I’m getting really serious about vlogging!

Canon 80D

Los Angeles,CA—I just got a new vlogging DSLR camera.  I already had a decent news gathering video camera, a couple GoPro cameras, an iPhone and four drones.  

I actually have a working video and photography studio in my home. Needless to say, I also have a video editing suite and can post whatever I please on Social media sites.  However now, I really do have all need to regularly produce a very watchable vlog.  

I’m still learning new things every day.  The largest vlogging obstacle is a lack of subject material.  I finally made the realization that the best vloggers can make a story out of a trip to the dentist or even the grocery store watchable and interesting!  It’s time for me to learn how to be an enterprising vlogger.  I must go out and find my stories and share them.  

I do have a huge TV news background working on such stories as The Oklahoma Bombing and Ted Kaczynski, the long sought UNIBOM, serial bomber.   I’ve produced hundreds of news stories on high profile murders and other infamous crimes. 

Running around with a camera in the cities where I spend most of my time seems so lame by comparison!  Then it dawned on me that most of the other people in the world rarely or never have the opportunity to see things through my eyes!  They are in all different parts of the country or world! Yes, it’s all brand new to them! I’ve become jaded and unimpressed with my lame surroundings!  It isn’t my surroundings but me that has been lame! 

Super Vlogger, Casey Neistat who makes $8 million a year from YouTube, takes us to all of his local haunts in Manhattan when he’s not traveling.  Since I only visit NYC occasionally I find it very interesting.  Casey can do a vlog about, doing laundry or riding his skateboard interesting and that is the fundamental art of storytelling.  

It’s not the material, but the vlogger’s ability to bring his or her adventures to the audience. Telling the story with excitement and energy is an absolute must!  However, I’ll skip the Neistat skateboard and the trip to my local hospital emergency room. Sorry, I know there are people that would enjoy that episode, way too much! 

If you’ve thought about doing a vlog to cover your hobbies, travel or business just do it!  I want to tell you that without phenomenal luck the likelihood of you getting rich is similar to winning the lottery.  The reward is in getting to know how to let others far away live your adventures.  That is incredible empowerment! 

You should also know I’m a senior citizen and and I’m convinced vlogging will help keep me young.  Last but not least you can learn the mechanics of shooting, editing and posting your own videos at my own video Guru, Michael Rosenblum’s teaching site, thevj.com 

Did You Know There Is A Real Empowerment Tool Hiding In Your Smartphone?

Los Angeles, CA--Do you have a cause, perhaps a beef with your government, school, employer, homeowners association or even the news media?  Do you have something you need to promote or sell?  You can unleash that beast in your smartphone and get results! 

If your voice is not being heard you’ve apparently found yourself helpless in calling attention to your situation.  Don’t expect others to speak up for you, but now you can speak up for yourself through technology.

Yes, you can tell your story to the masses on your own terms.  It’s far easier than you may think.  

Your smartphone has a powerful video camera and video editing system.  You just must be able to tell a coherent and compelling story.  You use that smartphone to shoot, write, edit and create your story just as any seasoned TV journalist or vlogger would.

You simply sign up for a free Youtube account.  An important part is creating the tags or search words that people will use to find your video.  If the names, places and subjects aren’t listed in the tags, nobody will find your video unless you first send them the link.  

If you put up a watchable video that contains solid and steady pictures, good audio, decent voiceover and perhaps some text or even music you will get your video noticed.

First and foremost always hold your smartphone horizontally!  TV and computer screens are horizontal!  

Keep your videos short and to the point.  Speak naturally as you would to a friend.  Always obtain interviews from witnesses whenever possible.  

Find a pleasing news story or a vlog that you can emulate in monkey see, monkey do fashion and your good to go. 

There’s lots of internet training videos out there.  I highly recommend taking the on line course offered by thevj.com because they train video journalists worldwide.

Imagine that you’re inside a business or at the scene of an important news-making event.  If you can put a news video story together you can sell it for a tidy sum!  

You too can become video literate.  Once you begin, there may be no stopping you.  You may even find this learned skill is life changing and bring you unexpected wealth.  

When Conservative Blogger, Andrew Breitbart suddenly suffered a heart attack and died, I wanted to do a simple story for my blog.  

There was a belief by many that Breitbart was murdered because of stories he was publishing about Barack Obama. 

