Robb Montgomery

Camp Video Journalism - the week-long Web video workshop in Chicago has ended - but the films from the events are still rolling out. The video above is David Dunkley Gyimah’s promo reel cut from footage that he and I shot in Chicago during our brief time together.

Special thanks go out to Michael Cooke and the Chicago Sun-Times crew (Toby, Brian, Jeremiah and all the rest) for hosting the week of training. True champs you are.

Today, David is back in the UK teaching his Master’s students and I am teaching Web video story fundamentals to the journalism faculty at Michigan State University. This is merely the first cut, David will soon take this piece into After Effects and really break it open.

For some of the MSU faculty who attended Camp VJ Chicago, this week’s training is an extension of the work that began in Chicago. The faculty have just completed day one of my three-day video seminar.

Camp VJ is the hands-on training program that Visual Editors sponsored in partnership with Viewmagazine.tv and Newsvideographer.com. Camp VJ is a new type of training event - something fresh that can be offered to media groups worldwide.

Of course, a new launch demands a new promo. So the video above on one level is, if you will, a commercial to illustrate the Camp VJ brand and the unique focus and delivery of the workshops. On another level it reflects the passage from darkness to light that traditional journalists must make to begin to embrace the rich story-telling potential of modern, digital journalism.

On location, on-demand training with a built-in social network.
One of the things that distinguishes Camp VJ is how it embraces the mashup ethos and the fast-to-Web work ethic. For example: In addition to producing the training event, Camp VJ also launched a social network where students can stay in touch, post their student films and continue to learn and share their expertise with each other - and all of you as well.

It is open to all video journalists at www.campvj.com

CampVJ.com

David and Robb - Swarming the story and swarming the classroom
From the moment David and I met last year, we have instinctively found a way to work together to swarm around a story. We document, we post, we shoot, we blog, we interview, we link, we tag, we comment and we move forward.

David and I have a habit of this.
We joined forces in Egypt last September and in the span of a few days produced a video feature, short video blog features, a podcast, slideshows and many other blog items. That’s swarming and that’s what Camp VJ stands for - getting fully-trained journalists field-ready and able to deliver stories on any platform at any time, anywhere in the world.

In Chicago, we resumed that familiar rhythm.
We trained, we taught, we filmed, we edited, we tagged, we interviewed, and we blogged.
David and Angela are great partners because, like me, they are passionate about the craft and determined to reach every student in and out of the classroom. We don’t tolerate failure.

But . . . back to the making of this film.
After the classes ended, David and I drove back into the city early Saturday and filmed until sunset. Shooting began with a run along Lake Shore Drive at North Avenue beach, then into the Loop (Washington and Wells) and then to wherever our ears and eyes led us.

Later that night, we started cutting. David dove hard into producing this promo film and I got to work on a separate film (that I am still editing) that illustrates some key concepts of the Camp VJ training experience. Look for that reel to be posted here soon as well as a few more films from Camp VJ.

Future posts will include a sit-down interview with fellow instructor Angela Grant and a longer-length feature film. At the very least, if I know David . . .

Production note: David and I both shoot with the very capable HVR-A1U and we filled about six DV tapes and traded “capture scratch” footage throughout the night, literally mashing up our footage along the way. (It helps to remember that his camera records in PAL and mine in NTSC.)

So, please don’t change that channel . . . We can’t wait to produce the next Camp VJ training event. The only question is - where?
Please contact me you would like to host or sponsor a Camp VJ workshop.

Other videos from the training event.