Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Combining
Audioand Stills
S
lideshows date from the latter half of the 1800s when
tinted color images, fixed on glass plates, were shown using oil-lit
Egypt or Mount Kilimanjaro. In the sliding glass plate slide shows URL, and youre all set to go:
http://www.kobreguide.com/
content/videojournalism.
by Jacob Riis, for example, people at last saw for themselves the
Capture motion. The video camera is ideal for Some stories are simply better illustrated
capturing sustained movement, recording the with video. Brian Kaufman produced a story on
flow of the action. Although the still camera, for a mentally impaired bowler who had thrown
which each image is static, captures a quintes- multiple perfect 300 games. A story like that is
sential visual moment, the video camera regis- stronger for seeing the man bowling, witnessing
ters what happens before, during, and after the his form, his power, his determination. That type
decisive moment. Video links all the individual of action story would not have been communi-
moments together. cated as effectively with stills.
Synchronous sound. Video records synchronous
Combining Stills and Video
sound and images. The mouth of someone speak-
Many projects mix video and stills. In the Detroit
ing moves in exact time with the words the viewer
Free Presss story about the American car indus-
hears. The viewer sees the slap of a boxers glove
try, Rising from the Wreckage, still images help
while hearing the punch land in the same instant.
convey history and video provides the medium
More realistic. Video is more realistic and for current interviews.
parallels viewers actual experience of the real Brian Storm, founder of MediaStorm, believes
world. Although a still photo can become an video is best when action is involved and still pho-
icon, video absorbs viewers in a new world. tography is best for capturing decisive moments.
120
HOW TO SHOOT Gary Reyes of the San Jose Mercury News
says that his shooting style changes radically
STILLS FOR MULTIMEDIA
when he is producing a multimedia piece. The
Still photographers shooting for print are like
newspaper might use only one or two images,
hawks stalking their prey. One moment. One
but Reyes says he needs about eighteen images
instant. One press of the shutter and they have five seconds per imageto complete a one-and-
swooped in for the capturea prize-winning half minute multimedia story. You dont want to
photo caught on a CF card. have to throw in one or two crappy images just
Shooting stills for a multimedia project does to fill out the slideshow. Every frame becomes
require the eye of a hawk, but one must also more important, he says.
develop the ear of a deer to be able to hear and
record the perfect sound or quote. Moreover, Shoot Sequences Like a Videographer
we need the patience and industry of a beaver to
Videographers covering a story will shoot a
build a complete project that is sure to hold the
series of shotswide, medium, close-up, reac-
viewers attention.
tion, and point-of-viewthat they later will
edit and combine into a smooth sequence of
One Picture is Never Enough images that combines into a cohesive series
Through multiple pictures and audio, the the building blocks of a complete story. (For a
multimedia shooter needs to present events complete description of shooting the sequence,
both before and after the peak action so that the see Chapter 10, Shooting a Sequence.)
viewer can grasp the storyline and make out the When shooting stills for multimedia, look for
significance of the images. the following:
Although storytelling approaches are often Wide shot of the scene (WS). Either use
said to be universal, the difference between a wide-angle lens or back up to shoot an
shooting still images for a print layout and still establishing shot of every scene. Try to find
images for multimedia is not unlike the dif- a high angle from which you can take the
ference between writing 17-syllable haiku and overallshot.
writing a 500-page novel. Both forms use words, Medium shot (MS). Come in as close as
but novels and multimedia use a lot more of you can but not so close that you cant
them. Rather than photographing one decisive capture action as it unfolds.
moment, you must capture the telling sequence, Close-up (CU). Record individual detail
which always consists of a series of photos. shots of relevant objects such as hands and
Kim Komenich, a professor at San Jose State faces that move along the storyline. Viewer
University and award-winning former photo- delight lives in those details.
journalist, calls this approach the search for the Reaction shot of observers (RS). How do
decisivesequence. the people nearby or an audience respond
An average magazine story in Esquire to your subjects personality, jokes, songs,
or Rolling Stone might use six images. A discussions, or lectures?
multimedia pieceeven a three-minute report Point-of-view (POV). Let the viewer see
needs forty to sixty or more different images to the scene through the eyes of the primary
engage a viewer enough to maintain attention on character. Show what the character is look-
the pretimed piece. Forty to sixty photos is a lot ing at and, if possible, shoot it from the
ofpictures. persons eyelevel.