I went to the scene and just by chance I ran into an eye witness that saw Breitbart fall and die on the street.  I included that interview in my video and made a bundle! 

Here is that story:

The Vlogging Minimalist, Just What Are Your Equipment Needs?

Manhattan Beach, CA—I met with my favorite Media Guru, Michael Rosenblum yesterday.  He’s a long time TV producer and founder of TheVJ.com. Michael is giving 30 rookie Video Journalists their hands on training to cover news for Spectrum’s SOCAL-1, 24/7 news startup.  I suspect there’s no doubt that this offering will shake up the L.A. news market in a big way.  

Gone at SOCAL News1 are the news crews and the obscenely expensive TV gear.  The news stories will either work or fail through the individual efforts of these hand picked youngsters.  These lucky VJ’s will be seen by all manner of agents, producers and TV network decision makers. Those talented ones, that shine will have unlimited opportunities.  

Spectrum has already done the same thing in NYC and this concept is spreading over the nation. Traditional TV new is in a death spiral over their insane fear of making the slightest changes in format or style. Frankly people have flocked to YouTube because their content is a huge departure into a new world of wonderful technology and real eye candy.

Storytelling today is enhanced with wonderful inexpensive user-friendly cameras, audio equipment, editing software and even drones!  The Mainstream broadcast media and their overpaid news managers are being left behind in the dirt.   

Vloggers like me will only have success if I post great content and promote it daily.  That’s easier said than done.  If I do that, I demand compensation now, not after six months or a year.   My rent does not pay itself.  I won’t be one of the dozens of YouTube multi-millionaires anytime soon.  I will however be ready for the right opportunity.

The skills and abilities to vlog about whatever you like is beyond empowering!  You can use a vlog to promote yourself, business, hobby or political ambitions.  You can report news items you come across and so much more.  

You must begin with the basics of good writing and storytelling abilities.  You must snag your viewers right away with interesting video or you’re toast.  When they leave they will not return.  

You can easily spend $25K on vlogging equipment.  I have what I need but I still want a lot more.  Then there is that significant issue of lugging all that expensive crap around as you travel.  I say go light!

Your editing suite can be as simple as a quiet place to use the incredibly powerful iMovie app on your cell phone or iPad.  Using Final Cut Pro X on a laptop gives you more options but you can get very pleasing results with iMovie.  

I like using GoPro cameras because of the versatility of the cameras and the high quality images.  I may need my cell phone as a communication device so having the GoPro is a plus.  

As for audio your iPhone or GoPro cameras can disappoint especially beyond let's say, six feet.  I now use Zoom brand recorders to capture audio especially for interviewing subjects.  I’ve not been using my expensive wireless microphones because they are less reliable than the simple Zoom recorders.  Quality wireless microphones cost a bundle more than the terrific Zoom recorders. 

I have one word to say about audio, redundancy.  Better to have more sources than less. 

Let me make this clear, if you’re lucky enough to be around a really important news happening and you’ve got viewable video documentation, you can demand as much as $100K for a one minute video.   

VJ training can be obtained on line at Michael Rosenblum’s TheVJ.com or you can attend his class in NYC or the UK.  

Be empowered and let the world see what you create!

My Minimalist vlogger kit is lightweight, easy for travel and a lifesaver.  The best camera is always the one you have with you.  

The list as pictured above:

iPhone

iPad

DJI Mavic Pro Drone

Zoom Hn4 microphone recorder

Zoom Field Recorder 1

Lav mic

Zoom Shotgun mic capsule for use with Field Recorder 1

Earphones

Cables
batteries

Below is a fun GoPro vlog I did during a trip to Chicago last February:

Can Your iPhone Really Be Used to Create a TV News Broadcast Worthy Story?

Los Angeles, CA—With the shrinking TV audience brought on by competitive cable TV channels and unlimited Internet sources technology determines everything.

TV news once provided terrific jobs for photographers, producers and reporters.  Pink slips have been raining in newsrooms all over the world.  Newspapers were limited to putting words and pictures on pulp newsprint and even that was difficult and expensive.

The sheer competition has dramatically reduced the revenue that feeds news providers and their workers. Now they all are scrambling to stay in business, keep roofs over their heads and food on their tables.

Newspaper and television executives are slowly learning that putting their content on the Internet is the only way to survive.  Suddenly anyone who can write, shot still pictures and much better yet video can compete with the incredible shrinking big boys of television.

