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So I went on this BBC training course which was all about shooting video content for the web.
It was a three and a half hour course – spent the afternoon at White City.
We started the afternoon with introductions and what we wanted to get out of it and what video we were watching on the web. I explained about the Your Story project and how I wanted to impart knowledge to budding citizen journos who were shooting stuff and sending it in to me. I also said that I was enjoying watching music videos and behind the scenes footage like hip hop star Jay Z making up song lyrics in the studio.
But I digress….
The two guys giving the course said that there were good and bad videos on the web. The worst ones did not play at all when clicked on and the best ones was stuff like this . – that is a prgramme called Signs of Life which was created with high production values especially for the web.
The cameras we used were Sony Z1′s. 
The message we were given was that the better quality the camera, the better. It’s all in the lens apparently. That we shouldn’t compromise on quality just because it was for the web. The better the quality going in, the better it would be coming out.
On shooting, we were told that it’s best not to have too much movement in the background – this is “noisy movement” like trees moving constantly ot busy roads. This is because it takes the machine longer to process as it takes all it’s time on this movement and you get less quality in the frame you want.
The most important thing, which I have to agree with is the SOUND QUALITY. Research shows that even if the picture is not good, as long as the sound is good, then that gives the viewer the impression it is clear. 
Lapel microphones are best but expensive. Best to get a not so noisy environment to record.
I have bought detachable sony microhones (see photo) to give to some citizen journo’s for this purpose – to pick up better sound. This way, I can also broadcast content across the radio as well as feature it on the Your Story website.
We tried a number of different shots, trying to make the best use of available lighting. When it comes to lighting, outside in daylight is usually best – too dark is a problem. Frame head shots where the whole face fills the screen.
The trainer then went into this technical diatribe where I’m afraid I switched off as it was all about the encoding process which most software does automatically so I didn;t think it was that important – sorry if this is what you wanted to know about!!! If you really want to know message me and i can find out.
Key points to take away with me were :
- quality is important
- not too much noisy movement
- sound quality is key
- choose your location carefully, think lighting and background
- fill the shot with the person you are focusing on
- No zoom – keep it steady, tripod if possible
- test the video after you have uploaded it
PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND ADVICE – ANY MORE TIPS GRATEFULLY RECEIVED.
I went to the US embassy this morning to sort out a visa. journalists have to get an i-visa at a cost of 131 dollars and then i had to pay five pounds to store my car keys because no electrical items are allowed in the embassy. It’s an amazing building I think. Others may disagree.
Anyway, it means that things are getting sorted out for the Your Story forthcoming trip to the USA to cover Obama’s inauguration. i am going to contact various bloggers and US citizen journalists to get their reports on the inauguration. I’ll also be coming to Chicago to liaise with young citizen journalists who live on the south side and also to Detroit to get CJ reports from people on the economy.
If you fit into any of those categories and want to get involved, then let me know.
I was contacted by a guy who lives in the US and has been there for two years, originally from Sierra Leone. he said he wanted to do something on the US visa lottery system which he said was unfair because they took money from people and didn’t get a visa.
I contacted him back because I though he might have a good perspective on the visa lottery, but I left messages but he never got back to me. If you see this blog post – then it’s not too late to get back in touch.
Thanks so much for all of you for posting about getting some citizen journalist material out of Afghanistan. Thanks also to the Afghan Lord for writing about Your Story in his blog (he sent me this msg about it) …
Dear Nina,
I hope you are fine. I also wrote a post with desciption of what you are doing in Your Story. I receive and e-mail from Herat in the west part of Afghanistan. He says, he has been doing such jobs since long time. Please ask your translator to help you with the below text and read my post here
http://www.kabuli.org/archives/media_and_blog/001671.phpI got my colleague to translate the message in this email …
Hello my dear friend my name is rafee form herat I have got a lot of interest in your project “your story” i’m interested and want to work in this field with you. I have been working for a long time doing the same thing and because I have enough time to travel to other places and villages I think i could help produce interesting programmes for you, therefore if it’s possible please help and guide me. i have got a weblog – and you can see it – the photos are interesting.
Thanks Rafee for your message – i could not view your photos as the link was broken but i am interested in working with you and others who have contacted me.
Here is some more information about Your Story in answer to some of the queries I have had…
Written words are accepted too which can go up on the website alone http://www.bbcworldservice.com/yourstory – if you have some english articles and photos that we can try and work on getting some of those stories up on the website http://www.bbcworldservice.com/yourstory.
Please upload your photos audio and video here or you can email me directly nina.robinson@bbc.co.uk
i am in talks with the BBC pashto section about trying to get more audio pieces, but if there is some way we can get english audio for the english radio network, that would be great. I am ordering some extra recorders which hopefully i should get in the new year.
all the best
Nina
David worked with Your Story a few months ago from the Mexico AIDS conference – I wrote this blog post about his piece. He just sent me this message …
Congratulations.
