A new wave of specialized video accessories and apps for the iPhone and iPad are giving journalists new freedom and flexibility, as television stations integrate the devices into their daily workflow at such a rate that even vendors of traditional broadcast equipment and software have begun to adapt high-end products to interact with them.
Arthur Greenwald writing for TVNewsCheck:
It’s a startling statistic. An Apple iPhone costs about 1% of the price of the first “mini-cams” that revolutionized TV news in the late 1970s. And that’s without adjusting for inflation. Yet the iPhone delivers much better video and can even edit and transmit raw footage — or a finished story — back to a station.
Gannett sees the iPhone as a valuable tool for journalists. It purchased over 1,000 iPhone 4S smartphones for “frontline reporters and photographers,” primarily at its newspapers, but also at key TV stations, some of which collaborate with each other.
“Reporters and photographers need to collect and record things, do some rudimentary editing and transmit that content. This one device can accomplish some or all of those critical steps,” says Gannett’s Director of Digital Content MacKenzie Warren.
Gannett chose the iPhone primarily for its versatility, he says. “Apple’s App Store is so robust there’s a specific tool for every job.”
Gannett journalists use two video editing apps, Apple’s iMovie ($4.99) and the more feature-laden Splice, ($3.99.) For transmitting raw or edited footage, Gannett also uses the Brightcove Mobile Upload app because Brightcove is already Gannett’s platform for its websites. “Video goes straight into the playlist to be approved or edited by an editor or straight to consumer,” says Warren.
It was 2010, when Apple added a 720p hi-def video camera to the iPhone that the device began to be considered a serious production tool. (The current iPhone, the 4S, records in 1080p.)
It was the iPhone’s bigger sibling that made itself instantly indispensable in TV station, replacing paper scripts, saving thousands of dollars annually.
iPads can also function as full-function teleprompters both in studio and out in the field. Two of the most popular systems for this are iCue from PrompterPeople, and the ProPrompter by Bodelin.
Mr. Greenwald goes into detail about the accessories and software available for use by television stations in his article at the above link. It makes for informative reading.
