Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism studied what makes for successful news video and recommended that reporters shoot fast, raw clips posted instantly from the field, leaving in-depth, more sophisticated video stories to highly trained video journalists. These slides teach reporters how to produce those clips of under one minute with minimal editing. It is accompanied by a handout: Mobile video cheat sheet. Fernando Hurtado is manager of digital video for the NBC-Owned TV Stations' Digital Innovation Team. For more information about the News Leaders Association's NewsTrain, please see https://www.newsleaders.org/newstrain.

1. FERNANDO HURTADO | Fresno NewsTrain
SHOOTING
SMARTER VIDEO
WITH YOUR
SMARTPHONE
POWERED BY

2. FERNANDO
HURTADO
ABOUT ME
2019-PRESENT
2018-2019
2016-2018
PRODUCER/EDITOR
PRODUCER
MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST
MANAGER, DIGITAL VIDEO
PRODUCER/EDITOR
2012-2016
STUDENT

3. Who took
some of the
first images
WPSD viewers
saw of the
historic
Kentucky
tornado
damage?
CREDIT: WPSD

4. JUSTIN JONES
PHOTOJOURNALIST
WPSD
IT WASN’T
CREDIT:
WPSD

5. KALEA ANDERSON
MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST
WPSD
IT
WASN’T
CREDIT:
WPSD

6. LEANNE FULLER
WEB AND SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR
WPSD
IT
WASN’T
CREDIT:
WPSD

7. BILL EVANS
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER
WPSD
IT WAS
CREDIT:
WPSD

8. If a video is
worth 1,000
words…
a bad video is
worth zero words
CREDIT:
THE
GUARDIAN

9. OF THIS
SESSION,
BY THE END
YOU WILL BE…

10. OF THIS
SESSION,
BY THE END
YOU WILL BE…
THE VIDEO
VERSION OF BILL
EVANS

11. MORE SPECIFICALLY…
YOU WILL LEARN:
the optimal settings for shooting on
your smartphone
how to frame interviews and questions
to ask
what a sequence is and how to shoot
one
1
2
3

12. QUESTION
HOW HAVE YOU
USED MOBILE VIDEO
IN YOUR NEWSROOM
RECENTLY?

13. HOW MUCH TIME A DAY DO
YOUNG CONSUMERS SPEND
WATCHING VIDEO ONLINE?
CREDIT: MOVERS+SHAKERS

14. HOW MUCH TIME A DAY DO
YOUNG CONSUMERS SPEND
WATCHING VIDEO ONLINE?
2.4 3.4
HOURS HOURS
MILLENNIALS GEN Z
SOURCE: WIBBITZ (2020)

15. 66%
82%
OF ONLINE USERS
CHOOSE VIDEO
TO LEARN ABOUT
SOMETHING
SOURCE: WYZOWL
HOW MUCH
INTERNET
TRAFFIC WILL BE
FROM VIDEO THIS
YEAR
SOURCE: CISCO
2x
THE INCREASE IN
USERS CONSUMING
VIDEO DURING
BREAKING NEWS,
VERSUS AN
AVERAGE DAY
SOURCE: REUTERS INSTITUTE

16. LET’S WATCH THIS VIDEO

17. QUESTION
WHAT DID YOU
THINK THE VIDEO
DID WELL?

18. FRAMING
USE THE
RULE
OF THIRDS

19. CREDIT:
FSSTOPPERS

20. CREDIT:
SLRLOUNGE

21. CREDIT:
WITNESS

22. CREDIT:
COURIER-JOURNAL

23. LIGHTING
FIND THE
[NATURAL
] LIGHT
CREDIT:
TYLER
EDWARDS

24. LIGHTING
THAT
LIGHT CAN
BE…

25. LIGHTING
ONCE YOU
FIND THAT
LIGHT,
WHERE DO
YOU PUT IT?
CREDIT: VAL HOEPPNER

26. IF YOU DON’T
PUT
LIGHTING IN
CORRECT
SPOT, THIS
CAN HAPPEN:
CREDIT:DETROIT FREE PRESS

27. DON’T: ASK YES OR NO, LOGISTICAL OR ABSTRACT QUESTIONS
● Were you scared?
● How did the car turn over?
● Did you think they would knock on
your door?

28. DO: ASK QUESTIONS THAT ADD COLOR OR PAINT A PICTURE
● What went through your mind when
you opened that letter?
● What did you hear when the crash
happened?
● What do you remember the most from
that day?
● Walk me through that day. How did it
start?

30. DO: EMBRACE THE SILENCE

31. COMPOSITION
GET A VARIETY
OF SHOTS CREDIT: SUE MORROW

32. COMPOSITION
WS MS CU ECU
wide shot medium shot close-up extreme close-
up, aka detail
shot
CREDIT: SUE MORROW

33. RAISE YOUR HAND WHEN YOU SEE A CU SHOT
CREDIT: NBC BAY AREA
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/
local/north-bay/crews-battling-
grass-fire-in-san-rafael/2541225/

34. SHOOTING A…
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/
local/north-bay/crews-battling-
grass-fire-in-san-rafael/2541225/

35. A SEQUENCE IS…
A VARIETY OF
SHOTS, THAT
WHEN STRUNG
TOGETHER SHOW
A CONTINUOUS
ACTION
CREDIT: NBCLX

36. TO SHOOT ONE,
IDENTIFY AN
ACTION. THIS
COULD BE:
- fire burning
- people picking up debris
- person picking up trash
- people entering rally
- crowd listening at City Hall
meeting
- people protesting outside
store
- etc.

37. AND THEN SHOOT IT
USING
MICHAEL
ROSENBLUM’S
5-SHOT
METHOD
CREDIT:
MICHAEL
ROSENBLUM

38. LET’S SHOOT A SEQUENCE
BUT FIRST…

39. Turn on
airplane
mode.
Wipe
your
lens.
Rotate your
phone
horizontally.
AND…

40. Turn on your grid lines for
help with rule of thirds.
iOS
ANDROID

41. 5-SHOT SEQUENCE EXERCISE
1. Get in pairs.
2. Shoot a sequence of your
partner making a paper
airplane, and vice versa.
3. Hold each shot for at least
10 seconds.

42. USE THIS STORYBOARD 1. Edit the
video using
the
Videoshop
app
2. Tweet your
edited video
using
#NewsTrain
Video

43. QUESTIONS
1. What was the most difficult
part?
2. What was the easiest?
3. What would you have done
differently?

44. SLIDES AND HANDOUTS
bit.ly/fresnonewstrain

45. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO TRY FIRST?
HOW CAN I HELP?
Fernando Hurtado
@fhurtado