Creating and integrating video in your college newsroom
Updated: Dec. 16 7:18 p.m. We mistakenly referred to the Kodzk Zi6 as having an external microphone input jack. The Zi8, which costs $50 more, is the model we should have mentioned.
Yesterday Nielsen reported that video streaming online is up 17 percent for November, but of the top online brands for video, not one was a news site. While this statistic is not necessarily surprising, it’s just another reminder that news has room for improvement for online video — and student news orgs are no exception.
Video kit on less than $200
The basics for high-quality video production don’t have to leave you broke. Fairly high quality video can be produced with inexpensive products. A basic video kit can be put together for less than $200.
- $99 – Kodak Zi6HD $150 – Kodak Zi8: We recommend this camera over the FlipCam because it has an external mic input and it shoots in HD. For those on a larger budget, a Sony Handycam is a good, inexpensive camcorder.
- $26 – Lapel microphone: Audio is one of the most important elements of the overall video production and built-in mics hardly ever do the trick. Lapel mics can be used almost universally in a pinch — you can even tape them to podiums. At all costs you want to avoid the echos and ambient noise that any camera’s built-in mic will produce. You might also want to consider buying an XLR adapter, which allows you to plug in to the audio system at most public events.
- $15 – Tripod: Nothing says amateur like shaky video. For crisp, clean shots, a basic tripod is a must.
Both Windows and Mac operating systems come with free video software — Windows Movie Maker and iMovie, respectively. Both are more than capable of producing single-camera news stories and adding features like lower thirds. Without spending any money on software, they are probably your best bet. A free option for PC users is Pinnacle’s Video Spin software.Something that might be an option in the future is a product called Stroome, which is still currently in beta. It is a Web-based video editing tool that seeks to make video production a collaborative process. The interface needs work right now, but the platform will surely become more stable as more versions are released. USC’s Annenburg School of Journalism has already signed a license with the program to start using the software in its classrooms.
Building effective archives
Being able to shoot and edit video is only half the battle. Presenting it in a manner easy for your users to find and navigate through is one area where college news orgs can improve. Lessons can be learned from YouTube, where on average, users spend upwards of an hour a month streaming video. Perhaps one of the most effective techniques utilized by YouTube is the “related videos” box in the sidebar that keeps readers perpetually engaged. A few takebacks from YouTube’s interace that news sites can use:
- Ability to search for videos by keyword
- One-click access to play videos (without having to navigate back and forth between a landing page and posts)
- Permalinks for individual videos
- Ability to share individual videos via social media
Building archive functionality into WordPress takes a little extra handy work. One of the easier solutions is a video sharing service called blip.tv. Blip.tv offers several advantages to other video sharing Web sites:
- Full integration: You can customize blip.tv’s player to match your own branding — no third-party logos on your video.
- Tools for dissemination: Using blip.tv you can post video on YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr, notify your Facebook and Twitter followers, and you can even have it add a new post in WordPress.
- Revenue Sharing: You can choose whether or not your videos have advertisements, and what kind of advertisements to show (preroll, overlay and postroll). If you choose to allow ads, you will receive 50 percent of revenue from them — a good deal if you consider that major news sites are relying on video more than ever for revenue.
You can create a custom video player with the sidebar turned on in order to provide one-stop access to all your videos, or you can use the RSS feed to create a list of clickable thumbnails.
If you want to keep everything in-house an option is the JW Player. JW Player is more customizable than blip.tv’s player — for example, it allows the playlist to appear at the bottom — but you can’t add advertisements unless you’re willing to pay for the product. One option is to use the RSS feed from blip.tv in the JW Player, which would allow for ease of use and maximum customization. If you decide to use the JW Player exclusively, the Flash Video Player plugin makes embedding videos much easier.
Examples of effective video landing pages
The New York Times’ video landing page is very YouTube-like in nature, displaying popular video clips in the right sidebar and a description below the player. The NYTimes dedicates an entire subsection of its main site to multimedia and video. Sharing videos is easy with quick links below the player.
The Daily Pennsylvanian uses a slick overlay system that plays videos with the one-click ease. The Pennsylvanian uses the aforementioned JW Player to play the videos. There are also permalinks to each video, which is where users can comment.
The Daily Kansan, a publication running the Django-based Ellington CMS, has a nice page layout, but clicking on one of the thumbnails takes you to an article page, which does not include any links to related video.
My understanding is that the Zi6 does not have a microphone input — its successor (the Zi8), however, does. (It costs about $150.)
Some quick, helpful tips. Though getting the staff to learn how to do video and actually devote time to it is another issue. This is where tapping the J-School (in the case of a smaller news organization) can be really helpful.
I think in terms of audio only or high-quality audio supplement material ( such as interviews or profiling that could be scooped up by a local radio station ala NPR affiliates ), audio quality from the above mic wont give the best results.
Even in a college newsroom, I think spending some money on audio ( or at least time on audio/video management ) is very important and budgeting around $200 seems like a very small number ( in the case that this equipment is shared ).
I vouch for the Olympus DS-40 or 50 as a viable alternative. The sound is great, and it has many features to change the amount of sound going into the mic. As well, the mic is detachable and other mics can be put into it as well.
An example when I recorded a show in my town:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSJ3M0O4EOk
This was done and the voice recorder was in my pocket. They go for about 140-160; very much worth the money, and it will only make the video multimedia, as well as the audio, better in the long run.
Syncing is another issue altogether, but there are so many multimedia programs around now it wouldnt be as much of a problem.
Anyone has any other voice recorder recommendations? I will take a peek on the Kodak, since I am using ( and loving ) my HD flip.
Also, the Flip does have an HD version of their product:
http://chris.pirillo.com/flip-mino-hd-vs-kodak-zi6-vs-flip-ultra-video-cameras/
Reading this link, it seems the Flip HD is superior, but there are comments on its flimsiness and about how Kodak drops frames and needs additional components for optimal efficiency, so maybe the Kodak wins out on total satisfaction.