CNN producer and video journalist Jonathan O’Beirne shared his expertise, tips and enthusiasm with MEDPL 283 News Video Reporting students on Sept. 5.
![CNN producer and video journalist Jonathan O’Beirne shared his expertise, tips and enthusiasm with MEDPL 283 News Video Reporting students on Sept. 5.](https://fm.hunter.cuny.edu/journalism/wp-content/uploads/Jonathan-OBeirne_HunterJ_cropped-287x300.jpeg)
O’Beirne produces videos for CNN’s Great Big Story and shared one of his stories, about a teen born without a jaw, which has more than 10 million views. O’Beirne critiqued b-roll students shot around campus and offered some useful tips, including:
- Avoid pans and tilts; instead let the action come through the frame.
- Overcome your discomfort with being in people’s space. Get intimate!
- Shoot during the “magic hour,” which is actually twice a day — during dawn and dusk, when natural light is golden and soft
- When shooting b-roll, set one audio channel to auto and the other to manual. This little insurance policy has saved him many times.
- And finally, a rule of thumb when shooting anything: Get one wide, one medium and at least two tight shots all of which you hold for at least 10 seconds each.