Shooting your own video with a smart phone

By Riley Stephens

Steve Elfers of USA Today said newsrooms are encouraging journalists to have smart phones on hand and to use them for covering news in the absence of designated video and photo journalists.

Using a smartphone is a great way for journalists to get ahead of the competition in breaking news situations because of its instant-publishing capabilities. Shooting your own video can also enhance a non-broadcast investigative story.

He says the iPhone shoots in high-definition resolution and has great quality but unless journalists shoot their videos using airplane mode they won’t be able to avoid interruption of their videos by a phone call.

Elfers demonstrated the application iMovie for journalists to edit video on smartphones. He said 10 steady seconds is the perfect shot and the story should be covered from a variety of angles, including establishing and connecting shots.

Riley Stephens is a journalism student at San Antonio College