One of the things those still working in the local TV news game are trying to figure out is how to translate what they do for the big screen to all of the little ones. More accurately, they are trying to build their presence on social media. And given that we here at TVND.com continue to consume and critique a fair amount of what local TV stations produce each day, we have been forced to watch far too many “vertical videos” from TV news types desperately trying to reach any audience members who aren’t collecting Social Security yet.
And while we hate to generalize, most of what local TV news people put out on social media looks like what a high school audio-visual squad might create. No, wait—that’s insulting to the high school kids, as we have seen many schools with better set-ups— and certainly better-looking video—than some local TV stations.
In the industry’s rush to cut costs at every turn, many experienced and talented folks who carried and stood behind the cameras have been pushed out of jobs by the now-annual cycles of budget slashing and staff reductions. In turn, everyone else has been forced to become their own photographers.
And let’s be kind here and say that the results have been…mixed, at best.
Holding your smartphone and filling the screen with your face while walking through the station parking lot only makes for a decent hostage video. It does not make for a very watchable experience. Especially when you are supposed to be part of an organization that does “broadcast quality” video on a daily basis.
Even the leading YouTube, TikTok, and Insta creators have figured out that spending some time making their reels look professional has a real impact on the number of views they get for each video. The folks with the most followers take no small amount of time and care (and increasingly no small amount of money) to make their productions look their very best.
Even if it is just one person speaking into a smartphone camera in their basement.
But don’t worry, we come with more than just our disdain for what a veteran photographer we used to work with always called “some piss poor video.” We actually have someone who can help you up your game when it comes to making those moving pictures look so much better.
His name is Chris Goor. He was a video cameraman for the BBC, among other outlets, for over 25 years. Based on his accent, we think that checks out. But based on his knowledge and what he has to share, we believe that everyone who ever pushes the big red button on the video app on their smartphone (or any other video camera) needs to listen to him.
You see, Mr. Goor has a lot to teach you about being a much better creator of video, from the standpoint of being both behind and in front of the camera lens. His lessons are compact, easy enough to follow, and in our humble opinion, essential.
And did we mention that they are free?
His YouTube channel is titled “Brand Video Pro,” and you should look it up and start watching it at your earliest opportunity. Like right now.
We’d point you first to his latest video, which is titled “This One Change Makes It Look Like A Crew Filmed You.” If you shoot any video for any kind of purpose, take the nine minutes and five seconds to become a much better creator. It’s that important.
Want to be better on camera? Chris has a video for you on that very subject with the provocative title of “I Filmed 1,000s of Presenters. The Confident Ones All Did This.” His observations and advice are, as folks in the UK like to say, “bang on” and they will definitely help you become a much better photographer and/or presenter. (A quick reminder that “Presenter” is just the formal British term for most anyone who appears on camera.)
We don’t know Mr. Goor personally, and we sure don’t get anything from recommending him to you. However, if we still were leading a local TV newsroom, we would mandate that everyone watch a selection of his videos as soon as humanly possible.
Then practice what he preaches.
When he’s not producing content on YouTube, Chris Goor runs a coaching business at Brandvideo.pro. There’s no shortage of people online promising to teach content creation these days, but his stuff is straightforward enough that we’d gladly hand him money. One problem: “The Studio” isn’t taking new members. Waitlist only. So the free YouTube content is what you’ve actually got access to — good news is, there’s plenty of it.
Oh, did we mention he does all this with just a smartphone as the primary video camera in his standard “kit”? He helpfully details all the gear he uses in this video: “A TV Camerman’s Kit List for Great Video Content.”
We can hear your skepticism already.
Fine, don’t take our advice. Just hope that someone working at your competition hasn’t already read this article and is already watching these videos. Because while your social media will continue to be just so-so, they will be producing videos that get all the views you were looking for in the first place.
Don’t say we didn’t try to help you out with that.
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