Tales from the vj bootcamp
By Andrew Grant-Adamson • Jul 25th, 2007 • Category: Journalism, Online, VideoStorytelling did not escape Mindy McAdams as she learned to be a video journalist at a boot camp. Her 1 minute 30 second look at an El Salvadorian restaurant in Washington DC provided a cameo of immigrant life in the city.
Although I have never been to south or central America I was convinced of its authenticity by the soccer match playing the television while a singer performed. Just like Spain, although the food is a reminder that the tortillas are very different.
Video storytelling is very different to a print story too, as Mindy found out. "This is not print reporting, and if I want to learn to tell a visual story, then I’ve got to check my print techniques at the door," she writes.
Not all of them, I think. There is a reporter’s curiosity in both the restaurant video and another on a bike shop she has posted. Both would fit well beside a written story, illustrating in a way words cannot.
Andrew Grant-Adamson is Andrew Grant-Adamson is a journalist who now teaches a new generation of writers, subs and editors at the University of Westminster.
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Andrew, you are very sweet to say such complimentary things about my videos. I debated whether I should post them at all, since neither one is very good. But as you might have guessed, I was glad I was able to muster up the nerve to stick a big camera into people’s business.