Video done right.

Wow. It's a great feeling to read positive reviews of any story you've worked on, but this one feels especially great. Scott Karp in his Publishing 2.0 blog has some extremely positive comments regarding the Microsoft Surface video I produced for Popular Mechanics (emphasis mine):

One magazine I came across that has really gotten video right is Popular Mechanics, a brand you might easily associate with technology of decades past. But Popular Mechanics appears not only to be keeping pace with bleeding edge technology, but is also using digital media technology in smart ways.

Here is a Popular Mechanics article on Mircosoft’s new surface computing technology, which comes with a video that includes eye-popping demos and insightful interviews with the developers — there’s no way that a printed magazine piece could ever have done this story the same justice (the text article appeared in the June 2007 issue), but what’s more notable is that Popular Mechanics did an excellent job with the video production. It’s not just video for the sake of doing video, which is the big risk for magazine and other print brands.

I feel like I've been preaching this for months now, so thank you, Scott Karp, for picking up on this point: Video for the sake of video does not a sucessful digital brand make. Just because YouTube and the like have given slivers of spotlight to amateur productions doesn't mean that traditionally old media brands should be taking the same route with their videos - no magazine would suffer the typos, mixed metaphor and slipshod grammar that grace many personal blogs. Nor should they tolerate sub-par production values with video. That doesn't mean video needs to be expensive, per se: It needs to be smart. Pick your subjects appropriately, and give them the attention they deserve. The result: An online coup, such as this Microsoft video, which is now pushing .5 million views online through Brightcove alone.

It's like I've always said: We need not fear competition from digital outlets. We can use them to break stories with an even greater impact by tailoring the media choice to the story. If it moves, shoot video. If it stands there, shoot a photo. If it talks, record an audio podcast. If it's a thought, a trend, a "think piece" to quote Almost Famous, write a story. There will always be overlap, and no medium will exist by itself, but the focus should be determined by the nature of the subject.