NEW STORY: Snake Invasion In Florida

Previously unknown in Florida, many species of snakes -- such as boa constrictors and pythons -- are so well adapted to the State's subtropical climate that it's not unusual to see them in the streets of Miami.

American scientists say these invasive species could endanger native wildlife in parts of the United States.

Click here to view this story I produced for AFP-TV.

Here I use a series of close-up shots to really illustrate these creatures to the viewer. This piece is taylor-made for tight shots. The interview with the snake handler was tough. The light source was behind him, so I over-exposed the shot to guard against silhouetting. I then corrected the picture in post-production. Over-exposing using the aperture also allowed for a very shallow depth-of-field for the interview.

Interview with President Bill Clinton

Here is an interview with former President Bill Clinton that I filmed for Newsmax TV in New York with my colleague Brad Zerivitz.

The former president expounds on a variety of topics, including the current heated political debate, the Clinton Global Initiative, an upcoming book about Clinton, and Jimmy Carter's recent comment about racism.

A clip from this interview was used on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report:

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Mixing up shots in stage discussion events

Recently I was asked to edit a couple of highlights packages for The Atlantic magazine's website. The pieces were daily round-ups of a two day discussion event at the Newseum in Washington, DC called "The First Draft of History."

These packages, narrated by Nathan King, were to be a maximum of four minutes long featuring the top soundbites from each day's speakers. The pictures I had to work with were from four Sony EX3 XDCAM cameras: two located in fixed positions facing the stage, another fixed position for audience cutaways, and another roaming camera to gather shots from around the event as a whole.

Here is the first day's package



As you can see, the trick to editing these kinds of pieces is to make sure you try to keep the video interesting despite having a limited range of shots to work with. Cutaways of audience members, interviewers and so on are very important. Also important are the shots from the fourth roving camera which really help break up the sequence of shots from the debate hall.

Here is the second day's package



These packages were edited using Final Cut Studio HD and XDCAM Transfer. Footage from this event was used on several networks including MSNBC

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Some tips for when you're pushed for time

Here is an example of how I conducted and shot a short interview with the Foreign Minister of India. I was only given a couple of minutes to speak with the minister, so in this kind of case it is important to carefully select the questions you are going to ask.

This interview slot included no time for set-up, so I used no lights - just a lamp across the room to prevent silhouetting again the window behind the minister. There is also very little depth to the shot, but placing the subject in front of a window with a net curtain sometimes makes the shot look a little bit deeper if the light outside is right - ie. not too bright and not too dark.

In house, Times Now cropped the shot so b-roll could be included on screen during in the segment. This also helped make the interview look tidier.

Basically, if you are very rushed, consider what is really necessary - the basics you need to create a broadcastable picture. If you know you only have to fill a short on-air slot, and you are covering breaking news for immediate transmission, you can sometimes get away with a slightly lower production value.