So- you waited until the last minute to do your assignment. What now?
First- Relax. Take a deep breath. Know that your position is actually the norm, not the exception, in the wonderful world of news gathering. You will do your best work while under pressure throughout your professional career.
Second- Don’t try to take shortcuts. You need to follow all of the basic rules. You need to get all of your basic types of shots, b-roll, soundbites and standups. Not doing so will only cause you a lot more work. There is a “system” to covering stories in a way that makes things easy on you.
I worked for 6ABC- Action News for 12 years. I’ve shot and edited at least 3000 pieces. The maximum average time I was given to edit a 2:00 piece was 20 minutes. On average, I had to edit most of my pieces in about 10 minutes. Why? It’s because everyone in news waits until the last minute. How was I able to do this? I followed a system.
As an example, I am going to use media from a story that I shot, edited and co-wrote with Dann Cuellar. We covered a boring meeting for an exciting story; the Lower Merion School District “Spy” Web Cam controversy. I had to edit this piece in about eight minutes. Despite this fact, it was a very easy piece to edit because I covered all of my basics. I’ll never win an award for this one, but it was picked up by Good Morning America the next day. You can see the story here…
https://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7613007
Basics-
Knowing your basics and applying them are two different things. It’s important to remind ourselves of the basics in order to not overlook them while we are dealing with multiple elements out in the field.
Basic #1- Check your equipment
Make sure your batteries are charged. Clean the camera lens. Do a test shoot to make sure that your audio levels are good, your tripod settings are comfortable for you and your camera settings are where you want them to be.
Basic #2- Get b-roll
Let’s say that you are going to cover a meeting about school closings. Get b-roll of the schools and neighborhoods before you go to the meeting. Taking five minutes to get b-roll will save you at least 20 minutes of editing time and make writing much easier.
Get lots of shots just before the meeting starts. This will save you time during editing.
Basic #3- Shot selection
Get your three types of shots- Wide, Medium and Tight. Always keep this in mind. It will make your editing experience much easier.
Wide Shot-
Medium Shot-
Tight Shot-
Basic #4- Shot composition
Interview Subjects-
Properly frame your interview subject. The person should have their body squared up towards the camera. The top of their head should touch the left or right upper corner of the screen. They should be looking next to the camera towards the opposite angle that they are framed in. You should be able to see both of their eyes.
Covering Meetings
One of the most challenging environments for covering news is in a meeting room. Where do you set up? Where do you place your mics? Should you move around?
The most important thing to remember about covering meetings is to know what the meeting is about. Your story is not about people congregating in a meeting hall. It’s about something like a “Spy” Webcam controversy. You want video to support the story. You want interviews to support the discussions taking place. Meetings can be boring. Your story should be engaging.
Where to set up-
Set up anywhere that gives you a good vantage point. Prioritize based on the nature of the story and what you expect to transpire. If you anticipate a heated exchange between a board member and a resident, set up somewhere that will maximize your chances of capturing the best action.
Where to place your mics-
If there is a good PA system, place a stick mic in front of a speaker monitor.
B-Roll-
As I mentioned earlier, get lots of shots before the meeting starts. Take wide shots, medium shots and tight cutaway shots. Things like extreme close ups of people’s hands turning pages will work wonders during editing. Cutaway shots make seem silly at first. Remember that it’s better to have shots and not use them than to not have enough shots.
Tips for getting good soundbites-
Don’t drive yourself crazy trying to get perfect audio at a meeting. Instead, focus on capturing interesting moments which relate to your story. Let’s just say that a local block captain just had a heated emotional exchange with a board member. Capture that exchange, and then ask her if you can talk to her on camera outside of the room. After getting a quick interview with her, you’ll be able to use that heated exchange as a “nat sound pop” along with a professional looking sound bite that you got in the other room.
Stick mic or lav?
Lav mics pick up a lot of ambient sound. If you are in a noisy room or outside, use a stick mic.
Use stick mikes only in Person on the Street or quick interview. Use lavs for sit-down interviews.
Should I let my interview subject hold the mic?
Yes. You can. Do this only if you are a one-person band.
If you are working with another person and using a stick mic, always have the other crew member hold the mic. The interviewer can lose control of the interview when the subject holds the mic.