With these changes newspapers have actually bagged some Emmy Awards for their video stories!  So-called newspaper reporting has changed forever. Today we all carry a sophisticated HD TV camera in our pockets that for most people goes unused.  Anyone can be trained to create a very watchable TV news story with the iPhone complete with voice-overs. 

The issue after training is equipment and its cost.  Editing can be done on any computer or iPad however the iPhone can do that too in a pinch.  Lack of money is really no bar to telling a story via video any more. 

The iPhone does lave its limitations with lenses and microphones but it seems everyday there are new hardware and software fixes being offered.  

Michael Rosenblum of the New York Video School is the iPhone electronic newsgathering Guru.  Rosenblum, a former TV news director instructs reporters in the US and numerous other countries how to maximize the iPhone for story telling.  He’s helping news organizations to survive and roll with the technology changes.

Rosenblum also teaches students the proper use of the less expensive prosumer cameras, lights, microphones and editing techniques.   I prefer using the prosumer gear and I’ve been experimenting with those incredible new GoPro cameras too.   

A real and undinable advantage of the iPhone is that it is easily transported and very stealthy.  Security people that never think twice about iPhones constantly kick news photographers off property.

If you are skeptical that an iPhone can do a TV news story look at the video below.  This was shot completely on an iPhone.  The audio is not perfect in a couple of places but no words are lost.  The finished product is truly amazing.

Watch: Dublin Dockers by Philip Bromwell, RTE News

A Book Review, Michael Rosenblum’s IPhone Millionaire

Los Angeles, CA—I found this TV guru visionary on various Internet sites devoted to electronic TV newsgathering and photojournalists.  Michael Rosenblum operates a school called the New York Video School.   NYVS operates in Europe the USA and at times in other locales.  Rosenblum just released his new book called IPhone Millionaire on creating and marketing video. 

Rosenblum is an expert in creating and selling watchable, enjoyable and informative video.   Video is exploding everywhere and the need for vast amounts of content is creating more opportunities for those who can harness the skill of shooting, editing and distributing their work.  No product or service can exist without promotion and video is by far the best marketing tool around.

It’s been said that whoever controls the information controls the world.  That is really true however today it’s no longer just governments, religious institutions or a few powerful media organizations in control.  This real power has been transferred to all of us through inexpensive video cameras and powerful computer editing. 

With so many social media outlets like YouTube, Viemo and Facebook anyone can and does put their projects up for the world to see.  Most video we see on the social media is crappy, pointless and not well thought out.  Some of it however is really enjoyable.

Making great video even with today’s IPhone can be done provided the person behind the camera gets some simple training.  There are some real video gems out there that we’ve all seen.  Now it’s your turn to both create and profit with you own video masterpieces. 

As a private investigator I somehow found myself drafted into TV news, gathering information for crime and investigative stories.  I mixed my freelance TV news assignments with the criminal defense investigations normally performed by my agency.  This is what exposed me to the methodology of making video.

When this happened the cost of broadcast quality cameras and editing equipment was incredibly expensive and by today’s standards the quality sucked.  Today your IPhone is better than what the broadcast industry used when I started. 

Rosenblum takes you trough the evolution of video and teaches you some simple steps to make attention-grabbing video.  Surprisingly Rosenblum has eliminated the traditional sit down interviews and all but sent the tripods to the cornfields.  His methods are revolutionary and beyond simple. 

TV news has not evolved over the decades until now.  Rosenblum has spread is ideas around that have slowed the demise of TV news by making video journalists out of virtually everyone in the nation's newsrooms. 

Slowly broadcast TV and our computers are all going to completely merge on our fabulous flat panel TV sets.  The text and still picture only websites will soon be replaced with video. 

There is money to be made creating content and pitching your material to check writing decision makers has never been easier.  IPhone Millionaire shows you how it’s done. 

I endorse the book and recommend it to everyone.

IPhone millionaire can easily change your life.  It’s available for your Kindle and IPad or you can order it from Amazon.com

Here is a video report I did after Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart fell dead of an apparent heart attack in the Brentwood community of Los Angeles.  It was shot with an IPhone 4S and a JVC HM100 video camera.  The editing was accomplished on a MacBook Pro with Final Cut Pro X software.   I was paid handsomely for this video that’s been uploaded to several sharing sites.  This was made months before I read IPhone Millionaire.