Study Video with Me in Perpignan, France

I'm going to be teaching videojournalism next summer for the Institute for Education in International Media's study-abroad program in Perpignan, France.

It’s a four-week multimedia program co-sponsored by San Francisco State University and ieiMedia. Students will study French language and culture, as well as reporting and multimedia storytelling, for the first week and then focus intensively on video shooting and editing in Final Cut Express for the last three weeks.

Students will each produce at least one short, documentary-style video as well as text stories about the community; together they will create an online video gallery about the city.

We've got room for about 20 beginning and advanced students, from all schools and disciplines (and from all over the world). The program is open to undergrads, recent grads, and grad students. Here's some basic info for those who might be interested.

When: June 24 - July 23, 2010.

Where: Perpignan is near the Spanish border, eight miles from the Mediterranean. (See map.)


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Tuition: $4,900 + airfare ($200 early-bird discount for those who apply by Jan. 15, 2010). Scholarships are available to SFSU journalism majors only, although financial aid is generally not available for summer study-abroad programs.

Credits: 3 transferable, upper-division journalism units from the SFSU College of Extended Learning. The course is called JOUR 677 Multimedia Study Abroad.

Faculty: I'll be teaching the video module. Jennifer Ward, assistant managing editor-interactive media for the Fresno Bee, will teach Multimedia Storytelling and serve as technology director. Laird Harrison, a former correspondent for TIME and People magazines who lived in France for a year, will teach Reporting. Rachele Kanigel, an associate professor of journalism at SFSU and a former news reporter, will direct the program.

Equipment: The program will provide digital video cameras and computers with video editing software for teams of students to share. Students are encouraged to bring their own equipment as well.

Language: Most classes (except 30 hours of French instruction) will be taught in English. In your reporting you will work with interpreters.

Apply: Students must fill out an application (PDF)and submit one letter of recommendation, along with a $500 deposit. Deposits will be refunded only if a student is not accepted into the program.

More info: PerpignanProject@gmail.com or ieiMedia's Website.

Our Notes on the New Kodak Zi8 Pocket Video Camera

Thanks to the stunning popularity of Pure Digital's pioneering Flip pocket video camera, which famously relegated shooting to one simple button while retaining pretty high quality images (including HD), other camera companies have been jumping into the fray. The most successful at challenging the Flip, so far, has been Kodak, with its new Zi8 model.

One of the chief drawbacks to the Flip is that there's no jack for an external mic, so that you have to hold the camera pretty close to the source of the audio (usually a person speaking), or you won't hear anything. The Zi8 solves that problem -- and improves on the Flip in other notable ways. Even its viewfinding screen area is larger.

The pricetag is $179, but you can easily find it for $149 -- the same range as the Flip, except that you also have to buy memory cards.

We've been playing with our new Zi8 for a few days. Here are some of our preliminary observations.

The Good:

• Amazingly high-quality images in daylight .

• Not bad quality in low light .

• The camera adjusts smoothly to different light levels .

• More sensitive mic than we expected. You can record conversations in a quiet room.

• With SD memory card replacement, you can shoot to your heart’s content. (Flip models hold only one or two hours of video, and then need to be downloaded.)

• Unlike the Flip, it offers image stablization, which can be a real bonus.

• The size of the camera is ideal for carrying it with you at all times -- in your shirt pocket. You won't get scoliosis from lugging around 10 lbs. of video gear.

The Bad:

• No input for headphones, so you never know if the sound you are recording is clean.

• While out in the field, the built-in speakers are not powerful enough to check your audio, even in playback mode.

• You can edit the .mov files in Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Express. but you must “render” them first and this can take a lot of processing time. It took us two hours to process ten minutes of video at the highest quality.

• You can shoot very sharp close-up pictures 3 inches away from your subject (in macro mode). You can shoot sharp pictures from 3.3 feet to infinity from your subject. But you have a dead zone" between 3 inches and 3.3 feet, where nothing will be in focus. This means that you cannot shoot most close-ups, such as a person’s face for a reaction shot. ALSO: All mics work best when they are close to the source of the sound (usually someone speaking) -- BUT you can’t get the built-in camera mic in the Zi8 closer than 3.3 feet and shoot at the same time. (NOTE: You can compensate for this dead-zone audio recording disadvantage with the addition of an external mic.)

The Ugly:

• No optical zoom. The sharpness with digital zoom visually falls apart very quickly.

• When you pan in very low light, the image starts to wiggle like Jell-o. This might be an effect you want to experiment with, but not on a standard visual diet.

Though we advise "zooming with your feet," we couldn't help but notice that, when we played with the zoom, it was herky-jerky and not smooth -- and made an audible squeaking noise. We're not sure whether that's a defect with the model, or just our individual camera. (Has anyone else noticed this problem?)

Have you used the new Kodak Zi8? We'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences, especially as it compares to the Flip.

In short, compared to professional quality gear, these pocket vidcams are toys -- but, boy, are they fun to play with!

