Staging video

I think the most important thing about staging video is to anticipate the action of the subject and compose the frames of the video well. It is easier said than down. In front of an object or event, we open become dazzled by the going-ons and it isn't until the time for editing that we start to realize that something is missing there.

And bad shots really kills a good video. I learned this when I was doing a video story on the renovation of Dazhalan, an historical area in Beijing. Doing video for the first time, My group members and I were able to lauch this really good story idea, thanks to the talented TV editors we were working with. However, the shots we shot weren't enough to convey the end of the story, so we were forced to use still photo slideshows, which lasts about half a minute or so, to wrap up the story. One of the shots we had was so terrible (tilted up, pan right, tilt down, zoom in, zoom out---all in one, incredibly awful shot!!) that we were forced to find substitute video for that soundbite. Although the storry itself was interesting and well-told, the video part of it really sucks. That, I think, is one of the most important features of video story that distinguishes itself from newspaper story: You can't have a good story unless the shots are good enough to edit. And bad shots, like bad lead, really turns audiences away.

So it is really important to plan the sequence of the video before hand, and know what is to be used. And I'm still learning to do that.