Simply adding more pictures from a routine
assignment can prove to be a photographers Stills that Add to the Story
trap. David Leeson, a photojournalist whose Multimedia pieces require unique types of
still images have helped win Pulitzer Prizes for photos not found in typical print stories:
The Dallas Morning News, says, Its challenging Watch for transitions to introduce
enough to get ten or twelve great storytelling and end sequences. Subjects taking a
images for a typical print assignment. He claims bus/car/subway to arrive and to leave
that the other twenty-eight or more stills in a place and images of the outside of a
most multimedia presentations tend to be weak. building to establish where the action
Those are the images that would have wound up will take place are examples of necessary
in File 13the trash can. transitionphotos.
m The Lifeline. Having fol- Shoot continuously. Fire rapidly using the
lowed a severely wounded m Portraits are a Must. You will need portraits of everyone you
continuous camera setting to capture a interview for the multimedia piece. (Photo by Ken Kobr)
soldier home from Iraq, the
videojournalist ended the sustained series of images as your subject
piece by showing the young jumps, runs, walks, or talks. A series of quick Change focus to change emphasis. Switch
mans resumption of life,
shots, sometimes referred to as a flip-book focus. Start with the foreground sharp in
albeit a new one without
legs. (RickLoomis, or animated technique, can help simulate one frame. Then switch focus so that the
photographer, Los the illusion of real motion in your multime- background is sharp in the following frame.
Angeles Times)
dia piece. When shot and played back fast This approach is excellent for redirecting
enough, the resulting images can approach viewers attention from one person or place
the natural movement captured by a video to another.
camera. Photojournalist Ed Kashi employed Frame horizontally. When possible,
the technique to dramatic advantage images for multimedia should be framed
in showing life in Iraqi Kurdistan. horizontally. Multimedia players on web-
Build up to an event. Arrive before the sites are in the shape of a horizontal box.
action starts and record the preparation. Vertical pictures will work, but they will be
Capture the closure. Photograph the end smaller than if they were horizontals, have
of an event, right down to the last guest a black band on either side, and generally
leaving and the deflated balloons sagging look out of place in multimedia pieces.
to the ballroom floor. For a story rather Compose the image including some extra
than an event, look for a situation that space on the edges of the frame that extend
seems to bring the piece to a close. beyond the key subject. This wider compo-
Copy photos from a photo album, sition is particularly important if you are
refrigerator, or wall. These kinds of snap- not sure how the images will be used in the
shots or random photos can help provide final presentation. Some projects require
graphic visual history that will coincide 43 proportions (the shape of the tradition-
with the stories your characters reveal al television screen); others require a 916
about their past. HD format.
c Focus Pull (Rack Focus).
Using the technique of focus
pull, also called rack focus,
you can shift the point
of focus from near to far
while keeping the cameras
aperture open to its widest
setting, and cause the viewer
to pay attention to different
parts of the picture. (Photo by
Ken Kobr)
EDITING MULTIMEDIA
Along with transitional images, you want to be
thinking about visual variety in much the same
way you would for a picture page or for a video
sequence (more on that later). The edit needs
wide, medium, and close-up shots in order to
establish the scene, introduce the character, and
show the action or conflict.
Image Pacing
In multimedia, good pacing is a delicate achieve-
ment. Viewers accustomed to fresh televised
A Report with a images flashing on a screen every few seconds tend
Voice-Over Correspondent to expect the same when watching a multimedia
The voice-over correspondent is usually the piece. Of course, you cannot regularly achieve a
reporter accompanying a photographer. In the 30-fps image bombardment using stills, but you
Palm Beach Posts effective multimedia piece do not want to bore viewers either. Leaving images
Train Jumpers, writer Christine Evans voice- on the screen for too long is likely to send them
over, backed by natural sound, provides facts clicking away to another story on the Internet.
and conveys heart-rending individual stories that Conversely, viewers will not have sufficient time
further bring to life Gary Coronados powerful, to absorb each image if it passes through too
award-winning images. The project successfully quickly. Assess the readability of the image when
documents the dangerous, desperate journey considering length of time on screen. A complex
of Central American immigrants to la tierra image with layers and emotion may need a few
prometidathe promised land of the United seconds longer on the screen than a simple image
States and the jobs it represents. Coronado rode that features only one detail of the scene. As a rule,
the rails himself for months to document the pictures in a multimedia piece should be on screen
treacherous quest for a better life. The reporting/ for five to eight seconds. A picture on the screen
photography package not only captures the for more than eight seconds will seem to an audi- . The Reach of War: A
perilous journey but also introduces groups ence as if its been hanging there for an eternity. Deadly Search for Missing
trying to help the desperate immigrants who are When viewing Gary Coronados Train Soldiers. The photographer
not only shot the pictures but
wounded or mutilated along the way. Jumpers online, watch for the effective pac- also wrote and recorded his
ing of images during a series in which a young own voice-over narrative.
