PROS VS. JOES

I'm not going to deny the fact that, as a broadcast journalism major, I might be slightly biased when it comes to comparing a professional news broadcast to any video you might find on the internet. But that isn't to say that I don't have an appreciation for the kind of video work people like you and I are able to produce from the comfort of their own homes.

The other day I stumbled across an intriguing short documentary piece on youtube.com about the history and use of a particular drum beat that has been featured and sampled in everything from commercials to jungle club songs. I'd venture to say that anyone who has done so much as watched TV or listened to the radio for more than a day has heard this particular beat but never really given much thought to where it actually came from. The 18 minute mini-documentary is chock-full of well researched facts and audio samples of the drum beat in its many different forms. What it lacks, however, is the visual appeal that can be found in most professionally made documentaries. Most shots revolve around a close up of a record on a turntable and the narrator (whose face is unseen during the whole piece) walking around a sparsely decorated room. I suppose it does have its artistic value but for me it didn't have the kind of visually grabbing appeal I like to see in a piece like this.

I still have to remind myself that visual appeal isn't everything when it comes to making a good video. Another film I happened to come across on youtube was a person's recording of their blues home performance on a slide guitar. There was no dialogue in the piece and the camera stayed stationary the whole time, fixed on the neck of the guitar looking down towards the fingers of the player. But the music in the video and the almost hypnotic motions of the player's fingers sliding along the guitar strings were enough to keep me watching/listening the whole way through. The video exists only on the most basic levels technically. However, in my eyes this is perfectly acceptable, mainly because without videos like this one, many talented individuals would never never be able to share their fascinating abilities with the rest of the world.

Of course, I had to compare my analysis of internet videos with those of a professional news broadcast and for that I turned to my favorite network, NBC, to watch their nightly news program. While some people might say TV news can get impersonal and stuffy I have to disagree with them. When done right, the TV news story can be one of the most emotionally appealing and informative things you'll ever see on television. Two of NBC's stories caught my attention because of the way they exemplified the versatility of broadcast news. Reporter Mike Taibbi covered the difficult subject of more troops heading to Iraq by tracking the story of three soldiers heading to Iraq. Taibbi provides insightful and interesting narration, the NBC camera crews do a great job of showing the viewer the ins and outs of these soldiers' lives through creative shots and camera angles, and direct SOT quotes from the soldiers themselves provide the viewer with the kind of emotional pull a story like this needs. It is easy for me as a viewer to stay interested in the stories of these soldiers' lives. This piece is the first part of a series and although the second installment has yet to come out, I will be sure to try and watch it when it does.

Another story I happened to catch on NBC was a feature about a whiskey distillery George Washington opened at his home in Mt. Vernon after he retired from politics. The fact that I didn't realize that Washington had ever done this was enough to make me want to watch the piece but even still, NBC did a good job of keeping me interested. They shot the story at the distillery itself (which has been recreated by representatives from the liquor industry) and were able to talk to many master distillers about the impact Washington's business actually continues to have on the liquor industry today. NBC's ability to find stories such as this one and do an excellent job of reporting on them is enough to keep me watching the network day after day.

My final conclusion about internet and television news videos is what can be expected...I like the TV ones better, simple as that. A lot has to do with their professional look and reporting and also the fact that a major network like NBC has incredible resources to make their stories look that way on a consistent basis. But that isn't to discount all internet videos. As we have seen in the past, sometimes a video that originates in the most obscure corner of the internet can generate enough buzz to land it a spot in the evening broadcasts of all the major networks. That just goes to show that when you get down to it we're all going after the same thing: telling stories that people will understand, enjoy, and take to heart. It's just up to you to decide how you want to do it.