From what I know the original purpose of including video with the Canon 5D Mark II was the realization that photo journalists were increasingly expected to capture video along with stills.
Well, that seems to be happening. At least for foreign correspondents like this one in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong women shrug off tattoo taboo from Ed Jones on Vimeo.
While the project itself is not too remarkable the process the reporter went through is much more interesting. He explains:
Unlike shooting news footage where a short period of time must be forecefully divided between gathering photos and video, I found that without these constraints I shot far too much footage; a scattergun approach that meant I ended up with lots of material but not enough real quality. The shooting time of the video comprised of a couple of two-hour video interview and photo-taking sessions, and another two hours to gather extra footage on the street and to return to one of the studios for some action shots.
The editing took a little longer, and was done in small sessions spread inbetween my usual work schedule across five weeks – a delay partly due to the need to comply with the agency’s video style which I was learning for the first time. This meant compiling three different edits of the footage for television and web-based clients. The broadcast version should be able to be re-edited by TV clients, with a package of extra footage in case they should need more choice. No cut-away shots during an interview, and no overlapping audio called for less creative freedom, but essentially retains flexibility for whoever wants to use it. The web version allows much more creativity in the edit so that the product can be directly uploaded to websites with the minimum of intervention. On top of all of this is I have to submit a heavily detailed shotlist, a document explaining when and where all the included shots were taken, and details of the interviewees. The shotlist also includes the text story and the voiceover script as a reference for clients.
This is a familiar story to anyone learning how to create video using their photographic skills. Read the full story here, it’s worth a couple of minutes.
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