Journalists are “no longer restricted to one medium of storytelling,” Andrew Nixon said as he began the Intro to Video Storytelling Workshop at The Sacramento Press Wednesday night. You don’t have to use video in every story either, he added.

Nixon is a multimedia producer for Capital Public Radio based in Sacramento. His past experiences include professional photojournalism, motion graphics, web platforms and currently video journalism.

Several of his own videos, some of which incorporate his background in still-frame photography, were used as examples for the techniques he delivered to an audience of about 35 budding journalists, artists and editors.

Mentioning from the beginning that this presentation is given from his own subjective viewpoint, Nixon shared his tips and techniques for the use of multimedia that he employs to create a compelling story.

“Content becomes very important,” he said. “One photo captures the mood – with video, you have that in every frame.”

The two-hour presentation included a play-by-play outline of the pre-production, shooting and post-production process of telling a story, as well as technical considerations for types of cameras, lenses and microphones to use.

To prepare for an interview with a subject and choose the right questions to ask, “Do your homework,” Nixon said. It's best to know as much as you can about your subject before you go to speak with them. It also helps, he added, if you have a direction in mind beforehand so the subject doesn’t dictate the story. “You want an idea of what’s going on, and you want them to be able to clarify,” he said.

Nixon also addressed the importance of the initial sound check of the interview. “Ask them what they ate for breakfast,” he said, because they’ll answer in their normal voice, giving a good guideline for the sound level in the interview so microphones can be set correctly.

One good way of getting better quotes during interviews is to use pregnant pauses – allowing there to be an uncomfortable silence so that the interviewee feels the need to fill that silence by elaborating more, Nixon said.

“It’s a beautiful technique to get a candid response, and it works for everyone,” he added.

While capturing the content of your film, Nixon said to go with your journalistic instinct – identify what to shoot and film accordingly.

Nixon said he would shoot 15 to 20 minutes of footage for a three-minute film. You want to shoot to edit, he said, for flexibility. He described his method of planning ahead for the amount of editing you will do for each clip, and have content at either end to cut if needed.

“Having too much is better than having too little,” he said, “You can always cut it down.”

Another technique Nixon uses while editing to create the story he calls a “cold opening.” He described the “cold opening” as beginning the film with something from the middle or the end. The example given was from a video he shot about a Second Saturday Art Walk, which began with a shot from the nightlife and then proceeded with actions shot earlier in the day.

It gives a sense of where you’re going, he said, and gives the viewers something to think about. 

The examples Nixon showed in the workshop exhibited many of his different styles of filmmaking. Some were only narrated by the subject and were shot in still-frame, as a type of slide show. Others included ambient sound in addition to the action on the screen “to give a sense of place,” Nixon explained.

The Second Saturday video didn’t include any audio such as dialogue or ambient sound except for background music to set the tone for the content on the screen, he explained.

Nixon explained the variety of techniques he used based on the way audio and visuals assist each other. Both work as narratives, he said –  “your eyes are seeing one thing, your ears are hearing another . . . you have to think about how they’re going to work together." A few of these fell under a category he called "visual variety" in which one should think in sequences, remember the objective of the story being covered and remember that the story isn't always best told with the best shot- sometimes you have to get multiple shots to get the message across.

Othello Curry, a community contributor for The Sacramento Press, poet and legal consultant, said he came to the workshop to “broaden my base of knowledge” and to learn video techniques for his poetry and art.

“When I go to do some videos, I want that quality,” Curry said, alluding to his interest in Nixon’s style of filmmaking. “He gave me a lot of ideas.”

Josh Staab, editor of the Fair Oaks Patch and a friend of Nixon said he came to support his friend and see “if I could steal a few tricks.” Staab said he was particularly interested in Nixon’s method of “organizing in the post-production stage.”

As for the notion of multimedia becoming a new type of journalism, Staab said it’s good to “write a story and present the whole package,” that multimedia is “necessary to distinguish yourself from so many other media outlets” and that multimedia journalism is “definitely where this industry is heading.”

Staab and Nixon both worked together at The State Hornet together. Nixon has now moved from photography to photo/video journalism.

“It’s a skill set,” Nixon explained, and “it’s worth trying out. If it fails, it fails.”

As for his comments on multimedia storytelling, he described how it is accessible to everyone, that “content delivery is free,” and stated “the web is where it’s going to go.”

Nixon does freelance work in addition to his work at Capital Public Radio and posts his videos on his own blog. To learn more about his work, click here.