Magzalez’s eyes on media

I’ve updated my YouTube Channel today. I should have seven videos up by days end.

For now, this is how I am putting my videos out there. Unfortunately, they have a shelf life at a newspaper. Chances are, a video on a news Web site, unless immensely popular–take Andrew Meyer for instance–will stay up a max of two weeks. YouTube will keep these videos online for a lot longer. As for these videos, they were up and down sometime during the summer of 2007.

My main concern is the dramatic loss of picture quality after uploading the newest videos, most of which are videos I took/edited while at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

I am going to ask around and see what the best service is for streaming videos on a personal Web site. Check back for updates.

 *Visit this blog’s new address*

I saw today that the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is looking for a new online editor. I’m not sure what’s going on over there. I’ve seen a decline in the Web site lately, for example, the random code in the job posting. This kind of stuff has been pretty prevalent in the last few weeks. I also haven’t seen as many videos coming out of what I consider a pretty stellar group of videographers. All the videos seem to be from local news broadcasts and national news.

I’ll keep you posted on the goings-on.

*Visit this blog’s new address*

A lot of people become journalists because they want to do something different everyday. They want to drive to work not knowing what is going to go on that day. But the truth is journalism can get monotonous and most of the time we’re reporting on day-to-day life. So why not try to spice things up?

One thing I’ve always thought is that journalism needs to become more creative. In the newspaper, the everyday story could be peppered up with a creative lead, interesting quotes, etc. Photographs could convey what they need to convey with the bonus elements. Video could take some techniques from the movies and try something new from time to time.

One newspaper that just gets it is The San Jose Mercury News. I mean, really, these guys get it.

Just take a look at this video, “Friday Night: Custodian.” The visuals, the sound, the characters, they’re all perfect. What is really an uninteresting idea–a story about a woman who has been a custodian in the same place for more than 15 years–kept my attention because of the masterful video and audio techniques implored by the journalists at the the Mercury News. Dai Sugano’s name keeps coming up when I see a good video.

Some newspapers need to stop taking my viewership for granted and take a page out of the Mercury News’ book and start making more interesting, intricate, in-depth video.

Here are a couple more interesting multimedia pieces from the SJ Mercury News and others:

• “Long Snapper,” a look at San Francisco 49’s long snapper Brian Jennings’ pre-snap run down (SJ Mercury News)
• “Spring Glow,” made for spring fashion 2007, awesome, uses stop motion and many other cool techniques (SJ Mercury News)
• “Becoming a zombie,” out-of-the-ordinary good for The Gainesville Sun.
• “The Vault of Terror: Davie family transforms home into haunted house,” (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

*Updates: more videos by Joel Graff

Joel Graff, formerly a videographer at the Sun-Sentinel, is the new chief videographer for Florida Today.

Graff is a veteran of video. He taught me a lot of things about journalism–specifically about being a videographer.

Graff owned his own video media company before working at the Sun-Sentinel. While at the Sun-Sentinel he was the co-director of video, though that was not his official title.

While with Graff he told me what he thought was both a step forward and a step backward in bringing video to readers through the Internet. He explained that the more reporters and print journalists that they gave cameras to, the less video he himself got to shoot. Graff’s skills that ranged from reporting, to videography, to digital editing, were stifled. As one of the only video editors, he was forced to edit the video taken by print journalists in their reporting endeavors instead of taking his own video.

Graff was presumably against the idea of the “backpack” journalist. He felt videos needed to be taken by videographers and pictures by photographers.

He was often heard saying, “I’m stuck trying to make chicken soup out of chicken crap,” when referring to having to edit video that he considered to be sub-par due to lack of proper training.

We’ll soon see how different the move from a TribInc. paper to a Gannet paper is. As for Graff, his skills will surely complement the young staff in Melbourne, Fla.

Here are some of the latest videos I could find that Graff had a hand in:

• School lunches could cost more next year (narrator)
• *Palm Bay car fires
• *Special Report: Brevard housing market takes downturn

In continuation with my last entry, here are some other newspapers trying to do what the Sun-Sentinel has done. None of the examples match up to the fun, broadcast style of Sun-Sentinel videojournalist Tiffany Ellis’ “Harvey’s Highlights.”

• The Denver Post’s Jim Armstrong gives it a try with JimmyTube. It has potential. I could not find any record of videos prior to the one taken after the Denver Broncos’ last preseason game. It looks good. Let’s see if The Denver Post can spice it up and keep it going.
• The Kansas City Star decided to post slide shows with audio (bottom left of the page under “Training camp: photos with audio”) after some of the Kansas City Chiefs training camp practices. The photos are nice, but did they think I wouldn’t notice that all the slide shows have the same audio? What I can say is that the Star’s Adam Tiecher has been doing a video blog for the last couple of months about the Chiefs, but it lacks proper production and style.
• On StarTribune.com, aside from player interviews, they provided a video analysis by writers Kevin Seifert and Judd Zulgad for the upcoming Minnesota Vikings season. It is very informative but also very awkward (like in the pit of your stomach kind of awkward). The player interviews are fun but exactly what the NFL has been monitoring. These videos may be taken down soon.

The trend of these “stand-up” videos is sure to grow. News outlets will do anything they can to get their readers their news through the best medium.

Here is a story from The Washington Post about the NFL’s new rules. They can explain it much better than I can.