Here is my trick when working in a one-person band situation…
Ask the person to hold the mic. Tell them that you are keeping it out of the frame. Ask them to hold it no higher than a certain point. Use your headphones to position the mic properly for optimal sound levels. Crop their hand holding the mic out of the picture. This frees you up to monitor the camera during the interview. Just remember to stand next to the camera and ask your interview subject to look at you at all times. Constantly be on the lookout for the hand/mic to stay out of frame.
Story telling-
Know the difference between the structure of a traditional voice over tracked piece and a “nad sound” piece. Take a look at Dann’s story along with his script. It will help you structure your own stories.
LOWER MERION, Pa. – August 16, 2010 (WPVI) — The Lower Merion School Board has made the change – no more webcam surveillance to locate lost computers.
It began so tumultuously when the webcam controversy first exploded in the Lower Merion School District, but tonight as the school board adopted new policies aimed at protecting students privacy, there was barely anyone there as the vote came.
As had been largely expected, the board revised its laptop policies and banned all webcam surveillance and other intrusive technology to secretly monitor students through their school issued laptops.
“We’ve made sure that everyone is aware of those practices and there are some new policies to further safeguard the privacy of our students,” Lower Merion School District Superintendent Christopher McGinley said.
The changes were approved in the wake of lawsuits filed by two high school students and their parents who alleged they were secretly being spied on by school officials without their knowledge.
That’s something the school district denies saying the practice was aimed at finding missing or stolen laptops.
Under the revised policies, if a student believes his or her laptop is missing or stolen, the student and parents must give written consent before officials activate tracking technology to locate the laptops.
At no time will school employees be allowed to access students’ files and documents stored in their laptop unless there is reasonable suspicion the student may be violating district rules and policies.
“Students themselves have decisions to make about who accesses content on laptops and how that access occurs and there are important procedures in place to document how that access occurs,” McGinley said.
Meanwhile, a federal investigation looking into possible criminal wrongdoing continues and two district employees remain on administrative leave.
As the new policies take effect this fall, high school students will not be issued laptops until later in September to allow everyone a chance to get up to speed on the new polices.
(Copyright ©2013 WPVI-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
Below is a script by Brian Taffe. It is a great template for structuring your stories. Notice how the tracks and soundbites are all short and to the point. Envision what you want your story to look and sound like as you are gathering your elements. It will make everything much easier for you.
*Note- All SODs (Sound On Digital soundbites) should be complete verbatim rather than ins and outs. That allows the anchor to read the entire bite if the piece crashes.
((SOT))
<< DAVID LARSEN / AUDUBON PARK, NJ>>
((00:11 You must be Dave. Dave, Brian Taff, pleasure to meet you. Our typical american family here. Well we are typical and we are american LAUGHTER TO :18))
((TRACK))
Walking into David and Shari Larsen’s Audubon Park home, it quickly becomes apparent this is a patriotic bunch.
((SOT))
<< 00:29 look at this, wearing an american flag and everything (31)>>
((TRACK))
Both are United States Postal workers, David a retired army man, their son in the military right now.
((SOT))
<< 1:28 this has got to be the best county there is in the world (32)>>
((SOT))
<< 3:59 And yet, if I was to ask you what percentage of this household is products made in America, what would your best guess be? Not a lot. Two percent. (07)>>
((TRACK))
That shirt she was wearing? She bought it last weekend, and yesterday…
((SOT))
<< 5:00 I found out its made in Haiti. (02)>>
((TRACK))
All throughout this home, products that scream Made In America, say something else. This US Army candle?
((SOT))
<< 11:24 and when you turn it over. Made in China.>>
((TRACK))
The scale they stand on each morning…
((SOT))
<< 13:18 made in germany>>
((TRACK))
most everything here is from somewhere else…the furniture, electronics…even this home of the brave flag-bearing art work.
((SOT))
<< ?? made in China. Made in China>>
((TRACK))
The Larsens say its not that they don’t try to buy American, but that finding American has become so much harder, so much manufacturing now oversees. And, like most people, they told me they don’t tend to give it much thought.
((SOT))
<< 22:00 youre in a hurry to get things done…get that done.>>
((TRACK))
Until we asked them to pause, and look…and Shari made a discovery she never expected, and a promise, to look at the label and be aware of world at home.
((SOT))
<< SHARI LARSEN / AUDUBON PARK NJ>>
<< 9:18 I wasn’t, but now I will be>>
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