2. TOOLS YOU NEED NOW TO
COMPETE FOR JOBS
Create and share text, data, charts,
maps
Process data, analyze information
quickly, efficiently
Search the web and track news on
the beat
LEARN TOOLS YOU DID NOT
KNOW YOU WOULD NEED
2
6. All STORIES BEGIN WITH
REPORTING
Research topic
Cultivate sources
Work in the field
Awareness of the word around you
Clarity and Accuracy
Creativity and Innovation
6
8. Interrogate your Story
What’s the broad story, the
immediate story
Why now
What’s new
What’s the focus
Who would care, why should they
Describe the essence in 2 sentences
8
9. Interrogate (con’t)
What’s the inherit drama
Do I have access (what degree of
access)
Where can I publish
9
10. DISCOVERY CHANNEL
CONSTEST STORY RULES
Each proposal must:
•
Demonstrate writing and narrative skills
•
Demonstrate original, primary reporting
•
Demonstrate can story really be reported.How?
•
Demonstrate story relevance and timeliness:
(Why now? Why would people be interested?)
•
Demonstrate exclusivity/uniqueness of this story
•
Introduce main characters, themes and stakes
•
Submit a source list with contact information.
*Put the story in context of an issue, history, b.g. etc.
•
Suggest a target magazine
10
11. PRINT STORIES AND
VIDEO STORIES
DEPEND ON THE
VISUAL.
BUT USE DIFFERENT
TECHNIQUES.
11
12. THE NEW YORKER
THE PATCH-As Audible as it is
Visible
By John McPhee
Personal memoir
February 8, 2010
12
13. Starts w/Visualization
You move your canoe
through open water a fly
cast away from a patch of
lily pads. You cast just shy
of the edge of the pad –
inches off the edge of the
patch.
13
14. Personification
A chain pickerel is a lone
ambush hunter. It’s body
resembles a barracuda’s and
has evolved to similar
purpose. Territorial,
concealed in the vegetation,
it hovers, and not much but
its pectoral fins are in
motion ...
14
16. Personification/metaphor
Some time when chain
pickerel are hovering high
they see your moving fly
from a distance and come
for it, come right toward
you, etching on the surface
in a rippling wake, like a
torpedo.
16
17. METAPHORS IN THE PATCH
...with its pelvic fins set far
back like the wings of some
jets it can accelerate like a
bullet ...(It’s)... undulations
move along the body in
propulsive waves that
culminate, like oar sculling,
in straight-line forward
thrust 17
18. LIST IN
THE PATCH
(what it eats) - FROGS CRAYFISH,
NEWTS, TURTLES AND SMALLER
FISH - INCLUDING ITS OWN
YOUNG...
18
19. ANOTHER LIST
THIS YEAR AND LAST THERE HAD
BEEN A CHAIN PICKEREL THAT WAS
EITHER TOO SMART OR TOO INEPT
TO GET ITSELF AROUND AN
ASSEMBLAGE OF DEER HAIR,
RABBIT FUR, TURKEY QUILL,
MARABOU SILK,AND SHARP HEAVY
WIRE
19
20. Part 1 resolution-
(How a sighting feels)
It takes just one such scene
to arouse you forever.
Across an open channel
from the New Hampshire
island lay a quarter mile of
sharply edged lily pads, and
soon we were calling it
not a patch but The Patch.
