Shooting TV news

1. Shooting TV news • Reader, VO, VO-SOT/VSV, package, wraparound/live shot • Reporters & photographers / live truck operator • “One Man Band” / VJ / backpack journalist • Assignment desk / producer • Feed to the station (more later) • Transmit / receive / line of sight • Receive station / newscast insertion • Field IFB (market size)

2. Field shooting -- lighting for news • On camera light • Available light • Color temperature -- auto / indoor /outdoor • Never point a camera toward a light • 2-point / 3-point lighting • Low lighting situations -- iris / gain • “The art of capturing and controlling light”

3. Field shooting -- audio for news • Close (isolated component) vs. distant miking • Foreground audio (narration, sound bites, stand up) • Nat sound (in camera mic) • Lavaliere, boom / shotgun, ‘stick’ • Other equiment • High pass, low pass, band pass, notch filters • EQ, compressor, other processing equipment

4. Telling the news story live • What you know ./ don’t know • What happened, is happening, will happen • Storytelling -- beginning, middle, end • Focus of story • Who, what, when, where, why, how, so what • Balance of reporter voice and sound bites • PKG: 1:30 / VSV: 1:00 (SB :12)

5. Backpack journalism • iPhone storytelling • Prosumer gear / GoPro camera • Quality lens and zoom issue • Task oriented sequence • Script, Logging / EDL • Recording ‘track’ • Quicker editing • Instagram, Videolicious, etc • Quicker posting

6. Review: the frame • Horizontal • Rule of Thirds • Golden Spots • Where our eyes go • Look space / lead room • Sometimes ‘break the rules’

7. Some guidelines • Show viewers what you want them to see • Think before you shoot • Pre-visualize the shot and sequence • Elevate the ordinary • what you see in the viewfinder makes you say ‘wow,’ • Make good use of the entire screen • Balance, fill screen, background, lighting • No ‘dutch angle’ mistake • See several other tips on page 64

8. Guidelines • Avoid calling attention to the zoom • ‘invisible’ zoom, pan, transition, lighting • SHOOT SEQUENCES • A proven method to heighten the viewer’s sense of involvement in the story is to shoot matched-action sequences.

9. Guidelines • Shoot and move • Remember to help the editor avoid “pop cuts” • Anticipate action • Fleeting / perishable video • Shoot only the shots you need -- Avoid indiscriminate shooting

10. Edit in the camera • When you edit in the camera, it is important to concentrate on three shots at a time: the shot you’re taking, the shot you just took, and the shot you will take next. • ‘Visualize your production’ then capture those shots

11. Guidelines • Involve the camera in the action • Working with people • tell your stories through people • Avoid distracting the subject • Because the camera and other hardware interrupt reality, try to avoid drawing attention to yourself or any of your equipment whenever you work with people. • Staging versus motivating

12. Guidelines • Shooting news interviews • Process, sit-down, ‘non-interview’ interview • Shooting your stand-up • Safety / Distancing • Plan to Make Mistakes • Shakiness, color balance, audio, wrong filter, exposure (lighting), focus, contrast, composition, panning & zooming, wind, dead batteries, no recording media, protecting equipment

13. Interviews • What gives a story personality and depth? • Interesting people and their ideas • Why do you interview people? • Gather facts about the story – research • Gather sound bites to put into your story • How do you interview people? • Process interview • News interview • No question questioning – just chat

14. Then -- Editing • News gathering is field shooting and editing • ENG • As we said – shooting and editing is ‘writing’ – developing a message for an intended audience • Editing is the ‘invisible art’

15. Editing • Editing, in its simplest definition, is selection, arrangement, timing, and presentation. • Only through editing can one enhance the story and the storytelling process. • Editing, then, begins not at the final stage of the storytelling process but rather at the beginning.

16. Editing • Your choice of shots and how you compose them is one form of editorial selection. Only through selection is emphasis possible. • The order in which the shots appear is a form of editorial arrangement. Shot length is a form of editorial timing, a way to control dramatic tension through quick cutting or a more relaxed mood that lets the eye wander across the screen.

17. Editing • Fades, Cuts, Dissolves, DVE • Cold cuts vs. sound bridge • Matched action sequences require overlapping action shot • Into frame / out of frame or matched action shot to shot • Expand time or compress time • ‘Filmic time’ / ‘real time/

18. Editing • Jump Cuts and Pop Cuts • Continuity editing / seamless editing • The typical news package, even the typical theatrical film, is a series of sequences. • Transition shots give the editor a way to pivot from one sequence to the next, a way to link separate scenes.