Adding video to your journalism toolkit

I was obviously pretty disappointed (but not surprised) Wednesday when I asked during critique for a show of hands of people who had shot video for theorion.com in the previous week. Not a single hand went up, which was consistent with the amount of video (outside of the daily webscast) that had been posted to the website (none).

Shooting, editing and producing video stories for the web isn't the same as goofing around with the video tool on an iPhone, but there are lots of free resources available that can get reporters up and storytelling with video. Here are a few I like:

Make Internet TV - A Knight Foundation-funded website that gives clear, easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions for shooting, editing and publishing video on the Internet. It's also platform-neutral, so if you work on a Windows or Linux system, you can still use this guide. Here's one of the people who put it together:

Make Internet TV: Introduction

10 Steps for Shooting Better Video With Your iPhone - The very definition of quick and easy, this is a set of tips with brief, understandable explanations and a big photo of each technique to make things clear. Written by R.J. Bookwalter for Mac Life.

Tips for Shooting Video Interviews - This list seems pretty commonsensical, but it will help anyone avoid some of the most common mistakes people make when interviewing with a camera. The comments that follow are very helpful, too.

Mindy McAdams' iMovie Tutorial -  A journalism professor's step-by-step guide to editing video on the easiest video editing software available. This is a downloadable PDF with a link at the end to more advanced iMovie tips. Part of the Journalists' Toolkit website that has lots of other resources for reporters and editors.

Ten Ways to Improve Your Multimedia Production Right Now - A webpage on the MediaStorm website with advanced tips for digital media production, including examples of what's being described. A great page to look at after mastering the basics.