Mobile First Reporter Masterclass.

Module One : Still Image based content

Photographs, montages, memes, GIFs, and other visuals play a pivotal role in the mobile reporting landscape.

1. Visual Engagement: Mobile users often scroll quickly through content, making eye-catching visuals crucial for capturing their attention and encouraging them to stop and engage with a news story.

2. Storytelling: Visual elements can enhance storytelling by providing context, emotion, and depth to a news article, helping readers better understand and connect with the story.

3. Info-graphics: Complex data or ideas can be simplified and conveyed effectively through infographics, charts, and montages, aiding in the comprehension of intricate subjects on small screens.

4. Virality: Memes and GIFs can go viral quickly, making them valuable tools for spreading news stories, opinions, or political commentary in a fast-paced mobile environment.

5. Share-ability: Visual content is highly shareable on social media platforms, allowing mobile users to share news stories with their networks, thus expanding the reach of the content.

6. Emotional Impact: Photographs and visual elements have the power to evoke emotions and elicit empathy from mobile users, making stories more memorable and relatable.

7. Breaking News: In breaking news situations, a well-chosen image or GIF can quickly convey the urgency and significance of an event, providing immediate context to users.

8. User-Generated Content: Mobile users often contribute to reporting by sharing photos and videos of events as they happen. Incorporating usergenerated content enhances authenticity and immediacy.

 

Module Two : Understanding the Editors Needs

1. Headlines and Titles: Writing attention-grabbing headlines and article titles that are succinct yet compelling, encouraging users to click and read further.

2. Short-Form Content: Creating shorter, to-the-point articles and news summaries that are easier to consume on mobile screens, while still conveying the essential information. eg. Drafting copy for Social Media posts

3. Clarity and Brevity: Crafting clear and concise sentences that communicate the key points efficiently, as mobile users tend to skim rather than read long paragraphs.

4. Engaging Introductions: Capturing the reader's attention with concise and engaging introductions, setting the tone for the rest of the article.

5. Mobile-Friendly Quotes: Selecting and formatting quotes effectively, ensuring they fit within the mobile screen and add value to the story.

6. Call to Action (CTA): Including clear and compelling calls to action, prompting users to engage further, such as sharing the article or participating in discussions.

7. Captions: Writing descriptive and engaging captions for images, videos, and infographics, as mobile users often rely on visuals for information.

Radio & Audio Skills

Audio storytelling is a powerful platform for multimedia journalists. Audio creation skills are invaluable for reaching audiences who prefer to consume news while multi-tasking. Whether it's quick news updates and short reports, immersive documentaries, or thought-provoking podcasts, these skills are vital for creating compelling and informative audio content.

1. Radio Presenting On Air from Studio: The ability to present on air from a studio is crucial for creating live radio broadcasts. This skill ensures that the journalist can effectively engage the radio audience, deliver news updates, and conduct interviews in a professional and compelling manner while knowing the essential skills required to either operate a radio studio solo or working with a team.

2. Presenting Live on Location for Radio: Mobile journalists often report live from the scene of events. Live on-location presenting skills are vital for providing real-time coverage and conveying the atmosphere and context of breaking news or events to radio listeners. Knowing the required apps and workflow for live location audio is essential.

3. Creating Finished Edited Radio Reports: Creating well-edited radio reports involves the skill of crafting cohesive, concise, and well-structured stories that are ready for broadcast. These reports should be informative, engaging, and adhere to radio time constraints and broadcast audio formats and standards.

4. Recording Sound Bites and Clips: Journalists must be proficient at recording high-quality sound bites and clips from short interviews, ambient sounds, or Vox pops. These snippets are essential for adding depth and context to radio reports.

Module Three: Video content (One Day)

In the mobile first reporting landscape, where video content is consumed on small screens and often on the go, the ability to capture and deliver highquality, engaging videos is a fundamental skill. Mobile journalists who excel in these areas are well-equipped to meet the demands of the modern digital news environment.

Essential skills include:

1. Filming Interviews: Proficient interview filming skills are crucial for capturing clear, well-framed shots of subjects, ensuring that interviews are engaging and easy to follow on small mobile screens. This includes considerations like lighting, framing, and audio quality.

