Editor, revised

There’s an astounding investigative piece in the New York Times today about who the Pentagon used the analysts hired by TV networks to control the messages about military affairs in the post-Sept. 11 world.

In many cases, David Barstow documents, these retired officers echoed Pentagon talking points on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and other networks. In exchange for their allegiance, the analysts were given royal treatment at the Pentagon, special tours in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, and extensive access to contacts within the military. As many of the analysts received income from firms involved in military contracting, such contacts were likely quite lucrative.

It’s a compelling story with a good outrage factor. But the Times also did a tremendous job putting together multimedia to accompany it. (Click here to check it out.)

I like that the presentation, divided into three chapters, forms a narrative. Occasionally, flash-based presentations leave me trying to piece together a story from linked video, audio and documents. Here, David Barstow walks viewers through one part of his story: the Pentagon’s response to so-called Generals’ Revolt against then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Narrated by Barstow, the piece combines static images, video, audio and documents to good effect.

I would love to be able to pull this kind of project off someday.

… you should be. If you work in the media, you need this tool to keep track of the thousands of ideas, tools, projects, tips and events that are cropping up in blogs and other online media.

The video below will get you up and running better and faster than I can. Common Craft is a great site I only recently discovered and added to my own RSS feed in Google Reader. Lee and Sachi Lefever form the Common Craft team, based out of my hometown of Seattle, and they put together paper cutout animations that are fun to watch and easy to absorb. Check out the archives of the Common Craft Show for more essential video training.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU&hl=en]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixk7U_0aVMM&hl=en]

What: A tour of Zola, a new downtown Spokane nightclub, with owner/developer/artist Dan Spalding. He created the interior with almost completely salvaged and recycled materials.

High hopes: I got to use a much nicer camera than I had before, so I was expecting to create greatness. I don’t know if I got that, but I’m pretty happy about what I was able to do in about two minutes.

Areas for improvement: This could be sharper technically. I wish I’d taken the time to set up a tripod for several shots. But I liked the flexibility of working without. I also debated going back to the bar at night to get some crowd shots to round out the B roll. In the end, time and energy constraints kept me from doing so. Low-light conditions affected several shots, which I included anyway for the sake of variety.

Conclusion: I have to remind myself that this was only my fourth video effort, and I can’t expect to nail it all at this point.

For more: Visit spokane7.com.

First watch this video. Then read this story from The Spokesman-Review.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeuEMeg8eQE&hl=en]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieX5B6Ed0JQ]

What: Multimedia about multimedia. Emerge News is a grant-funded program that lets high school students create news webcasts. I visited one of their tapings and shot video of the process.

What worked: Tight shots. Lots of them. I like the popcorn sequence, but only because it was part of the story; the subsequent shot of the girl working by the bowl of popcorn is meant to establish that. Also, the setting was amenable to using a tripod, which helped keep my shots sharp and allowed me to zoom way in.

Wait, music? After my edit, the piece felt a little flat. My editor at work suggested music. I threw together a quick soundtrack in Garage Band using three loops. I think the result is a livelier video without distracting from the subjects.

Lessons learned: Check out the background on the first interview. Painted cinder blocks. How ugly. How stiff. I need to find better ways to set up my A roll interviews.