A Report Narrated by the Image Maker man races for a rapidly passing train and (Photos andstory by
Perhaps the most gut-wrenching example of a Michael Kamber, New
misses. York Times)
photographer narrating his own piece is called
The Reach of War: A Deadly Search for Missing
Soldiers. While New York Times photographer
Michael Kamber was accompanying a platoon of
soldiers on patrol in Iraq, one soldier was killed
and others wounded. Kambers photographs and
eyewitness account bring the viewer directly into
the harrowing experience. Kambers voice-over
explains the story and also provides incredible
tension and depth. Kamber not only notes what
happened when the soldier was injured but also
observes what did not happen. No screaming,
never rushed, he says of the medic, who stays
calm through the ordeal. This kind of personal
observation, something a still photograph cannot
capture, is priceless in a dramatic story like this.
When Images, Sound, and Text Compete images like two empty chairs that represent his
Although many multimedia reports include mental state. At 90 years old, Shneidman believes
images, sound, and text, do not assume that he wont live to see 91, and a photograph of vari-
viewers will read captions while looking at ous timepieces, clocks, and watches on a table
pictures and listening to audio. Despite all in his home are photographed as a still life to
the hype we hear today about multitasking, reinforce the hard-to-illustrate imagery of time
scientists have proven that the human mind can running out. Without these transitional photos
do only one thing at a time. The brain can move so aptly illustrating Shneidmans state of mind,
quickly between activities, but it jumps linearly. the multimedia piece could have been nothing
You might say that the mind cannot walk and more than a series of portraits of a frail old man
chew gum at the same time. waiting to die. The transitional photos were
Plan your presentation so that viewers can not throwaway pictures. They were an impor-
concentrate on watching and listening to your tant bridge that interconnected key storytelling
multimedia piece. Think about how you examine moments in a well-wrought multimedia piece.
a picture layout in a newspaper, magazine, or Ambient sounds can also provide a transi-
book. You cannot possibly read the captions at tion from one section of your story to another.
the same moment you are looking at the pictures. Sometimes you want to start the sound a few
In fact, you may look at all the pictures before seconds before you show the image it goes with.
you return to the captions. Imagine adding nar- This technique of leading with sound, called
ration or dialog to that mix. With a multimedia split editing, can smooth the transition from one
piece, do not expect the viewer to read slide aspect of the story to another. Usually the viewer
captions while also listening to the sound and does not even notice this sleight ofhand.
studying the image all at the same time.
Multimedia Takes Time
Transitions for Multimedia Your production time of a linear story will
A transition photo works to bridge concepts and generally be much longer than producing or
thoughts cohesively. editing a story in still images. Keep in mind that
Each picture should have its place and should by production time, we refer to the time spent
enhance what the viewer is hearing. Be careful not behind the computer or with other producers
to be too literalsay dog, see dogbut under- not out in the field recording and photograph-
stand that the pictures and sound must blend ing. Many producers say that for every minute of
together well. In the Los Angeles Times story final audio you will produce, plan to spend one
Waiting to Die, Edwin Shneidman compares hour, and for every final video you produce, plan
his aging body to the decaying statue in his yard. to spend three.
With that metaphor in mind, the photographer Nancy Donaldson, a multimedia producer at
uses a series of pictures, not only of Shneidman in the New York Times, says each project on which
various states of physical being, but of metaphoric shes worked takes a different amount of time to
m Waiting to Die. This elegy-like story uses photos of the subject m A transitional photo of these two chairs implies that
as well as symbolic images that represent his life. two people used to sit and talk. (Photos by LizO. Baylen,
Los Angeles Times)
c Frame precisely. A
corollary to get closer is to
frame precisely. Framing
carefully while coming in
close can eliminate parts of
a distracting background
while still leaving enough of
it to provide a sense of place.
(Photo by Juan Gomez)
b Think variety. Be
imaginative. Take shots from
different angles, locations,
and distances. In any situa-
tion, look for a good subject/
object for a close-up, then
back off a little for a medium
shot, and finally, get high
and wide for an overall shot.
(Photo by Shmuel Thaler, Santa
Cruz Sentinel )
REMINDERS
Study your cameras manual. You really do need to learn how to adjust
your own camera. Learn about its available functions and locate all but-
tons, dials, and menu items so that you wont become befuddled on
anassignment.
Shoot twice as much as youre used to shooting. Dont skimp. One differ-
ence between an amateur and a professional is that the professional shoots
a huge quantity of pictures from a variety of angles, distances, and heights,
and then discards all the weak, out-of-focus, poorly composed images, and
saves only thebest.
Improve your skills. If youre looking for a good general book about photog-
raphy for beginners, try Photography, Barbara London, Jim Stone and John
Upton (Prentice Hall). If youve got the basics down, go to the next level with
Photojournalism: The Professionals Approach, Kenneth Kobr (Focal Press/
Elsevier).