2. Presenting to Camera: Journalists need to be adept at presenting to the camera to create video content that is engaging, informative, and personable. This skill enables direct communication with the audience, enhancing viewer engagement.

3. Vox Pops: Conducting and filming vox populi (public opinion) segments is an essential skill for collecting diverse perspectives on current events. Effective interviewing and recording techniques are vital to capturing candid, concise responses from the public.

4. Filming in Sequences: The ability to shoot and edit video sequences is key for telling a complete and coherent visual story. Sequences help convey information and emotions effectively, allowing mobile viewers to follow the narrative easily.

5. Visual Storytelling: Mobile journalism emphasises visual storytelling, where video elements are used to convey narratives, making complex topics more understandable. Journalists need to have the skills to structure their video content to engage and educate the audience.

6. Social Media Ready: Knowing how to create video content that is shareable on social media platforms is crucial. This includes shooting or reversioning in the right format and aspect ratio, incorporating text overlays, captions, and other elements to make videos more engaging on mobile feeds. We will explore: -Stories -Reels -Posts -Gallery/Carousel -Viral Audio templates -Stickers and Filter Effects -In App editing and production -Creating Custom GIFS

Module Four : Video Editing

Editing skills are essential to craft video content that is concise and visually appealing. Mobile journalists often use mobile editing apps to quickly edit and publish videos directly from the field. Here are the key skills needed for mobile video editing:

1. Video Editing Apps: Familiarity with video editing apps designed for smartphones, such as Adobe Premiere Rush, iMovie, or Kinemaster, is essential. These apps provide the tools and features needed for professional editing.

2. Editing Skills: Understanding fundamental video editing techniques like creating projects, cutting, trimming, and splicing clips, is crucial for creating a well-structured video. More advanced features like JL split edits and overlays are also essential.

3. Transitions: Knowing how to use transitions (like cuts, fades, or wipes) to create smooth connections between clips and scenes, enhancing the flow and continuity of the video.

4. Audio Editing: Being able to record Voice Over, adjust audio levels to a professional standard, add background music, mix, duck and remove unwanted noise or distractions in the audio track for clear and professional sound are all essential skills.

5. Colour Correction and Grading: Adjusting the colour and tone of video clips to create a consistent and visually appealing look. This skill is essential for maintaining the video's professional quality.

6. Graphics, Text and Titles: Adding text overlays, titles, subtitles and captions to convey information, context, and enhance storytelling.

7. Effects and Filters: Using effects and filters to enhance the visual quality of the video, such as adding special effects, blurs, or color filters.

8. Speed Control: Adjusting the speed of video clips, such as slow motion or time-lapse effects, to create a dynamic and professional look.

9. Exporting and Sharing: Understanding how to export the final video in the appropriate format and resolution for various platforms, ensuring compatibility and optimal viewing on smartphones and other devices while being aware of compression and transfer options.

10. File Management & Archiving: Keeping track of media files, organising project files, and ensuring a streamlined workflow to enhance efficiency as well as archiving your content for future use is essential.

11. Adaptation for Mobile: Understanding the unique constraints of mobile screens and mobile networks is vital. Videos should be optimised for mobile viewing, considering dimensions, loading times, and data usage.

 

Advanced Workflows to maintain quality (Half Day)

While smartphones, mobile apps and accessories are increasingly available at prices to suit every budget conscious reporter there are some areas where taking shortcuts on cost can lead to expensive mistakes in output quality. In this module we will explore case studies for best practices in the industry. We we examine a selection of preferred professional apps and why they are worth paying for or taking a subscription. As a professional user reliability should be paramount and its here that selecting accessories you can count on is essential. In this module we will look at: -Production Hardware eg.. Smartphones and other cameras (eg. GoPro) -Mobile Accessories: Tripods, Cages, Grips, Mounts, Gimbals -Apps -Story and File Management -File Transfer -Archiving -Custom Stock Librarie

 

 

This masterclass will be delivered by Glen Mulcahy and Trish Laverty.