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My videos

By elksie - Posted on 31 January 2009

Here's a selection of the videos that I've created - either shot, or edited.

I've been working in videos since October 2006 when I went on a three-week video journalism course in Howden. The first two weeks involved basic use of the camera and were led by former BBC cameraman Christina Fox, and whose site I recommend to anyone thinking of taking up the camera to aid their storytelling, with a third week led by David Gyimah.

My general filming style has generally been hand-held, rough-and-ready, largely because because of the speed at which I can film the shots and interviews I need, and then go. Only shoot and kill as much as you can eat, as my video journalism lecturer David Gyimah says.

It's been quite a steep learning curve for someone who has been used to telling stories exclusively in words, rather than pictures.While I know that shots are not always pristine, and the editing occasionally a little heavy-handed, I hope the overall package delivers the story in a way that's different from a mainstream TV broadcaster - no narration, for example - and print.

The best example I've got of that is a series of three videos which I shot during a six-week-long strike by Burslem postal depot by workers offering their support at a dozen colleagues who had been suspended amid allegations of bullying and harrassment.

Burslem posties' Christmas party

Postal strike: Would the Burslem 12 please stand up?

Postal workers return to work

Even a quick examination of all three will highlight lots of failings in the filming compared to traditional TV. Some of the lighting is a bit wobbly to say the least when filming at 5am in the morning, and the sound quality is fairly variable - it's still something I struggle with - but the print story doesn't convey the atmosphere of each event, while a polished TV broadcaster would not have walked the march of the second film.

It's not been for work either. The next three videos I shot on my own cheap home camera at last year's FOWA conference in London. There's no editing, so it's going to turn off a lot of people, but for anyone intrigued about Digg and the way founder Kevin Rose is trying to improve the user experience, it's worth a look at - if only the once.

Kevin Rose at FOWA (pt1 of 3)

Kevin Rose at FOWA (pt2 of 3)

Kevin Rose at FOWA (pt3 of 3)

Here's a home movie of my trip to Hong Kong in July 2007. Again, it's not exactly perfect, but I just wanted to cut together the 50 minutes of footage I'd got into something that would be worth showing, and hopefully not bore the pants of anyone watching.

Hong Kong 2007

The footage below is from my Nokia N95 at the auditions of Stoke's Top Talent at the Victoria Hall in Hanley. I think it shows how far cameraphones have come, particularly the audio.

Stoke's Got Talent

More Nokia N95 footage, this time of a monkey at Trentham Gardens.

Drunk Monkey at Trentham Gardens

The most popular video I've cut together was one towards the end of Stoke City's 2006/7 season as the club took on QPR. The footage was shot by Martin Elliott, and again hopefully shows off the atmosphere of the game.

Stoke City vs QPR: City 'til I die

Similarly, from the game at Colchester.

Stoke City vs Colchester: were you there?

And one year later, photographer Steve Bould brought back this footage from the Colchester game when Stoke City were on the cusp of promotion. There wasn't any decent interviews that I could use to convey what was going on, so I just used the audio that Steve captured and turned it into a tighter music-driven piece. I like it, particularly the shots of one of my friends from university.

Stoke v Colchester - We're going up

Indeed, despite my struggle with audio, I've always liked subjects with a strong musical element. My first video for The Sentinel was the one below. I can remember working away for three or four hours trying to synchronise the various shots into the song, and realise I've shot nowhere near enough cutaways to make it work properly.