One of the first things I tell my students when they start my photojournalism course is: “This is not just taking a picture.”
Anyone can hit the shutter release. Operating a DSLR with skill and then editing those photos, is MUCH harder than anyone realizes. Take the difficulty of that, combined with moving images, audio, and uncooperative lighting: boom, you have videography.
Completing this task was more arduous than the others because the videos had to be shot in person. Compared to a written story or podcast, which could be done remotely. However, the combination of back-to-school events, an unexpected illness, and – why not – jury duty, left me scrambling to complete a video shoot in time.
I mention this because it is a good reminder to advisers that students stress to complete our work on top of five to seven other classes, and life. Think about that when you assign a project and they’re slightly late. These students are capable of producing professional level work, but lack the professional time dedicated to doing it.
The biggest hurdles were lighting, equipment and audio.
Because I chose a Q&A format of a story (I tend to lean toward more features and people-heavy stories), the chief characters had to be lit well and nicely positioned. While I used a studio light to add some light on the subjects, I forgot to look at the background and, in post, realized I didn’t block out the windows, leaving a distracting and back-lit background.
In terms of equipment, shooting the b-roll was simple using an iPhone 12 Pro Max. The interviews were slightly different. Despite my best attempts, it just wasn’t working. Partially because I didn’t have a phone stand and constant emails from work would ruin the video and audio. So, I gave in and used a DSLR from then on out because I’m a perfectionist. In the field, the phone would have been perfectly adequate, but the specific situation called for the upgrade.
Finally, I lacked an audio device and had to use the built-in audio recorder. In hindsight, I would have gone to the A/V tech teacher and borrowed a lav mic. This made their audio very low. In Adobe Premiere, I duplicated the sound levels and stacked them on top of each other – a trick my professor taught me to boost sound levels without as much hiss. It still ended up a bit garbled at points, but acceptable nonetheless.
For teachers, take the risk. Make your kids go out and shoot video. Tell stories through quick interviews, b-roll and take the readers there.
Just make sure they shoot horizontally.
Green's J-School 