London, UK --Since the inception of TV news other than a switch to color, the use and abuse of the green screen technology and live on scene live broadcasting not much has changed over five decades.  Suddenly we have the Internet, cheap quality video cameras and big changes are rocking the world of video news delivery.  Television news management miscreants often took great delight in making their talent that left or were jettisoned just disappear. No goodbyes, no thank you, just nothing.   That left viewers to wonder where about the fate of those once familiar faces. Now thanks to Facebook and Twitter that vile practice has ended for good.  That along those bogus non-compete contracts preventing reporter from moving to nearby stations are gone.   However sadly the shrinking TV news audience has cost countless jobs and made reporters in too many markets eligible for food stamps. Making a living as a television journalist seems more challenging tha...

Los Angeles, CA —As a blogger and multimedia journalist I occasionally put up videos here on Crimefile News. Currently time and lack of funding precludes me from putting up more video.   Getting people to watch your video no matter how good it is challenging.   You need to tease people with hot button words we’ve all seen.   “You better watch this video before the censors take it down!”   “Watch Ms. X destroy so and so in this video!”   “Watch Mr. X meltdown under tense questioning!”    “This video will make you break out the tissues!”    Frankly these are getting very old.   They’ve been used and abused and I refuse to fall for them anymore. The truth is that Internet viewers are incredibly impatient and loading videos for some can be a slow process.   When you add in that many videos turn out to be a disappointment that don't deliver on the promised hype you better be creative rather than deceptive. Putting i...

The incredible Dutch film star  Carice Van Houten Los Angeles, CA —I’m a life long photographer and I’m into video production these days in a big way.  The days of film cameras are over and the TV widescreen is here to stay.   We rarely hang portraits of vertical images on our walls anymore.  Why are people shooting video and stills vertically? The images people post everyday on Facebook or their web pages are often breathtakingly beautiful.  We just have to remember what the media source will be to exhibit our art.  It’s increasingly rarely going to be vertical!  Shooting vertical video is a waste of space.  Learn how to frame your shots for your TV screen.  It’s often better to put your subject on the right or left side of the frame rather than in the middle.  It also give you room to put fun graphics next to your subject.  The stunning picture above is of my favorite actress Carice Van Houten .   O...

I don’t care where you live on this planet history is constantly being made.  You can either, observe and trust your memory or capture events forever on a quality camera. Trust me making videos pays! I’m a believer in using the raw power of capturing moments that will otherwise be lost forever, especially when there is no discernible cost involved.  When in doubt I shoot video with the best camera I have available. When it comes to video the rules are simple, hold the camera as still as possible, get as close as possible to your subject and let  every shot roll for at least 15 seconds.  Keep the camera rolling gathering more video not less!  Only use the zoom when you can’t come in for the close-up.  Tight zooming without a steady tripod increases camera shake dramatically and shaky video is trash. Always shoot the video horizontal and never vertical.  Your video needs to conform with our wide screen TV sets.   The other thing yo...

Los Angeles, CA —With the death of that young Internet giant Andrew Breitbart people are discovering what gave this genius the power and those financial rewards. At a young age Breitbart began with two startup blogs, The Drudge Report and The Huffington Post taking them to incredible heights and readership. Those sites are user friendly, technical marvels that have all but destroyed TV news and mainstream paper publications. They began with the printed word, then soon added photographs and now there are significant amounts of quality video. Those wonderful flat-panel TVs we own can now deliver Internet content that’s far more diverse and reliable than what CBS, NBC or ABC brought us. Unfortunately there are still not enough ordinary folks have the equipment and skills to deliver video content. That’s rapidly changing. All that’s needed is someone with minimal skill, $5,000.00 worth of equipment and a decent broadband Internet connection. Now that really enables and facilitat...

Chicago, IL —Local government here had a solid lock on any information published. The criminal mob that runs the city somehow managed to turn the local media into City Hall lap dogs. In the past seven years cops in the Windy City found their voice on the Internet. They have the freedom through the cloak of anonymity and can expose corruption, nasty rumors along with bad government. These Knights of the New Media have shown little mercy as their own existence and exposure has grown dramatically in the last two years. In the beginning local politicians did not understand blogs or Social Media’s impact. Their public relations professionals soon understood the ramifications of actions by the police bloggers. The two most read police run blogs are Second City Cop and Detective Shaved Longcock . They both gained significant readership far beyond the ranks of Chicago cops. A peek at SCC’s web counter on a slow Sunday, show 900 visitors per hour. With that kind of readership advertis...

