video2zero

the business the art and the science of new media
When the camera does matter

I’ve owned Nikon SLRs for many years. Canon HDV is my camera of choice today but I still favor Nikon for stills, and like all Nikon gearheads I read kenrockwell.com.

Was Rockwell really serious when he wrote his much travelled “Why the camera doesn’t matter”?
- Yes, he was indeed, but he slid in several important caveats, that might just lead you to follow his example, rather than his advice, and stick with the fancicams.

It’s not about pixels - it’s about control.

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Articles

7 editing tips for videojournalists

And then: “When is the edit finished?”
The traditional answer: It’s never finished, but after a while they take it away.
Walter Murch responds: It’s finished when I can no longer see myself in it.
The VJ answer: It’s finished 60 minutes from when it’s started.

7 web video myths

It’s not the content of the video that generates the return, it’s the ability to integrate the video into a larger information loop where value feeds back to the producers. And that involves getting a commitment to more than 3 minutes. Without appropriate context the content has limited value. Context is king.

Ideal length for web video

Nothing too surprising about the numbers. They seem to support the notion that “shorter videos work better on the web”. But that conclusion depends on us using a metric that is based upon “complete views”…supposing we add another metric - say “minutes watched”

New Media

Breaking the linear straightjacket

Surfers scan, they don’t follow dutifully along the path we lay. For a linear medium like video this creates a problem, and explains why “Text remains King of the Web”. Two approaches to this conundrum, one from the BBC, one from MSNBC.

Video 2.0

The Zen of Videojournalism

If there were ever a search for the historical prototypes of modern videojournalism then surely Michael Apted’s 7-UP series would figure large. A brief description from MA of his epiphany with regard to video and objectivity: “…it occurred to me that maybe what I was doing was something quite different from what I thought I was doing…”

Shooting by numbers

Interactive lighting tutorials

The advantages of soft lights for are huge. - the advantage of Rifas is convenience: they set up in seconds - pop open like an umbrella - and you can carry 2 or 3 (with stands) under one arm.