Unit – 4

Mobile Journalism

What is Mobile Journalism?

Mobile Journalism (MoJo) is a form of digital reporting where trained
journalists use mobile devices to gather news. A mobile device refers to a
Smartphone or a Tablet with iOs or Android operating systems. Reporters use
mobile devices as tools to shoot, edit and broadcast the news contents. Media
persons have become more mobile and independent in executing their
assignments using Smartphones. It is gradually gaining popularity among
reporters and news organisations as it helps the organisations to spend less on
hiring crew and on expensive equipment.

MoJo is cost-effective as smartphones are more convenient compared to the

traditional cameras that are heavy and require additional manpower to operate.
Sometimes, it is not possible to send Outside Broadcast Vans (OBV) to cover
news-breaks at several spots at the same time. It is during such situations that
smartphones come handy for timely coverage of news occurrences. As
smartphones are thoroughly equipped with in-built audio- video settings with
different MoJo apps, reporters can easily shoot, edit and upload their news
contents on the web or to their organisation.

using smartphone for taking effective Pictures and shooting

Videos
Pictures:

Use gridlines: One of the easiest and best ways to improve your mobile photos
is to turn on the camera's gridlines. That superimposes a series of lines on the
screen of your smartphone's camera that are based on the "rule of thirds" — a
photographic composition principle that says an image should be broken down
into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, so you have nine parts in total.
According to this theory, if you place points of interest in these intersections or
along the lines, your photo will be more balanced, level, and allow viewers to
interact with it more naturally.

Use HDR: HDR mode stands for High Dynamic Range, and it is increasingly
common on many smartphones. It adds detail from the dark and light areas to
provide better balanced exposure. In other words, it will stop the sky being too
bright or the ground being too dark and really suits landscape photography. If
there’s a big difference between the lightest and darkest parts of your scene,
using the camera phone’s HDR function it’s a good option.

Avoid Digital Zoom: Digital zoom nearly always produces poor results as it
reduces the resolution of the image. Avoiding it is one of the basic photography
tips for taking better photos. Optical zooms however are fine as they do not
affect the quality of the photo and these are becoming more common on
smartphones. If you only have a digital zoom then instead of using it, simply
move closer to maintain the image quality.

Embrace negative space: "Negative space" simply refers to the areas around
and between the subjects of an image — and it can take a photo from "good" to
"great." When you include a lot of empty space in a photo, your subject will
stand out more and evoke a stronger reaction from your viewer. And what does
negative space looks like? It's often a large expanse of open sky, an empty field,
a large wall, or water, as in the example below.

Find different perspectives: Taking photos from a unique, unexpected angle

can make them more memorable — it tends to create an illusion of depth or
height with the subjects. It also makes the image stand out, since most mobile
photos are taken either straight -on or from a bird's eye view. Try taking a photo
directly upward and playing with the sky as negative space, like in the first
photo below. Or, you can try taking it at a slight downward angle.

Take candids: Posed photos can be great for the sake of memories — happy
moments with friends, family, or the occasional run-in with a celebrity. But
sometimes, candid shots of people doing things, or people with people, can be
far more interesting. That's because candid photos are better able to effectively
capture the emotion and essence of a moment. One of the best ways to capture
this kind of shot is to just take as many photos as possible.

Videos:
Shoot in Landscapes:
Nothing ruins great footage like having two black vertical bars along both sides
of your video. To avoid this amateur mistake, make sure to use landscape
orientation and not portrait orientation while recording. Not only does landscape
make your video seem more aesthetically pleasing in general, it'll also make it
more enjoyable to watch when viewed on a widescreen or television. Plus,
you'll capture more in the actual video.
So just remember: never hold your phone vertically while recording, unless you
really like or want those vertical black bars included (or if you're recording
purely for something like TikTok or Instagram Stories).

Don’t use digital zoom: Sometimes it can be tempting to use the zoom feature
on your smartphone to get a closer shot of your subject, but since the lens isn’t
zooming optically, you’re just enlarging the picture digitally. This results in one
thing: pixels. If you want to zoom in with a smartphone without it looking like
pixelated garbage, then simply walk closer to your subject. Simple.

Exposure and focus: Smartphones and digital cameras will automatically

detect and adjust exposure and focus accordingly. It’s great for taking quick
snaps, but ideally while recording you’ll want to have more manual control and
lock these down so they don’t adjust and leave your footage over-exposed and
out of focus. Simply tap on your subject using your smartphone’s default app to
manually lock exposure and focus in your footage. This can be adjusted whilst
filming. Most modern digital cameras also offer this tap feature. If not, a ‘half-
press’ of the capture button will do this.

