Berkeley notes

Read this or do the tutorial at: http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/reporting/starttofinish/

A multimedia story uses text, photographs, video clips, audio, graphics and interactivity on a website that's nonlinear and the information is complementary, not redundant.

Not all stories make good multimedia stories. The best ones are multi-dimensional.
They have:
Action for video
A process that can be illustrated with a graphic
Someone who can give pithy quotes for video or audio
Strong emotions for still photos and audio

Before going out to do a story, gather as much information as possible to put together a rough storyboard - an outline of the story that lays out the multimedia possibilities.

Collect as much available visuals - photos, videos, maps and graphics - as you can from your sources or from the Web to get an idea of what the story components may be.

Storyboards

It's a sketch of how to organize a story and lists its contents.

Shows the parameters of a story within available resources and time
It organizes and focuses a story
Figures out what medium to use for each part of the story.

Here's how to divide parts:

- a lead or nut graph addressing why this story is important
- profiles of the main person or people in story
- identifying an event or situation
- any process or how something works
- pros and cons
- the history of the event or situation
- other related issues raised by the story

Where pieces work:
video is the best place to take a reader to action
still photos are best place for emphasizing strong emotion, for staying with an important point in a story, or to create a particular mood (often more dramatic and don't go by as quickly as video) - a combo with audio can also highlight emotions. Panorama or 360-degree photos, with audio, can also immerse the reader in the location.
Good audio is essential for video. Bad audio makes video look worse than it is. This goes the same when paired with photos.
Animated graphics show how things work - they go where cameras can't go - into human cells or millions of miles into space.
Do we need a map? Yes, if you want to show something about the growth or how much of something there is in a location.
What should be included in text? It can describe history of a story, describe a process or provide a first-person account of an event. Text is what's left over when you can't convey the information with photos, video, audio or graphics.
Don't be redundant with your components. However, if you want to overlap content to encourage folks to try out the other parts to the project, go ahead. Just don't overdo it.
Interactivity is key. It means giving the reader both input and control in a story. Making stories nonlinear allows them to read or view the story how they want to as well as talk about it. Include online forums or chats, maybe create online games.

On the field
Always look for extreme closeups when you're out there on the field with photos and videos. Show emotion.

Shooting video
Before going out, write up a list of shots you need. Write the story beforehand in your head and list the elements you want to get video of to do that story.
Think about what's going to look good visually and how your shots are going to come together sequentially
Shoot selectively. Don't roll tape unless you're taking a shot.
Shut up when you shoot.
Hold your shots for 15 seconds, before you pan, zoom or go into another shot.
Avoid excessive panning and zooming. (Look for the one moment that's really captivating.)
Start with a static, wide angle shot, and hold the next static shot for an additional 15 seconds. Then move to zoom in or pan and hold the next static shot for an additional 15 seconds.
This will give you three useable shots - the wide-angle, the close-up and the zoom in between - to choose from in the edit room.
It's better to move in, then to zoom from far away, since it will appear shaky.

Sequences
Shoot your video in sequences, where you take a general scene or an action and break it into various parts or segments and shoot each one, rather than doing it as one long shot.
For example, here's how to shoot someone riding a bike to work: a wide shot of her arriving. A medium shot of her getting off the bicycle. A close-up of her pushing the front wheel of the bike into the bike stand. A close-up of her chaining the bike to the stand. A extreme close-up of her taking off her gloves. An extreme close-up of her eyes as she looks at her hands while she's taking off her gloves. A close-up of her taking off her helmet and tucking the gloves into it. A close-up of her straightening her hair and looking at the building. A medium and white shot of her walking into the building with the helmet tucked under her arm.

Framing and composing your shots
Avoid a shot of a person with a plant or pole in back of them.
Don't have a shot where there's excessive empty space above a person's head. That's just dead space. There should be just a little room above a person's head in the shot.
Have room below the person's face where you can add a title with the person's name when editing.
Don't have the shot too low where you crop the top of the person's head.
If you're shooting a person standing, don't chop them off at the knees - get the entire body in the shot.
One way of looking at the Rule of thirds:
- one third of the frame should be above the person's eyes
- one third of the frame should be the person's face and shoulder area
- one third of the frame should be the person's lower torso
If the person is looking to the side, add space in the direction in which the person is looking, in front of their nose.

Having depth of field
- increase the sense of depth within your shot, since video images are inherently flat
- try to include other objects in the background or the foreground to give the viewer a sense of depth. That way the subject won't appear to be just a two-dimensional object on the screen.
- a wide angle shot will provide a much better depth of a field than a telephoto shot where you've zoomed in on your subject

Change angles and perspectives
Try to change point and/or angle of view after every shot. Look for interesting perspectives.
Don't shoot everything from eye level - it's boring.
Try shots when you hold the camera close to the ground and shoot upward toward subject.
For example, here's how to shoot someone sitting down: shoot over the shoulder, then a close-up of their hands and fingers, then a shot from over the person's other shoulder, then a low angle shot looking up at them and then a facial shot.
Hold your camera above your head to get a different perspective on a scene.
Do a close up shot.
Don't relay on zooms. Move the camera or closer or farther away.
The point of having multiple shots is that you're able to put together a sequence of 4- or 5-second shots of your subject, rather than one 20-second shot from a single perspective.

