As the Online Video Producer for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, DC, I rely on still photos to illustrate many of my videos. Because Washington is not an especially visual place (the city is quite pretty of course, but once inside the halls of government things get a little dull for live video), I often find it preferable to take photos or use stills from the AP or Getty and animate them inside Final Cut. This technique is known as the ‘Ken Burns Effect,’ popularized by the famous documentary filmmaker whose epic tomes on jazz, baseball and WWII consisted almost entirely of still images. It’s a very powerful tool that is essential for every video storyteller to have in his or her repertoire.
But the more I use the ‘Ken Burns Effect,’ the greater appreciation I have for those editors like Burns who have truly mastered it. When I first started editing I thought it was sufficient just to move the image for movement’s sake, often zooming into the center of the image with no real thought of what information I wanted to convey or what I wanted the viewer to get out of the shot. Eventually I came to see it not as a crutch to fill time before my next edit, but as a true filmmaker’s tool to be used with the same thoughtfulness as a camera pan, tilt or zoom. Still images are the most powerful elements of visual storytelling (the “building blocks,” as Burns likes to say), and the power of a slow, deliberate movement can often pack more punch than live footage. As more and more still photographers make the switch to video and multimedia, the still image is going to be king. I encourage those with a strong still photography background new to video to study Burns and find ever more creative ways to adapt his technique to the Web. Watch this YouTube interview with Burns, explore the still-heavy offerings of MediaStorm (Scott Strazzante’s ‘Common Ground’ is one of my favorites) and help take still photography and video to the next level.
Video journalist Andrew Satter teaches an an online video editing course at The Compelling Image.
Tags: video
