I am taking a break from science blogging this week to attend Columbia Journalism’s digital media bootcamp, a fast-paced 5 day training course on using video to tell stories.

Led by the enthusiastic and experienced, Duy Linh Tu, I am hoping this course will enable me to produce reasonable quality video blog posts from conferences that I attend.

For those interested, I plan on writing a brief blog post each day about my experiences.  At the end of the week, I’ll post the video project I completed.

Day 1 started by looking at two short videos from CNN and videojournalist Travis Fox for the Washington Post.

What surprised me was the sheer number of shots that go into a well produced video story.  To illustrate a simple process such as filling a water bottle by a homeless family took several wide shots, close-ups and medium shots.  Watching video will never be the same again after today – my paradigm has shifted.

After instruction on using a semi-pro JVC video camera that each of us will have for the course, we tried our hand at filming our partner make a peanut butter sandwich. Sounds and looks easy until you see the efforts on film later !!

Duy patiently pointed out how we could do better:

• Better posture for holding the camera so that it doesn’t move as much
• Walk in rather than zoom in, this avoids magnifying small movements
• Hold each shot for 10 seconds so you have enough video to edit
• Don’t follow the action, let the motion happen in the frame
• Use 3 different angles from 3 different distances (3 x 3 rule)

Then, after this coaching session we were let loose on the streets of New York around Columbia Journalism School with instructions to video two simple processes in everyday life.

Video of street artists, hotdog vendors, booksellers, icecream vans, and mechanical workers were the result. I was impressed by the skills of my classmates after such a short period of time.

Again, in the learning by doing format, Duy patiently reviewed our efforts and coached us on how we could improve, with tips on shot composition, camera focus, exposure and white balance adjustment.

I’m tired after Day 1, there’s a lot to absorb, but am looking forward to Day 2 tomorrow and instruction on lighting and audio, not to mention the opportunity for further hands-on practice.