Go ahead, embed

July 1, 2009 update: I’m aware that the spokesman.com videos I’ve embedded aren’t playing. I’m in touch with the admin to see what’s happening.

We (as co-workers other than me) debuted a new feature on spokesman.com videos today: video embedding.

If you check out my previous post, you’ll note that the video player looks identical to the one on spokesman.com. Thanks to Brian Immel, it is!

To grab the code on any Spokesman-Review video, just click the <> button in the lower right of the player, click “copy code,” then paste on your blog or elsewhere.

This is a great step forward in sharing the multimedia talents of Spokesman-Review photographers and videographers. We get our content out there, and we get the clicks. But why should you care? Well…

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Demolition Saturday in Spokane

I guess it was the itch to shoot something fun that made me volunteer to work Saturday. In exchange I got a chance to cover the demolition of a duplex that had been cramping the style of a historic mansion in my neighborhood.

The video is below. Here’s a link to Shawn Vestal’s story on the event. Continue past the video for a couple observations on the assignment.


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Blog changes, new toys and a shot in the arm

Credit: thebeamans.blogspot.com

Credit: thebeamans.blogspot.com

I feel like I’ve been hibernating (see photo). Sure there was excitement on Election Day, but this blog has been on sedatives, and it’s been a long time since I’ve undertaken anything big at work. This is partly my hangover from the recent bout of layoffs.

Well, I’m awake now.

Exhibit A: Personal projects – I’ve given my other long-dormant blog, Burger, Revised, a new look and a new mission. I got a refresher in CSS and personalized Word Press’ Sandbox theme (built as a starter theme for designers) to make the appearance more of my own creation. If you are a vegetarian who lives or is planning to come to Spokane, my narrowly focused blog is for you.

Exhibit B: @ work – New video toys at work, and new energy for using them. Colin Mulvany has assigned me some of the gear he purchased when we were building up our videographer corps. So many of them lost their jobs that now we have a trove, and there’s no reason it should go unused.

The camera, at right, is a Canon HF10, and so far I’m in love. Great output, intuitive design, and easy import into Final Cut. Pair that with a Sennheiser wireless mic setup, and I’m geared up to go out and get better at this whole video thing. I’m developing a couple projects, but I need more story ideas.

As a result of Exhibit A, I’m not going to reinvest a lot of time into this blog. There are so many great sites out there that do a smashup job of compiling tutorials and tips that I feel like I’m shouting into oblivion. I’d rather write about a topic that I have a particular expertise in and see as undercovered.

But as a result of Exhibit B, I hope to have some new work to showcase here, so this blog won’t go away completely. This is, after all, my professional insurance policy. Expect more about more personal experience and less guiding to the best tools for learning online journalism. For that, subscribe to the sites I mentioned in this post.


Links for October 27th from 23:27 to 23:43

Links for October 27th from 23:27 to 23:43:


Links for October 26th through October 27th

Links for October 26th through October 27th:

  • Blogs are so over, Wired magazine says — mathewingram.com/work – In answer to Paul Boutin. “Is everyone going to have a blog? No — and they never were. Facebook and Twitter are probably enough for many people. Not writing at all is enough for many people. But why does it have to be all or nothing?”
  • Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004 – “Thinking about launching your own blog? Here’s some friendly advice: Don’t. And if you’ve already got one, pull the plug.”
  • Video Journal: Green Bluff grape harvest – This one’s for (and by) Thuy. “Stephanie and Davide Trezzi have been growing wine grapes for three years. This year, they’re passing a total of five tons of barbera and dolcetto to winemaker Don Townshend, making it the first time a Green Bluff wine will be made exclusively from Green Bluff grapes.”

Video: A meeting long in the making


Longtime penpals finally meet from Andrew Zahler on Vimeo.

I’m just catching up to blogging about this video I shot and produced a couple weeks back.

It’s a sweet story about two long-time pen pals meeting for the first time here in Spokane. They started corresponding in the 1930s.

I tagged along with the reporter to document the magic moment. I hadn’t shot any live events for months, so I was kind of rusty on sequencing my shots and other imperatives that I’ve been taught.

I taped while the reporter did his interview with one of the women, but there wasn’t much there I could use. She didn’t provide much when I asked some follow ups.

In the end, I was able to capture the moment they met with some OK sequencing, and when I sat the two of them down together I got some usable audio to create a simple, one-minute short.

More important than the finished product, I think, was the experience of getting back into live shooting and producing on deadline.


How to make a how-to video


How to make a paper rose from Andrew Zahler on Vimeo.

Before I went on vacation last week, I shot and edited a video to go with a story running in our Home section. The subject: How to make a paper rose.

I had never made a how-to video before. Here’s what the experience taught me.

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If you aren’t using RSS yet…

… you should be. If you work in the media, you need this tool to keep track of the thousands of ideas, tools, projects, tips and events that are cropping up in blogs and other online media.

The video below will get you up and running better and faster than I can. Common Craft is a great site I only recently discovered and added to my own RSS feed in Google Reader. Lee and Sachi Lefever form the Common Craft team, based out of my hometown of Seattle, and they put together paper cutout animations that are fun to watch and easy to absorb. Check out the archives of the Common Craft Show for more essential video training.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU&hl=en]


Video: Salvaged beauty at new Spokane nightclub

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixk7U_0aVMM&hl=en]

What: A tour of Zola, a new downtown Spokane nightclub, with owner/developer/artist Dan Spalding. He created the interior with almost completely salvaged and recycled materials.

High hopes: I got to use a much nicer camera than I had before, so I was expecting to create greatness. I don’t know if I got that, but I’m pretty happy about what I was able to do in about two minutes.

Areas for improvement: This could be sharper technically. I wish I’d taken the time to set up a tripod for several shots. But I liked the flexibility of working without. I also debated going back to the bar at night to get some crowd shots to round out the B roll. In the end, time and energy constraints kept me from doing so. Low-light conditions affected several shots, which I included anyway for the sake of variety.

Conclusion: I have to remind myself that this was only my fourth video effort, and I can’t expect to nail it all at this point.

For more: Visit spokane7.com.


A hilarious example of why YouTube requires skepticism

First watch this video. Then read this story from The Spokesman-Review.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeuEMeg8eQE&hl=en]