He made the leap…
The transition from crews to VJs is going slowly at TV stations, but it is on fire in the newspaper world.
VJs seeking jobs would do well to approach their local papers first.
Now, a link, (in of all places, b-roll.net – not one of our great friends), leads us to this lovely video site. Colin Mulvany, formerly a photog for The Seattle Spokesman-Review, has turned to video. I’ll let him tell his story in his own words:
Welcome visitors to “Video Journal,†a new video blog (vlog) here at spokesmanreview.com.
For the last year I have dabbled in the world of video storytelling. For the better part of 17 years, I have shot still photographs for The Spokesman-Review newspaper. Now, with the support of my editors, I have transitioned to shooting video and audio slideshow stories full-time for our online department.
It was not an easy decision for me to make. I love the art of still photojournalism. When I started at the newspaper I shot mostly black and white film, developing it in skin-cracking chemicals. When the negatives dried, I would rush to make a perfect print (in more skin-cracking chemicals.) Those days are long gone, replaced by digital cameras, whose images can be transmited by laptop computer to the newspaper in minutes. Like it or not, our world has become a digital one.
So why video? What does it hold for you the regular visitor to Spokesmanreview.com? Good storytelling I hope. I want to tell stories the local TV news stations, with their breathless reporters, doing live standups of stale stories, fail to do anymore. There are so many great little stories that go unnoticed each day. Stories that matter to you, yet, never seem to get told. And this is where you can help me. Send me your story ideas. If they are good, I will do my best to tell it in video.
Please give me some feedback. Tell me what I could have done better. I’m still new to the medium, learning with each video I produce. I plan to blog about the videos I post. I might even pass on a few home video-shooting tips along the way.”
Here’s but one example of his work. Check out his channel on Youtube for more:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6SsWNPgkDA]
5 Comments
rosenblumtv October 23, 2007
Hi Stephen
Thanks for your continued interest in this.
I think you will be surprised at the range and depth of interest in video among newspapers in the US. I certainly was.
Here’s an email address for a newsgroup devoted just to this. You should join. I think you’ll find the discussions interesting and I am sure you will have much to add.
NewspaperVideo@yahoogroups.com
pencilgod October 23, 2007
It’s funny Michael of all the stories there you link to what technically is probably the worst… 🙂
anyway so I watched another one Boomershoot 2006 and its quite a nice story, not too badly shot then I looked at the name again Boomershoot 2006…
this guy who has just gone VJ then what was he doing shooting stories in 2006? Oh wait the stories go back to 2005 and he says he has been dabbling with video since 2004.
So one guy who has been shooting little video features for the web for his newspaper for 2 or 3 years… oh yeah the newspaper VJ’s are on fire…
John Proffitt October 23, 2007
Just last week we sent one of our radio reporters into the field with a small HD camcorder. She had never shot video before and had no training before we sent her packing. We just said, “See if you can shoot something interesting.”
The video we got back this week — from a remote Alaskan island surrounded by fur seals and while visiting the local school and church and all — was pretty blah on the whole, with perhaps 30% of it salvagable (I didn’t know a camera could shake so much).
And yet… There was something about the video, especially in parts, that was compelling. She had been to a corner of the world that was unique. She had met people and filmed places that would not normally be seen on local TV news anywhere. It was organic, it was real — it wasn’t some local TV reporter standing in front of a building at night telling us what had happened six hours before. It was video that, ironically, anyone could have shot, which made it much more visceral and accessible. It didn’t feel canned or faked or sterile.
At some point, we’ll do some real training with these folks, perhaps sending them off to a Travel Channel class or whatever. With just a bit of practice and training the video quality will rise dramatically and video will become a regular part of the public service we provide.
There are more stories out there waiting to be told than there are TV stations or professional videographers available to do the job. We’re currently dwarfed by the local TV news powerhouse in budget, equipment and visibility. But in time we’re going to clean their clocks if they don’t figure out how to add the VJ tool to their toolbelt.
meltaylor October 23, 2007
Michael, you are right. Seasoned VJ’s will find lots of opportunity in Newspaper right now.
Print is desperate to develop their multi-media storytelling chops.
While old school TV execs may think this type of work is too amateurish, and beneath them.
Aaron October 23, 2007
You mean the Spokane Spokesman-Review?