Qik is a separate program from Cycorder. Qik has lower resolution but can stream directly to your personal Qik channel.

-Kirk

I’m excited to see you using what you have to get started with your video work.

I watched several of your videos and here are my suggestions:

1. Use a tripod when possible, shakiness can distract the viewer.

2. Use B-roll over your interviews. B-roll is anything you layer on top of the interview to visually show what the speaker is talking about. It could be video, an illustration, a still photo or animation.

3. Tell the story in an unexpected way. Tell it as a story. Make a comedy out of it. Do the exact opposite of what you think you are expected to do.

4. Pre-plan your video in a storyboard with a beginning, middle and end. This is simplifying things a bit, but if you would like to know more please email me.

Good luck with your work. It is for a great cause!

-Kirk

You bring up some good points. People do want high quality. But when a story is breaking, say the Tsunami in Asia or the London Train Bombings, people value expediency over quality. They want to know immediately what is going on. Sometime after the event professionals show up on the scene, so the video/narration quality does improve over time. However nothing replaces timeliness.

I don’t think the expediency of the cell phone video or live blogger will eliminate the traditional journalist. I do think that it will drive down the pay for such journalists and force many out of business. To say this new-ish technology doesn’t have substantial effect is unrealistic.

You are correct about the blogosphere being the first real test of the traditional media. An army of Davids (bloggers) now have the power to take on the Goliath’s.

With the proliferation of the iPhone and other smart phones, as well as the Flip Video camera, the average citizen journalist can now go beyond writing about a situation in a blog to covering the event personally, creating an independent newscast. This is a big difference.

I chose to symbolize this shift with the Cycorder/Qik + iPhone example becuase the iPhone, although not the best smart-phone available, nor the first, is now the most ubiquitous. The iPhone brought the smart-phone to the masses, with a tremendous amount of advertising, catapulting it past BlackBerry in terms of market share.

The next few years will tell us if crowdsourcing works for news gathering. iReport and similar citizen journalist initiatives are being launched through traditional media, and independent news agencies are springing up all over the place. Can they make a profit and survive? Will one outlive the other?

It’s early to tell, but my money is on a t least a 50/50 split of news dominance between old and new media.

To Anon-

I think you missed the part where I make fun of myself for the fire truck video. It is meant as an example of a timely video of a breaking news event. In case of a real news event, this video, along with other citizen generated videos, would likely be the first videos broadcast as more information and analysis came in to a news station or website.

I didn’t make that clear enough and that is my fault. Citizen journalist videos would most likely be gathered in a blog or website where details of the breaking news incident would be revised as more info comes in…exactly the way it is done in traditional media when an unexpected story breaks, sans the professional reporters and equipment.

To Dave-

Where did I quote myself? I am confused. Happy New Year to you too!

Happy New Year!!!

Dave

For what it’s worth, I think the beginning of the end that you’re citing was more markedly brought about with the genesis of the blogosphere. The tools and applications you discuss are simply a continuation of the “every person has a voice” paradigm that the Internet affords.

“With the launch of the iPhone, cheap still photography meets cheap distribution”. I’m sorry, but the iPhone’s got nothing to do with it. It’s simply one of many devices, many of which proceeded it (and are far better than it is) that allow for what you’re discussing. Apple garners plenty of buzz as-is…please don’t tout it as something more than it is: a sub-par, cellphone/camera/3g device with a pretty form factor and UI.

Cheers

J