We predict that the next step in making high-quality video accessible to the masses will be the creation of an affordable lavalier mic. They currently cost hundreds of dollars and up, making them prohibitive for the hobbyist and home-video crowd. But with more working VJs using pocket camcorders, supply-and-demand will drive down the price of pro-quality mics that clip to your necktie or lapel, and they will become standard issue, immensely improving the audio quality of interviews.

Teaching Video to Elementary School Teachers

It's never too late -- or too early -- to learn videojournalism.

This video by Anthony Gettig shows Robb Montgomery (pictured) teaching elementary schoolteachers the basics of videojournalism... so that they can pass along the skills to their fourth-graders!

Gettig reports:

Using Flip cameras, Mac laptops, and Final Cut Express, they learned the basics of video production. It was great to see every teacher in the training not only demonstrate their learning by producing short films, but share the ways they can use it in their classrooms. As a K-12 Technologist and new media producer myself, I am genuinely excited to see video journalism reach into classrooms.

Montgomery reports:

One of my Camp Video Journalism Orlando students, Anthony Gettig, produced this short video report.

Anthony and the school’s principal have been promoting multimedia as a way to document the progress they were making with their magnet school program - primarily through the individual achievements of students and teachers.

Last week I was invited to teach more teachers from this Magnet School. When their classes begin in a couple weeks they will be making films for their lesson themes and also of their student projects. Using the video form to document and enhance student self-esteem in the learning process. Brilliant approach.

Students will be taught how to use the video cameras, produce podcasts, write shows and make media matter for their peers and their community.

Gettig recently launched a lunchtime video club where students learn the fundamentals of filmmaking. It is so popular that he is able to use the club membership to enforce discipline and recognize achievement in other areas.

This magnet school in Kalamazoo is serving one of the poorest urban neighborhoods and video expertise is but one tool that the faculty will be using as part of their long-term game plan to transform their community. And they are already beginning to see how powerful visual storytelling can be in supporting that effort.

Where Can You Find the Best Video Storytelling Lessons? Hollywood!

Most of what passes for videojournalism these days is a collection of shots of people talking and, if we're lucky, showing us what they do. Big snore! What can be done to make these pieces more compelling, engaging, and, dare we say, entertaining?

Videojournalists need to learn visual storytelling techniques from the masters: Hollywood filmmakers.

No sense reinventing the wheel here -- we have a century of experience to draw upon. We encourage aspiring vidjos to pursue the examples of great screenwriters, directors, cinematographers, and editors -- and apply appropriate techniques to their non-fiction endeavours.

Here are three inspiring titles to get you started -- and collectively pull you through the three major aspects of telling stories visually: creating/composing your story, shooting it, and editing it. Ideally these should be intertwined endeavours, in that each step informs the others, and at every stage you should be contemplating all of them.

Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, by Robert McKee

McKee's popular screenwriting course has been attended by thousands of wannabes -- but also most of Hollywood's top studio execs, actors, directors, and filmmakers of all stripes. This is that class's best-selling bible, and it's chockablock with the basic dramatic fundamentals that will help you shape and structure your video story.

Replete with script examples from more than 100 modern films, most will find McKee an easier read than Aristotle (who was the first kid on the block with these lessons a few centuries ago). Though this is obviously targeted for fictional moviemakers, any videojournalist who embraces its lessons in story elements and principles -- and how and why they hook audiences -- will find themselves far ahead of the game.

Character, crisis, climax, resolution, scene development -- it's all here, and can all be applied to non-fiction stories. Just knowing these components will automatically help guide your story planning and structure.

Setting Up Your Shots: Great Camera Moves Every Filmmaker Should Know (2nd Ed.), by Jeremy Vineyard.

Every page of this cleanly designed book introduces you to a basic shooting style or technique (e.g. Jump Cut Sequence, or Split Screen), accompanied by illustrative line drawings and specific examples of movie scenes that incorporate it -- and why.

It's divided into sections such as "Composition Techniques" and "Techniques of Perspective" to help you sort out what's accomplished while shooting (e.g. with focus or camera movement) versus what's a byproduct of the editing process.

Even though you've seen and are familiar with many of these common techniques, just being visually reminded of their existence is often enough to get you thinking about the best way to shoot and edit your own videojournalism tale. You'll encounter ideas that may not have occurred to you, making it an invaluable reference work.

This new updated 2nd edition adds 25 techniques to the 1999 original -- along with references to 200 new films. It's guaranteed to improve your visual vocabulary and cinematic language, and hence expand your pallette when it comes to finding fresh, innovative ways to paint your story.

In our spare time, we've been fooling around with some of the simple shooting and editing techniques explained here -- Open Up, Close Out, Delayed Revelation -- and encourage you to be similarly playful with the selections as well. The more you try, the more you'll have "ready to go" when you need them. But as any professor would remind you, in actual practice don't go overboard -- it's also important to know when to exercise tasteful restraint.

In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing (2nd Ed.) , by Walter Murch.
Murch was Frances Coppola's go-to guy for all those years-long masterpiece projects. Though he is celebrated for his painstaking technique, it's also his vaunted aesthetics that makes this volume a must-read for anybody who sets a finger on Final Cut.

