Thursday, March 13, 2008

BPN 1036 Vodcast by a cross/trans media expert

Yes she did it. Cross/Trans media expert Christy Dena realised a vodcast, a video podcast. The vodcast is available at UC101.com, while a large screen version of the interview is available at Blip.tv. Congratulations Christy.



It is interesting to see that YouTube has become a favourite channel for videos. You make a videoclip, you transmit it to YouTube to be mounted and you wait for your five seconds of fame. Despite the fact that Skype was available as a technology before YouTube, it has not been used as an interview medium in journalism. And I can think of many more applications with a major one of job interviews; not that you can hire someone straight after one Skype interview, but in the selection process it saves a lot of time, travel and money and gives you a better impression than a letter with a photograph or even a video, as the interview is interactive.

The vodcast with moviemaker Lance Weiler looks to me basically a Skype interview, which was recorded for the audio and video part with Skype, while the explanatory content segments were edited in later. You will see the interviewee in a large frame with the interviewer in a smaller frame in the right-hand side below. There is no change of frames. So the frame of the interviewer does not become large as in television interviews, except for the start and the conclusion of the vodcast. And the frame of the interviewer is always visible. So you see her straightening her hair and drinking from a mug during the interview.

The application is interesting from a journalistic point of view. The interviewer will not go to the house of the interviewee or to a public place to talk to each other. For a video crew no camera team has to be bussed to a place. With the Skype interview you set up a connection from your study and start the interview. Of course the preparations for the interview remain the same. And of course the editing of the interview and the material will be the same as a video interview. But over against a video camera interview a lot of time is saved in terms of travel and crew.

In the case of the Lance Weiler interview I thought that the quality of the recording was fine. Of course, the interview is not HD or television quality. But I think that you should not ask for that. You can make a glossy coffee table book for consumers, but when you deal with trade issues the paper can be of another quality. In this case the quality suffices.

Is this vodcast a good format? I definitely think that it is an exciting format. You see the persons, you see the interaction and you see content edited in. Would I like something more? Yes, I would like a transcription of the spoken text for reference. But overall I think that the first vodcast of Christy is a success and I look forwards to many more.

Just notice: this is the first embedded video link in Buziaulane! What a joy to have such a quality interview as a first.

Blog Posting Number: 1036

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