Video Assignment

While making my welcome video, I will admit it can be difficult, if you're not familiar with it creating videos but if you make sure you're having fun with the project, I'm sure it'll be much easier. I rarely use iMovie on my mac, so this was very new to me. I used my camera on my computer and was trying to talk off the top of my cranium. Excuse Keeping Up With The Kardashians in the background - it's a guilty pleasure. All the images are from complex.com, from posts that I've written, Didn't want to add any more than what was necessary even though I had tons I wanted to throw in there once I figured out how to lay them over my voice to keep it going when the camera picked back to me. Thanks to this class, I will be being more creative with this iMovie, making tons of pointless and/or purpose-filled videos.

JRN 350 Blog Project from Christopher Nic. on Vimeo.

Dissecting Video

HARTLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — As you work on your video assignment, I thought I'd share a little bit about the ones I've been producing for Patch. Note, I've included one I haven't done, as well, for discussion purposes.

First, let me explain my philosophy on videos: Like articles, my style is to not insert myself overtly into the story. That means I want the subject to come through as much as possible, so I edit out my questions and banter in favor of black screens with the questions in text form. This way, I can edit down the footage more easily and provide transitions for the viewer.

I also want to say that video is not my greatest strength. While I've had visual experience in my journalism career (taking a video and photography classes in high school and shooting pictures on one of my internships) writing has always been my main focus. Yet, I welcome more video opportunities because it gives journalists, I believe, more options in telling the story.

So, I would encourage everyone to practice video and incorporate it whenever you can because there aren't as many people out there with these skills.