20
21. THE KINGS GARDEN
DOCUMENTARY
VIDEO AND AUDIO TELL MUCH OF
THE STORY
INTRODUCE THE CENTRAL
CHARACTERS W/NAT SOUND AND
VERITE
TOTAL OF 20 SECONDS OF
NARRATION IN FIRST 4:15
21
25. THE PITCH
What is the story - one sentence
Hard news or feature
Why should audience care
Why does audience need to know
Is story visual
Is story timely
Central character(s) humanize story
Is access adequate
25
26. The Pitch (con’t)
Is there conflict or tension
Is there context/depth
Small story of larger truth
What’s the wrinkle/twist
26
27. Five Key Elements
Pictures -video stills graphics
Interviews,syncs, sbites
Script/narration
Sound
On camera presence
27
28. GOALS
Accuracy, clarity of story line
Engage audience
Adequate pre-preparation
pre interview
scout locations
research facts
28
29. Images needed
Establish sense of place
Every interviewee doing their thing
Excellent sequences (how many)
Wide shots, medium shots close-
ups, cutaways
Shots dictated by interview
Shots that make noise
Shots that signify 29
30. Images needed (con’t)
Strong shots/bite to begin and end
with
Let (obj)subjects go out of frame
Natural wipes
What will save you in editing
Getting lucky
Archival = value added
30
32. Shooting the interview
Basic framing
Change focal length
Camera left and camera right
Reverse shots
Make subject comfortable
Interview central character in more
than one location
32
33. Interview Tips
Prepare before and think during
Ask questions that get to the heart
Ask one question at a time
Develop ACTIVE listening
Know what you want; stop when
you get it***
Seek hope pray for authenticity
33
34. SOUND
Start with NAT and use throughout
Sound alerts, punctuates
Actuality adds texture
Length of nat/actuality OR
What is more important-
interview, narration or nat sound
Sound before/after on camera
34
35. On Camera
Establishes reporter's integrity,
knowledge, credibility
Establishes connection with
audience
Other reasons to be o/c:
TRANSITION TO...
NO PICTURE
EMPHASIZE CRITICAL FACT
35
36. On Camera Standups
Open, bridge or close
Where,how, how many
What to say and length
Location appropriate to story
Background scene
Move or stand still
Sun is your enemy; shade is your
friend
36
37. ON CAMERA TIPS
Outside better than inside
Use a lav mic when possible
No notes
Camera at eye level or higher
Conversational tone/writing
Your cameraman is your friend
Makeup and Props
37
38. Writing/Structuring
Script conveys facts; interviews
convey emotion, opinion
Script is the glue between bites
Write conversationally
Break long bites in two
Use active voice, simple verbs, short
sentences-ONE idea per-, few
adjectives, few numbers
38
39. Structure Process
Keep fact list
Log all bites first (transcribe)
Write 15 secs into first bite
Choose best opening shot,sequence
w/nat sound
Stories have beginning, middle, end
Find a good last line,bite,fact,shot
39
41. LONG FORM IS DIFFERENT
IT’S LONGER
IT CAN BE MORE COMPLEX
IT MUST HOLD BACK
IT MUST KEEP MOVING
IT TWISTS AND TURNS
SOMETHING HAS TO HAPPEN
SOMETHING OR SOMEONE SHOULD
CHANGE 41
42. LONG FORM DIFFERS
(CON’T)
BACKGROUND, HISTORY ARCHIVE
THE UNKNOWN
SURPRISE IS THE PRIZE
ANXIETY LEVEL HIGH IN FIELD
COVER YOURSELF IN THE FIELD
REMEMBER TO ASK YOURSELF:
WHAT IS THE STORY ABOUT
42
46. Thou Shalt......
1. Take the viewer to the story
2. Humanize the story
3. Write in active voice
4. Create illusion of depth, intimacy
5. Seek simple truths
46
47. 6. Thou Shalt not do gratuitous or
statuesque stand-ups
7. Thou Shalt write clearly
8. Thou Shalt write in active voice
9. Thou Shalt think pacing
10. Thou Shalt remember literary devices.
47
48. Shaping Narrative (con’t)
Report, reflect, write, re-write
Report, reflect, edit, re-edit
Connect to characters, but remain
independent (ethics)
48
49. Shaping Narrative (con’t)
Lists as literary device
Voice, tone,point of view
Tease and promise
Handling time and tenses
Dramatic tension
49
50. Shaping Facts into
Narrative Power
Strong opening
Build interest
Sustain momentum
Signposts
Transitions-and turning points that
move reader along smoothly
50
