In Focus: Holland (Mich.) Sentinel

By Beth Lawton

For the Holland, (Mich.) Sentinel, online video is not about quantity – it’s about quality.

Local television Web sites have the edge in terms of video volume in western Michigan. “On the other hand, we have the edge because we know how to tell stories,” said Rick VanGrouw, director of audience development. “Now the big challenge for us is to translate our story-telling abilities. There’s true potential there.”

With that potential in mind, Holland Sentinel publisher Peter Esser made online video a priority in 2007, and the newspaper started production on original online videos that spring.

News Team Member Andrea Goodell, who covers the city of Holland, said video on HollandSentinel.com mostly started with spot news. After getting her feet wet, Holland suggested a new series for the newspaper, “Behind the Scenes,” and has been doing a feature video with each monthly installment in addition to other, individual video news stories. “We’re still hyper local, but we’re giving [the audience] a different aspect of that and I think they appreciate it,” she said.

Training
Steve Siebers, a former video editor and producer from the Grand Rapids area, joined the newspaper as new media director in July 2007. Late last year, Siebers implemented a four-week video training course for all newsroom employees. He divided the newsroom in half (dayside and nightside) and conducted weekly classes on video story organization and preparation, story writing, camera operation, shooting techniques and an introduction to editing. Those who are editing videos, primarily photo staff, receive additional one-on-one training on Apple’s Final Cut Pro (def.).

As in many newsrooms that ask reporters to shoot video for online, VanGrouw said there was some resistance. “It’s looking at news gathering a whole new way, so it’s resistance borne from unfamiliarity, not resistance borne from animosity,” he said. “Getting their hands on the hardware was a big step toward reducing – if not eliminating – the apprehension.”

Goodell herself is a classic case of a print reporter-turned-video convert.

When editors at the newspaper announced the video initiative, Goodell said, “At first, I kind of looked at my editor with a less-than-friendly stare. I was thinking ‘Are you kidding? We’re doing so much!’ But I’m a convert, and it’s been really fun to do, and more importantly, it’s been very valuable to our audience.”

Shooting video has gotten easier with time and practice, Goodell said. “And, it’s fun. I really do like shooting video.”

One of the most important things to teach, Siebers said, is the importance of quality sound on any video. “Audio is the first and usually the biggest way to screw up a good video, so we’ve insisted from the beginning that they always wear headphones.”

The standard practice in Holland is to record audio on two simultaneous single tracks. Usually, one audio track is from the microphone on the camera, which picks up ambient sound as well as voices, and the other audio track is dedicated to a separate microphone. This allows the video editors to reduce the background noise if necessary.

Before the formalized training, many camera experiments were trial-and-error. Goodell recalled a time news team members brought a video camera to the scene of a standoff, but then were not sure if they could use the camera in the rain, or how to protect it.

Of the training, Goodell said, “It gave me some little bits and pieces I didn’t have before. I’d like to do it again.”

Shooting, Editing and Publishing
The newspaper purchased a Panasonic AGHMC70 for about $2,500, and later purchased a Canon ZR900 for $250. Both shoot on mini-DV tapes a quickly escalating expense for the newspaper. Mini-DV tapes can vary widely in cost depending on cassette length and quality.

Many of the staffers who are editing video in Holland are familiar with iMovie, but the newspaper is moving toward using Final Cut Pro, which has more features and allows editors to fine-tune videos. Moving the newsroom to a more sophisticated editing system has been a bit of a “hard sell,” Siebers said, but many people were ready to take the next step.

“We’re not trying to make a Hollywood-caliber film here,” VanGrouw said. “A lot of what we’re doing is pretty down and dirty. That eliminates some stress, because we don’t have to learn all the ins and outs of Final Cut.”

The newspaper’s online video is output in QuickTime and is presented in a Brightcove video player, similar to other Morris Communications’ newspaper sites.

Siebers said no matter how long the video, the average HollandSentinel.com visitor bails out between about 1 minute, 45 seconds and 2 minutes, 30 seconds.

However, finding the time to edit all the video can be difficult, said Goodell, who has done some rough-cut editing for her “Behind the Scenes” series. “I think [the news team members] like shooting the video – that’s not a problem. It’s not as though video cameras are rocket science; it’s new and interesting and we can figure it out. But, we have to get more people who can edit it. That’s where we’ve run into the biggest problem is in finding the time to edit it.”

User-Generated Video
The newspaper’s site, which features Morris DigitalWorks’ Spotted photo sharing program, is set up to accept community-contributed video. Spotted, which features both staff-taken photos and photos from the audience, is very popular on HollandSentinel.com, and Siebers said that opens the door to accepting video from readers. “We’re set up to do it, but we haven’t pushed really hard for it,” Siebers said.

Advertising
Advertising comes in a mix of banner ads (some of which play video) and pre-roll ads. Siebers said the newspaper is moving away from the pre-roll advertising.

The newspaper has not done any formalized sales training on how to sell ads alongside online video, but may in the future. The pre-roll and video banner advertising clients already “run the gamut” of the newspaper’s advertisers, including ads from a local florist, a women’s health club, music stores and car dealers. The ads that feature videos are 300 X 200 pixels, and play when a site visitor clicks on the ad.

Landmark Projects
Siebers said the most popular videos on the site have been press conferences, especially those surrounding a high-profile murder trial. The Holland Sentinel co-sponsored a localized version of the television show “American Idol” called “Lakeshore Idol,” (see image above) and videos appeared on the newspaper’s Web site. “It created so much positive feedback in the community, that I got several e-mails from people thanking us for doing this,” Siebers said.

The newspaper plans to continue increasing the frequency of new videos on the HollandSentinel.com, but VanGrouw said they won’t sacrifice quality to do that. “We want to do something different [from television] that fits our skill set a little better, which revolves around storytelling and being more in-depth,” he said.

First Published:
May 7, 2008