Audio recording: Most of the time, recording audio directly from the camera’s
built-in microphone will suffice, but in professional videos, namely interviews,
you will want to have a microphone as close to your subject as possible. You
can use an external professional microphone hooked up to computer to record
your audio, or a memo recorder, but I prefer to use a second smartphone placed
directly above the subject using a voice memo app. I would then sync this
captured audio to the video footage in the editing phase later on.

Uploading news photos and videos on digital platform

Understanding about copyright: Copyright is a federal law of the United

States that protects original works of authorship. A work of authorship includes
literary, written, dramatic, artistic, musical and certain other types of works.
Copyright attaches as soon as the original work is created, and applies to both
published and unpublished works. As soon as you type words, click the shutter
on your camera (or, for many of you, hit the home button on your iPhone),
apply paint to canvas or paper or lay down tracks for your next hit, you’ve got a
copyright (with some exceptions).

Fact check: The term “fact-checking” can mean two different things in
journalism. Traditionally, fact-checkers were employed by newsrooms to
proofread and verify factual claims made by reporters in their articles. Before
publishing any news or uploading any news photos and videos, fact-checkers
should be verified about it, to avoid further consequence.

Know the terms and conditions of social media platform: All social media
platforms have their own terms and conditions, to secure the uses information.
Because if they not have this, people can misuse the platform.

Get permission from image creator: If you find an image online, look
carefully for a caption that includes the name of the image creator or copyright
owner. There may also be an email address or link to the image owner’s
website. Using that info, you can contact the image owner to request to use their
image by purchasing a license or coming to an agreement on the terms of use.

Should follow Media laws and ethics: Journalism have some set of laws and
ethics. Every journalist should follow it. Like that, if they want to use any
images or videos, they have followed the rules, then only they can upload it. Or
else they can face legal consequence.

Editing Photos and Videos taken on Smartphones

Straighten images: It’s always better to pay attention to be sure your horizon is
horizontal when you shoot, but straightening is also an easy first editing step.

Crop images: It’s best to crop to improve minor compositional details, like
distracting elements at the edge of the frame or repositioning your subject
slightly.
Spot-clean images: The outdoors is a dusty place and nature’s gritty elements
have a way of finding their way onto your camera lens, and then onto your
photos. (Using a lens brush regularly in the field cuts down on this.) Most
editing programs have a spot-removing tool. The name varies: “clone stamping”
and “spot healing” are two variations. Programs also let you change your view
of a photo to highlight the location of spots. Work your way methodically
around your photo until you have a spot-free image.
Adjust the White Balance: White balance relates to color levels, not exposure
levels. If your image has an overall color tone that you find displeasing or
unnatural, you can adjust white balance to fix it. Note that JPG files, because
they capture far less digital data than RAW files, offer a minimal amount of
white balance adjustment during editing.
Adjusting exposure: This is the process of making the photo exactly as bright
or dark as you want. Note that “noise” (a mottled look) can sometimes be
introduced when you crank up the brightness. That’s why it’s always better to
get the correct exposure (one that’s sufficiently bright) when you first take the
photo.
Shoot More Than Enough Film: It’s very rare that anyone has ever shot too
much material. When editing, you often need to go back through what you’ve
shot so far in order to make scenes work together, to add interest and drama, or
to establish setting. The more clips you get, the better, as it’s very difficult to
acquire additional footage after a shot has already been completed. When
actually working on a production, film crews should work to take as much b-roll
as possible, as it may be needed during the editing process.
Add Sound and Music: Sound and music are tremendous components of any
video production. An editor will generally have some audio to clean up and
sync, but they will also need to choose other audio as well to suit the video. This
includes sound effects (which in larger productions may be managed by foley
artists and sound designers) and a musical selection.
Transitions and Special Effects: When in doubt, special effects are out. If
special effects seem to be amateurish or are not completely professional,
modern audiences will usually cringe at them. Fancy transitions, text effects,
and so forth are generally relegated to slide shows today and the modern
audience has very little patience for them. In general, editing should appear to
be natural and unobtrusive; titles and notifications should always be classic and
simple. Rather than using screen wipe effects, fades or simply abrupt transitions
are more often used