Hits, misses and goals

Despite what the bosses tell us about “quality, not quantity”, there is always a nagging doubt that if the hits aren’t there, then neither will your job be in six months time, writes our Video Blogger James Shaw.

Understandably, hits mean prizes (well, ad revenue) in this business and video journalists in particular are always mindful. Especially with £5,000 worth of camera equipment sitting next to you.

Thankfully, Shropshire’s sporting scene means I can have quality AND quantity all in one go.

There is little doubt that our AFC Telford videos bring in a lot of visitors - with an average of 1,500 fans a game (and no pesky TV deal in the way), our videos of their matches are a cracking way to bring users in.

But like anything else in life, that shouldn’t make you stand still.

Our latest innovation, which we tried with our last match video, was the two-camera option. Granted, it does mean extra manpower on the day, but the result really is worth it.

Beforehand, I did have some reservations about the amount of work involved during editing - but once everything is digitised, there is little to worry about.

It just means that we’re offering something a little bit different to other people and could be the difference that makes people come to our site instead of others. A bit like working for a real newspaper, I suppose.

Of course, the experiment (which I will definitely be repeating) didn’t do go ahead without hiccups.

All the goals, bar one, were scored up the other end of the pitch - where we couldn’t film from - and the camera was hit by the ball on a couple of occasions (it works, but don’t tell my colleagues at the
website).

It was, however, well worth the extra time - and just shows why you should never stand still.

I must point out at this point that we have a local guy who gives us the main camera video from every game - Mel Jones from Brooklands Video, stand up and take a bow.

On a slightly different note, I have at last broken my video record.

A car crash on a local road a few days ago required a fast response, as the mess was being rapidly cleared away and I had to get home for tea (chunky chicken and roast potatoes from Asda, since you ask.. and
yes, Onyx and Blue ate the leftovers).

Anyway, having left the office at 2.30pm, the drive to the site again required some local knowledge, in order to “negotiate” the police road blocks.

Once I had found the site, all I needed to do was film. And fast.

Some of the shots were not Oscar-winners and there were no people to interview - but the point remains that I added an extra dimension to story that two years ago, just wouldn’t have been possible.

But the best was yet to some - just 90 minutes after leaving the door of the office, we had a video online and working - like I said, not the best in the world, but a worthy exercise all the same.