Feature and Narrative Storytelling for Multimedia Journalists

Duy Linh Tu

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317915256
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sprachen & Linguistik
• Subtopic: Journalismus

Feature and Narrative Storytelling for Multimedia Journalists is the first text that truly focuses on the multimedia and documentary production techniques required by professional journalists. Video and audio production methods are covered in rich detail, but more importantly, various storytelling techniques are explored in depth. Likewise, author Duy Linh Tu tackles the latest topics in multimedia storytelling, including mobile reporting, producing, and publishing, while also offering best practices for using social media to help promote finished products.

Whether you're a student, a professional seeking new techniques, or simply looking to update your skills for the new digital newsroom, this book will provide you with the information and tools you need to succeed as a professional journalist.

• Integrated: The lessons in this book deftly combine traditional media production principles with storytelling craft. It is written with the perspective of modern professional journalists in mind.
• Practical: While rich with theory, this text is based on the real-world work of the author and several of his colleagues. It features Q&As with some of the best editors and video producers from top publications, including NPR, Vice, and Detroit Free Press, as well as profiles of leading video news organizations such as Frontline, Mediastorm, and Seattle Times.
• Proven: The author uses pedagogy from the world-renowned Columbia Journalism School as well as case studies from his own award-winning work.
• Interactive: The text is exercise- and drill-based, and the companion website provides multimedia examples and lesson files, as well as tutorials, case studies, and video interviews.

Part I
Modern Multimedia Journalism

Chapter 1
The State of Video

Much of the Midwest was still frozen from the Polar Vortex of 2013 when my colleague Abbey Adkison and I pulled into a parking garage a few blocks from the Chicago Sun-Times building. We were 4 months into researching and reporting our Video Now project, a study about the current state of video journalism in the United States (videonow.towcenter.org). The Sun-Times was one of our final stops on a long tour of newsrooms across the country. We had already visited places such as the Detroit Free Press, The Seattle Times, Frontline, and Mashable—a diverse selection of newspapers, digital properties, and documentary producers—to see how these organizations were staffing their teams, what kinds of videos they were producing, and how they were attempting to make money from news video.

We were particularly interested in visiting the Chicago Sun-Times. The paper had notoriously fired its entire photography staff in May 2013. At the time, management of the paper issued a statement hinting at future investments in video journalism.

“The Sun-Times business is changing rapidly and our audiences are consistently seeking more video content with their news,” the paper said in the press release. “We have made great progress in meeting this demand and are focused on bolstering our reporting capabilities with video and other multimedia elements. The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network.”

The layoffs had set off a wave of anger and disbelief from journalists and the public, especially on social media. But, for most in the journalism business, this move seemed inevitable. Newspapers, having had suffered a decade of massive job losses and shrinking advertising revenue, now needed a new stream of income. Video was one hope. In 2013, a typical banner ad on a news Web site could earn the publication one or two dollars per one thousand views. But a 15- or 30-second video pre-roll ad could make twenty or thirty times that much.

By the time we arrived at their offices on N. Orleans Street, the Sun-Times had already hired Dustin Park as Executive Producer in charge of video and a three-person team of video producers. Dustin is young, as are the other members of his production team. They are all in their twenties or thirties, an important fact to consider when discussing how and what kinds of news videos are made. While Dustin and his team grew up watching news on local or network TV, they now consume most of their videos online. And video online is nothing like the evening news on TV.

Figure 1.1 How is video produced today? The Tow Center’s Video Now report can be viewed at videonow.towcenter.org.

“It is always rolling around in my head. Where is the next frontier for documentary film? And where’s the next frontier for documentary TV?” Dustin told us.

Figure 1.2 Executive Producer Dustin Park leads a new team of video journalists after the Sun-Times management laid off its entire photo staff.

“I really strongly believe that’s online. The thing that’s even more liberating about online and encouraging and interesting is that you’re not tied to a half-hour/ hour model that is built into broadcast TV. You can produce a 5-minute, rich piece that’s not going to take you months and months to do. But you can put a lot into that and make it look good and do great storytelling.”

