journalists

Membership $45 : Training, events, advocacy, Media Magazine (needs a home) Mags panel at CAJ2013# in Ottawa, want to plan it/sponsor it?

Thank you!

• Ebessner@gmail.com

• Ebessner@centennialcollege.ca

• @Ebessner on Twitter

• http://ellinbessnersblog.blogspot.ca/