New contender for worst newspaper video

And I thought the Bolton News was bad. The bar has just been lowered by Reading Evening Post’s Sports Editor David Wright’s video bulletin, a painful lesson in how not to do online video:

Rule #1: if you’re aiming to imitate broadcast television, make sure you’ve watched it since the ’80s.

Rule #2: if you use a cloth for a background, make sure you iron it.

Rule #3: tempted to use those fancy transition effects on your video editing software? Sleep on it. Please.

Rule #4: if you’re going to do ‘green screen’ make sure the green covers the whole background.

Rule #5: don’t start talking to your mate while the camera is still filming.

Rule #6: speak clearly, slow down.

Rule #7: film at a time or place when people are not coming in and out of a door and mumbling to each other out-of-shot

Rule #8: do more than one take.

It’s not David Wright’s fault that he has to learn his trade in public. I doubt Surrey and Berkshire Newspapers have invested in any training for him, and it’s clear they’ve not invested in facilities. Perhaps material like this may persuade them otherwise.

UPDATE: I hope David’s hits have shot up – they’re watching him in Australia and Hungary.

10 thoughts on “New contender for worst newspaper video

  1. Pingback: Wordblog » Blog Archive » Video help needed at Reading

  2. Pingback: Martin Stabe » links for 2007-04-23

  3. Hil Hunt

    You could add a couple more:

    9. Try being interesting or at least (unintentionally) funny.

    10. If you can’t, at least tell us something new – not a list of the bleeding obvious.

    It’s not confined to Bolton & Reading – this stuff is all over the place. Why do news sites persist with multimedia without hiring the right skills? You’d no more ask a video technician to design a front page than pay a graphic designer to doorstep the mighty. Surely it’s worse for a newspaper’s reputation to offer up risible stuff like this than to leave video to the experts? (Or at least to the gifted amateurs?)

    Reply
  4. Pingback: This critique is right up my alley | News Videographer

  5. Pingback: Newspaper Video: do’s and don’ts : Andy Dickinson.net

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  7. Pingback: It's not the BBC the newspapers need to worry about, it's ITV Local « MediaBizTech

  8. Pingback: A new nomination for Worst Newspaper Video - Reading Evening Post does it again « Online Journalism Blog

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