I found these videos on the Video Journal page of the Spokesman Review’s Web site. It seems like a good source of news videos. I like viewing and critiquing these because, though the nice, fun, human interest stories are great to make and view, a lot of newspapers are also requiring reporters to shoot these more hard news focused videos.
The video called ‘Milk truck crash on Interstate 90‘ is pretty long for the ‘story’ it tells, (a tanker carrying milk on a snowy road slid off the roadway and ended up on its side). People will definitely want to see the crashed tanker and it’s great that the action of getting the tanker upright was caught on film, but really, there is just too much footage of the truck on its side. It’s too repetitive.
Also, the narrator’s voice is far too monotone and he gives too much detail – he loses the viewer. The last thing is that all the footage is of the truck and the road – the reporter should have interviewed SOMEONE: a cop, a witness, the trucker. I must complement the videographer on his very steady hand and clean shots, but those seem to be the only positive aspects of this video. The video gives a chronology of sorts, but doesn’t really tell a story.
Another Spokesman Review video, ‘Helping Others,’ tells a nice story about a teen shoveling snow for people who need a hand. There are some really great shots in this video; I like the ones shot from the ground, which show the subject as he comes into the picture with a shovel or snowblower. The close up on the spinning blades of the snowblower is wonderful. There also is a lot more dialog in this video than in the last. The talking ‘conversation clips’ combined with the outside action make for an interesting mixture of shots.
Lastly, the quality of the audio in this piece is really nice – and the contrast of the bright blue sky and the crisp fresh snow gives it a very clean feel. I’m not sure if this piece really tells a story – though I think it comes close.
Journalist Laura 