It is a good job of yours informing and spreading the news for people all over the world; yes, I can live well and be as happy as possible even if I live with hiv. I am unemployed for the moment thks to the virus and stigma, but I am happy as well, couse I am alive. If there is anything I can do for you please let me know how, if there is any profit I coud make it would be greately appreciated, if not, I would consider it as a service for humanity. Best regards, and again congratulations.
I´m attaching a pic when I was just a wonderful baby a few moths old and even then a surviver, a few weeks before the pic was taken, me and my family had a car accident and my mom´s love was so great that she had embraced me so I would not be hurt, and nothing happened to me.Next first of dec. (World Day VS. hiv/aids) there is going to be two inportant events, one in Toluca the capital city of the surrounding state of mexico (Estado de México) only an hour and a half away from México City (I would need travel expenses alowance besides the tape rec), it will be hosted by the Mexican Health Ministry. The other event is taking place in Mexico City mainly coordinated by NGO´S and the National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Agency (CENSIDA).
Thanks for your post David and I am hoping we can get another piece together for World AIDS Day on Dec 1st 2008.
I’m in touch with Afghan Lord who is a blogger based in Afghanistan. He is working on a similar citizen journalism project there.
This is one of his photos – you can see more here
He sent me this email today and I’m hoping that we will be able to collaborate in future on a citizen journalist piece ready for broadcast across the BBC World Service from Afghanistan. Not sure yet what would be a good focus for the story so I have asked him to send some of his ideas through.
Dear Nina,
We supposed to continue our workshops for teaching blogging (including multi-media) but we didn’t have money to pay the costs of oil, generator, internet and renting the place. So, we stopped for now but gave a proposal to an NGO in UK, hopefully they will get back to us, that will also deal with citizen journalism and media. The main aims are to develop blogging and citizen journalistm among young afghan.
Just wanted to let you know that how much we are close.So, please tell me more about your project.
thanks
That’s what I have done and I’m hoping to get something going here.
Ssozi and Berna provided this report on Poverty in Africa about a month a go.
They sent me this email about the blog …
Many thanks for this information, shall also share with our communities of Citizen Journalists.
The Blog looks fine and since its targeting Citizen Journalists its good enough it does not have to be too professional in setting. The layout is good.
Guest blogger sounds interesting.
WOUGNET has arranged for trainings for citizen journalists and still more to come so the idea of your blog will be a great example for the organisations and citizen journalists we are working with.
It is already evolving and it will get there!
Regards,
Ssozi.
so thanks for that you guys.
They are working on doing something on gender based violence. I am sending them some equipment today and hopefully should get some audio and photos to put up on the Your Story website for around 28th November.
I am more than often asked whether we pay for work done by citizen journalists. I’m always sorry to say no but I understand that this is an important area for discussion. The BBC line is that we do not pay for contributions because as a citizen journalism project this is not a professional undertaking. People submit their efforts and time voluntarily and the only thing i can offer in return is the chance that work may be featured on the BBC website and on the radio with the opportunity of getting your voices and opinions heard across the world.
I am trying to do more to offer people and groups more in return for what they do. For example, i am in the process of trying to get Your Story training workshops off the ground – where we can get BBC journalists offering personal training and sharing their expertise.
The other thing I am doing is trying to offer equipment – it’s only small scale. I have put an order in for 10 ediroll digital editing machines today.
They have their own internal microphones and are easy to use and to download the audio into the computer afterwards with a USB cable. I’m hoping they should arrive in the next few weeks.
I’ve also got 3 more expensive PDA’s – one is in Nigeria, another is in Iraq and I want to send the other one to Lesotho.
My budget is really small but hopefully as this project gets off the ground, more resources can be put into it so that we can improve what we can give back.
There are a lot of people out there who write their own blogs and record footage on their own cameras and mobile phones and they do this voluntarily. I cannot make any demands of people and if you start putting money into the equation it starts getting more complicated.
I think the essence of citizen journalism is its’ voluntary nature and the moment it starts crossing over into the professional – well then that becomes your job and you can expect a wage, but that would probably take some time.
I am looking at planning a trip which would set up three citizen journalist hubs for BBC World Service out of the USA. This is to get a CJ perspective from Obama’s Inauguration on Jan 20th, working with young south siders in Chicago and an inside perspective on how the economic downturn is biting people in Detroit. If you want to be involved in any of these projects then let me know here or through the Your Story website.
I got this video from Trukker in Rejkjavik, Iceland, who has been working on getting some stuff for the financial crisis there. He sent this video which we are unable to use as it is, I am posting it here with advice so that other citizen journalists can try and understand where I’m coming from. It would be good to get your viewpoint to on what I’m about to say about it – but watch it first …and then look at my comment to see what I say is wrong with it … maybe you agree, you maybe you don’t.
more about “Interview on the Iceland financial cr…“, posted with vodpod
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