A five-step program

One of the big things I've done so far is to look into News University courses, offered (mostly) for free from Poynter. I've completed one of the courses, "Five Steps to Multimedia Storytelling," by Jane Stevens.This course is mostly focused on the kind of multi-media stories that revolve around a Web page -- sort of like the features the News Service does with Mountains & Minds -- but there are some good tips here for planning a video-oriented story too.

First and foremost among those tips: Get ready beforehand.

When you're using just print as a medium and adding photos or other visual media as an accompaniment, it's easier to go into an interview or tour or field experience without much in the way of preparation, knowing that you'll have time to massage the words later on.

Not so with video or audio. The more groundwork you can lay down ahead of time, the better. Pre-interviews, planning, gathering visuals and resources ahead of time -- these are all suggestions that Stevens offers. We can integrate elements of her tips into our daily video-production routine, but not all of them. The kinds of stories that Stevens is producing are bigger stories, the kind that have months or weeks of lead-in time. We won't always have that luxury.

Still, it can never hurt to be prepared, so I want you all to get one big idea rolling around in your heads as we go into this video adventure: storyboards.

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3. The BBC Guide to Good Shooting
4. Practical tips for producing video
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