Chicago, IL —The newsstand racks here like everywhere are starting to vanish. The IPad or Kindle Fire has already replaced our morning newspaper. The new devices use text, photographs, audio and video. Broadband Internet is everywhere so publishers cannot afford not to begin adding significant amounts of video programing to their websites. Print media was a one trick pony that has not been staying on the technology curve to keep their readers who are suddenly an audience. The early forays into video were boring and hard to watch because print reporters were reading their stories to a camera. The right way is to get the video along with sound bites from newsmakers and mix in some narration. It’s far less complicated than it sounds. Crisp clean video with great audio moves the story along. I should be ashamed that I’m too lazy to do this story only in print. Of course I’m not being paid for my time or I’d be delighted to do so. Print media has come over to the web the printing p...

Chicago, IL —It took a huge investment to experiment with television when it was invented in the early 1950s. What eventually evolved is amazing. Today we have color, wide screen and high definition video that's nothing short of incredible. None of us can escape the lush rich video screens that are absolutely everywhere. The tools to make quality content are incredibly inexpensive today. It takes little effort these days to make watchable content. Incredible empowerment exists to get your message, product or story out to a worldwide audience. It pays to use the new high quality equipment that available and learn how to captivate your audience with quality content. Google and the other search engines do a great job of directing people to your content by subject matter. You can sell a service, product or anything at all and the cost for the Internet space is free. Any business that’s not taking full advantage of the ability to put video content up as a marketing tool is losin...

New York, NY --There’s a video visionary that has trained many in the changing world of newsgathering and filmmaking. Out of dire financial circumstances TV news organizations have had to do much more with so much less. With the help of amazing new video cameras, and that great Apple software program Final Cut Pro local TV news has avoided extinction. The equipment necessary to make great visually pleasing video now cots a small fraction of what it used too. It used to take a bare minimum photographer, video editor and reporter along with hours to put together a single one minute-thirty second news story. There are of course the sound and lighting people and always, big advantages to having multi-camera shoots. However there are also lots of tricks that a single video journalist can do make his or her product look terrific. Today it can be done well by one person. The days of reporters waiting for their turn in a video editing bay with an editor are over. A quiet place to sit w...

West Hollywood, CA —Sunday I went to the West Hollywood Book Fair to visit with my long time friend who is a former TV reporter who is now a true crime author. Camille Kimball has two spellbinding books out on sensational Phoenix Arizona crime stories you can learn about at www.camillekimball.com . I would have videotaped their interesting panel discussion however they put this bunch with a floor to celling solid glass wall behind them on a really bright day. That made the lighting conditions impossible. I did however put this unsavory looking bunch in a line-up figuring they may be wanted or hopefully at least the exciting books they are peddling. Here are the Usual Suspects:

Los Angeles, CA —As television, magazines and newspapers completely reinvent themselves for the newer and more versatile webcasting platforms video has become more important than ever. Every smartphone, IPad, or computer must be fed lots of exceptional video. There are screens in your pockets, cars as nearly every business displays large screens that are all demanding viewers. Creation of video was always nearly impossible for anyone without the financial assets of a small nation. Today for a few thousand bucks and the discipline to learn the art of shooting, writing and editing you can create and control the content of what’s on some of those screens. Today even the smallest of business need watchable and entertaining videos to showcase their products and services at least for their own websites. Today every businessman or woman should be able to deliver a quality video presentation by a click of a mouse to any potential customer or client in the world. If they can’t do this they wi...

I get a lot of questions from fans of this blog about production on a shoestring budget. It’s not easy to take the time and commute to where the stories are and creating compelling content. At Crimefile News we are upgrading equipment so this is a great time to talk about this subject. Today the costs are only a tiny fraction of what it took to accomplish decent video production even a decade ago. Better and cheaper equipment is available everywhere. Costs: Blogging software: Free Camera: $150 to $4,000.00 Computer (MacBook Pro) $1,400.00 Video Editing Software: Final Cut Pro X: $300.00 Blue Snowball Microphone: $60.00 Camera LED light: $100.00 Tripod: $50.00 Training: Free via YouTube contributors. You can be in business for less than $2,000.00 or go whole hog getting a great camera like my JVC GY-HM100U, extra lights and a couple of good quality wireless microphones and still stay under $5000.00 in equipment costs. The goal here at Crimefile News is to give the special peop...