We spent two days in Chicago with Dustin, producers Peter Holderness and Jessica Koscielnia, and an intern. We observed their production processes and interviewed them and their bosses about video strategy. Like other newspapers we had visited in throughout the country, the Sun-Times’ newsroom had been divided into two camps of video producers:

1. Mobile Reporters. Traditionally print-focused reporters had been outfitted with iPhones capable of shooting and uploading HD video from the field. These reporters contributed raw footage or lightly edited video pieces to go along with their text stories. Most importantly, the reporters uploaded these stories almost immediately from the field. They did not wait until the end of the day to publish.
2. Video Producers. Dustin’s core team was focused on producing videos, and shot some photography. They produced packages, live shows, and several weekly sports, news, and political shows. These producers were experienced shooters and editors, and the content that they created, in most cases, had very high production value. Their stories tended to be more feature-length, and less breaking news in nature. These stories could take days or weeks to produce.

Figure 1.3 The iPhone has become a popular and powerful tool for producing news videos.

Figure 1.4 Sun-Times videographers shoot a wide range of videos, including original in-studio shows.

We saw a similar set up when we visited other newsrooms such as The Seattle Times, the Detroit Free Press, and the Washington Post. The newspaper industry, at least in 2014, seemed to be going with this two-prong approach: fast and mobile, or deep and highly produced.

Another observation we made during our research was that newspapers were very comfortable trying out various formats, ranging from raw video uploads to long-form documentaries. There is no time limit online and this has given editors a chance to play with style, length, and format.

“We do the raw clip. We do what I describe the uber clip, which is a little more fully formed package. Then we do the mid-sized, the 3- to 5-minute piece. And then we do the massive long-form stuff that is 45 minutes or a series. I think a video needs to be as long as a video needs to be to tell the story,” said Kathy Kieliszewski, Director of Photo and Video at the Detroit Free Press.

Who is this Book For?

When I graduated from Columbia Journalism School in 1999 with a concentration in broadcast journalism, the news industry was much like it had been for many decades. There were four major TV networks, a few cable outlets, and the local news stations. At the time, the Internet was nearly non-existent in terms of producing news video.

A recent graduate like me, even from a respected program with a strong alumni network, had a long journey ahead before making it into the journalism Big Leagues. I would have to work my way up from small TV markets in Iowa to mid-sized markets such as Milwaukee. Finally, after many years of hard work combined with a lot of luck, I might end up in a major market such as New York, L.A., or Chicago.

My job description as a broadcast journalist was just as well-defined as my career path. As a TV news producer, I found stories, directed camera operators to shoot, soundmen to record audio, and video editors to put my stories together in large, expensive AVID editing suites. There was even a driver to shuttle me around. At Columbia Journalism School, I had been taught to report, shoot, and edit my own stories. So, it was a shock when, at my first TV job, I had all these people working with me.

At the time, I was not overly concerned with the economics of the newsroom—the journalism industry was making a lot of money. Even so, it seemed strange to me that it took so many people to put together a 90-second story. Almost everything about the job of a video producer has changed since 1999.

Much has been written and discussed about the Internet and its disruptive effect on media, especially the business of journalism. News operations have shuttered bureaus, and newsrooms have seen their staffs cut in record numbers. According to the Poynter Institute, more than 18,000 editorial news jobs were cut from 2000 to 2012 (source: www.poynter.org/latest-news/business-news/the-biz-blog/216617/asne-census-finds-2600-newsroom-jobs-were-lost-in-2012/). News organizations have had to reconfigure their business and production models quickly, iterating strategies constantly. By the time this book is published, the industry will mostly likely have seen even greater challenges and changes come and go.

Another common topic of discussion in online newsrooms is the effect of this new age of journalism on the day-to-day life of a reporter. Journalists are being asked to do much more than ever before, with fewer resources. Those who have survived the many waves of layoffs are being retrained to blog and tweet, to take photos, and to produce video. There are no longer print-only reporters, nor are there massive video production teams, as there had been when I graduated from Columbia. A journalist, these days, works in several media and produces content that is published on several platforms.

This book and its accompanying Web site have been written and produced for the journalist and non-fiction storyteller of today, specifically those just starting to work with video. This text is designed for students, professional journalists looking to learn video production, or experienced producers looking to enhance their feature and narrative storytelling technique. This book will be also be useful for editors, professors, and others hoping to gain a better understanding of the processes and challenges of video production. This text can be read all the way through cover-to-cover, or readers may choose to jump to specific sections as needed. When possible, practice lessons and additional resources relating to ma...