Collecting and hosting video on the web can be very expensive, but producing high-quality news video doesn’t have to break the bank. There are many free or cheap options available for use now:

Hardware:

Flip (www.theflip.com)

The Flip is an easy to use, simple USB video camera that’ll plug right into your computer.  It records up to 60 minutes of decent web quality video and requires no technical skill (or video tapes) to use.  Also has a built-in microphone. This is a fantastic video camera for budget-conscious newsrooms or for journalists just starting out with multimedia reporting. Prices range from USD$120 - $160, and the camera is available for purchase at Amazon, Target and via the Flip site.  Flip won’t ship internationally, however Amazon or one of the other sites might.

Software:

For Mac users, I strongly recommend using iMovie ’06.  This program is incredibly easy to use, you can overlay title frames and splice in music and still photos, and (most importantly!) you can export your videos as a compressed Quicktime file suitable for the web.  A word of caution: If you’ve never used iMovie before, do not start with the newer ’08 version.  Apple’s software folks made the program much more difficult to use and took away many of its better features.  Stick with ’06, and if you don’t have that version, you can visit VersionTracker (http://www.versiontracker.com) to find an older copy.  Best of all, it’s free!  Check in your applications folder – chances are very good you already have it installed.

For those on a PC, Windows comes bundled with Windows Movie Maker.  It’s not the most elegant program around, but you can definitely import video and produce edited versions without much of a headache.  For more information or to download a free version, visit the Microsoft website at http://www.microsoft.com and search for MovieMaker2.

Storing:

Unless your company has a streaming server and lots of bandwidth, you’ll have to find a third party to host video for you. Not to worry!  There are many free or cheap options available:  YouTube, Justin.TV, Ziddio, Brightcove, blip.TV and many others.  For a complete list and website addresses, see: http://mydigimedia.com/2007/12/07/2007_the_year_of_online_video_1.html.  You’ll also find a long list of video aggregators, players, sharing services and many other web video tools.

Amy Webb is a digital media consultant and head of Webbmedia Group, LLC.  Find more multimedia tips and ideas at her blog, http://www.mydigimedia.com.  Webbmedia Group is a vendor-neutral company.  Any opinions expressed about products or services are formed after testing, research and interviews.  Neither Amy Webb nor Webbmedia Group or its employees receives any financial or other benefits from vendors.