Always have people walk in your shots. Doing something. NEVER of just a building or unmoving object. Boring.

Use tripods for steady shots.

Always anticipate action. Put yourself in a position to get that. Don't worry if folks walk out of your frame. That's good. Because then you can get them sitting down or doing something else. If you follow them, and then you jump to another scene, after you've shown the viewer you're following them, it could disorient them and make a bad jump cut. Horrible.

Interviews
Ask the person to look you and not at the camera.
Don't use zoom feature to get a close-up shot of the person. Move the camera a little closer to the subject.
Don't have your interviews sit in a chair with wheels or that squeaks.
Watch out for nervous activity that creates noise - keys jangling. Stop your shoot, point it out to the subject and reshoot.
Don't ask them q's beforehand. Give them general idea of what you'll be asking about. This way, answers won't sound stilted.

Sit-down interviews
Start with set-up shot from behind and to one side or the other of the reporter that focuses on the person talking while the questions are asked.
Leave extra room in the shot in the direction the person is looking (rather than centering the person in the middle of the frame).
Then, do a wider angle shot from the same position that includes the reporter while the subject of the interview is responding to a question.
Finally, move your camera to get a frontal shot of the reporter listening to the person - which is called a reverse shot or cut-away. This is shot from behind the person being interviewed. Again, get both a close-up and a wider angle shot.
Always position shots on the same side of the room.
You generally don't film the reporter actually asking the questions - just the answers of the interviewee and/or the reporter listening while the questions are answered.

Microphones
With a handheld microphone, hold it about 5-6 inches below the person's mouth.
Tell them to ignore the mic and concentrate on the camera.
With a lav mic (wireless mic), ask them to run the cord up inside the shirt.
Clip mic to the outside of the shirt, about 5-6 inches below their mouth. Center the mic as much as possible. Too far to one side, won't pick up the audio well if the person titls her head to the other side while talking.
If wearing tie, run the wire down the back of the necktie and through the little label on the bottom back of the necktie.
If windy, clip the lav mic closer to the person's mouth or switch to handheld microphone with a windscreen to muffle the noise of the wind.

Avoid high contrasts in lighting situations
Avoid dark versus light settings or bright sunlight and shadows.
Don't place an interview subject against a bright window or white wall or with sunlight behind the person.
This will cause the camera to focus on the light in the background and leave the face of the subject darkened and indistinguishable. If the camera focuses on the person's face, the background will be washed out in the light.
It's best to shoot with the sun to your back.
If the sun is directly overhead, hold your hand over the top edge of the camera lends. This will extend the sun screen and avoid having the camera misread the amount of sunlight.

Using manual exposure
Automatic is usually good on the camera. However, there will be moments when you'll need to manually adjust the exposure.
For example, on a bright day when there's lots of movement and light contrast in front of your camera, such as buses passing by with large billboards on their sides that reflect the bright sunlight. The camera than will open and close its exposure in response to these changes.
Or if you have to take a shot of a person from a certain angle and there is bright light behind the person.
In these cases, aim your camera at the light setting you want for your shot and then switch from auto to manual exposure.
If you're shooting an interview with someone, zoom in on a person's face, hold the shot there and then switch from auto to manual exposure. The camera then will retain or lock in whatever setting you selected throughout yoru shoot, despite any changes in the lighting.

Get all the shots you need
Set-up shots, cut-aways, etc., even if you don't think you'll use them.
Start with an establishing shot - such as video of the person who is the subject of your story - and then remember to get the other kinds of shots you may use to supplement that in your final film.
The latter is called b-roll. (In the old days there were two rolls of film - a and b - and you had to edit them together.)
A-roll is the main subject of your shot. Usually has audio from interviews.
B-roll is the background video, often just video over which you'll lay an audio track. Don't forget to shoot a variety of B-roll.
Another type of shot is natural sound. (Nat sound.) Traffic on a street, birds chirping in a park, etc. It can add depth and impact to a two-dimensional video tape.

Links to video tutorials

Video 101 course - definitely do this! It rocks. You'll learn months worth of information in half an hour. Trust me.

http://www.video101course.com/

A similar comprehensive link on the Knight Multimedia Website at Berkeley. (I'll post some of my notes after doing this tutorial after I submit this one for those that don't like doing clicks. I hate it.)

http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/reporting/starttofinish/

Here's a link to Mindy McAdams' Teaching Online Journalism that is pretty good to check out.

http://mindymcadams.com/tojou

I will update more stuff as I get to it.