You'll get both philosophical musings and hardcore advice from the master whose work distinguished The Godfather II and III, Apocalypse Now, and a slew of celebrated films that owe their success, in large part, to their brilliant (if seemingly invisible) editing.

Murch's colorful career spans several generations of technological progress. This volume was originally published in 1995, the year that digital editing overtook linear editing. The updated second edition includes a lengthy Afterword devoted to digital that more than doubles the length of the book!

Although technical skills are critically important for editors, immerse yourself in Murch for a perfect blend of pragmatic and artistic considerations. After reading this, you'll never think of a simple "cut" in the same way again.

(NOTE: Instead of linking you to Amazon, we're encouraging you to patronize an independent bookseller or your local library.)

10 Final Cut Pro Tips

Oliver Peters, video/film editor and contributing editor/writer to Videography magazine, has worked in radio, TV and film since 1970. On his DigitalFilms blog, he offers Ten Tips For A Better Final Cut Pro Experience.

Many experienced editors making the transition to Apple’s Final Cut Pro often struggle with some of FCP’s core operating features. This is especially true of many Avid editors who view working in Final Cut akin to learning a different language. Here are 10 quick tips on how to run and organize FCP edit sessions that will hopefully ease your frustration.

Though most are intended for editing fictional films, the principles apply well to videojournalism. Check them out.

Fast, Cheap, Easy Way to Learn to Edit Video

There are no shortage of books on digital video editing, but many of us require a more hands-on approach to learning challenging new technical skills. But often our budgets and/or schedules prevent us from signing up for a class -- presuming there's even one that's geographically accessible.

So what to do if you're understandably flummoxed about wading through dense how-to manuals, and yearn to have a real expert walk you through the steps -- painlessly and affordably?

Lynda.com to the rescue!

If you haven't already encountered this online training bonanza, you're in for a treat.

The educational enterprise, which has been around since the dawn of the Web, now offers a whopping 627 courses on the ins and outs of a huge variety of software mostly pertaining to the creative arts, from Flash to Photoshop. Each course contains a series of video "chapters" that are each only a few minutes long -- 39,400 in all.

We routinely recommend the Final Cut classes to still photographers who are making the leap to multimedia -- and, in fact, to anyone who wants to learn how to edit digital video. There's something in every sequence for practitioners of all levels, from beginners to established pros.

Specifically:

Final Cut Express 4 Essential Training (2:47), taught by Lonzell Watson.

Final Cut Express HD 3.5 Essential Training (6:05), taught by Richard Harrington .

And everyone involved in moviemaking can benefit from this introductory course:

Digital Video Principles (2:35), taught by Larry Jordan. Need to get up to speed (or refresh your memory) on concepts such as progressive, interlaced, frame rate, data rate, fps, aspect ratio, sample rate, resolution, waveform? Here's where to start.

Mastered all that? Larry Jordan also teaches nearly two dozen Final Cut Pro classes for lynda.com, adding up to more than 100 hours of online instruction. As we said, something for everyone.

The company's founder, Lynda Weinman, is herself an accomplished Web designer and prominent graphics educator. She has made sure that her own faculty are not only experts in their respective fields, but also top communicators and teachers in their own right.

Learn at your own pace, at your convenience, in the privacy of your own home or office. You can spend as much or as little time as you want on each "lesson," and go back as often as you need. While you'll normally want to undertake an entire course, in its prescribed sequence, sometimes you'll just want to search for and dip into individual lessons as needed.

About ten percent of each course's videos are offered for free, on a "try before you buy" basis.

Now here's the best news.

You can get ALL these courses for ONE fee, which is less than the cost of a single how-to book. The all-you-can-eat price is only $25 per month -- even less if you get a $250 annual subscription.

Register here, and let us know what you think!

Pogue Evaluates iMovie '09

Final Cut Express is the affordable video editing tool of choice for most videojournalists, but many folks get their start on iMovie (right), which comes with every Mac computer.

Our favorite tech columnist, David Pogue, ranted in 2007 when Apple took a giant step backward with its iMovie '08 video editing software:

It's nothing like its predecessor and contains none of the same code or design. It's incapable of the more sophisticated editing that the old iMovie made so enjoyable.

But now he says that the new iMovie '09 is "far more usable."

If you're scoring at home, here are the features that have been restored: themes, extracting audio, chapter markers, direct export to iDVD, visual effects (including slo-mo, reverse motion, black-and-white and more).

Here's what's still missing: plug-ins, audio effects, manual audio adjustments, bookmarks, importing old iMovie projects without losing all your enhancements.

That tally isn't exactly fair, however, because it doesn't consider all the things the new iMovie does that the old one couldn't.

The killer app ... is image stabilization, making jerky footage smooth, even if you were filming while hiccuping on a camel ride during an earthquake...

Our verdict: Play with iMovie, since the price is right, but eventually you're going to want to spring $200 and graduate to Final Cut.