NewsTrain blog Saturday 9 26 09, Norman, OK

Today I’m in NewsTrain’s Track 1 video training with Robb Montgomery. This guy treks video journalism training all over the world. Check out his stuff at www.robbmontgomery.com

Key tips from Montgomery:
Check equipment before you go – tripod and plate, battery, full tape rewound, microphone, headphones.

You need sequences of shots.
Think three, six, nine – three wide, medium and tight shows from three angles. Get 6 usable seconds of each.

Use sneaker zoom, not button zoom. Walk toward the subject and way rather than zooming.

You need good foreground, middle ground and background.

Shoot cutaways for later editing – people walking toward you or away, vehicles coming and going. Feet. Hands.

Don’t pan to follow action. Let people enter the movie and leave.

Be aware of available sounds – voice of interviewee, natural sound, repetitive pops and explosions, narrative/voice over, music. Video journalists, he says, have a broader pallet as storytellers.

Put interviewees at ease. Ask simple open-ended questions – “Tell me …” “What will it mean …” Toss in a throwaway question for an opportunity to shift the camera to moving hands and gestures for later editing.

Ask the question and then shut up. Communicate through body language instead, to pull out more information.

Audio is huge. Have the equipment to produce quality audio.

See Montgomery's work on Vimeo.