What’s the difference between professionally shot video and video that look, well, unprofessional?
Surprisingly to some, it’s the audio track.
The News of the World had a great scoop at the weekend, with an interview with Des Smith on the cash-for-honours scandal. They videoed a short interview with Mr Smith to distribute to the broadcast media. I saw parts of the interview on TV and was struck by how poor the sound was.
The video was definitely shot by someone who’s had limited experience with a camera. The sound is poor, the framing’s off. It’s a good story, but it loses because of the poor quality. It looks amateur, and that’s not where the newspapers want to be.
Video, and audio is a craft skill you have to learn. Even the most expensive of cameras can’t do the job for you. It’s like expecting the equipment to ask the questions!
Andy Dickinson’s currently musing over the values of good audio and is worth a read.
February 19, 2007 at 5:03 pm
[...] has been on my, and others, mind for the last few days. Robert Freeman left me a comment pointing to a post about The News of the World video of Des Smith, “the Downing Street advisor [...]