1. TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi
What’s in a TV News
Package
1. Reporter’s narration
2. Sound bites
• Interviews
• ‘Talking Heads’
• Vox pops
3. Videos with natural
sound
4. Stand-ups -
5. Graphics
6. Music - sometimes
The Basic Steps
1. Check equipment
2. Check location
3. Relate before you
record
4. Make sure you
have recorded
• Headphones
5. Re-record
TV News

2.  Establishing shot
◦ GV , Wide
◦ Tight … medium … wide
 Sequences -
1. Related shots
o Wide, Medium and Tight
2. Showing completion
3. Action / reaction
4. Action sequences
 Cutaways –
◦ Jump cuts –
◦ Sequence jump cuts
 Transition Shots
◦ Changes in time or location
TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi
• Frame or compose before
recording
o In ‘pause’
• In-camera editing
• Hold the Camera Still
• Use a tripod –
o Except for ‘action shots’
 Sport
 Following someone down
the road
• Without a tripod
o Use wide shot
• Fill the Screen

3.  Rule of Thirds
 Z-Principle
 10-second rule
 Get plenty of shots
◦ Wide, Medium, Tight
◦ Wide, Medium, Tight, Tight, and
Tight
◦ Tight, Medium, Wide
 Angled shots
 Leave Head Room
 Leave Lead Room
◦ Talk Room
◦ Walk Rook
• Interviews
• Two-shot
• One-shot
• Close up
• Include Action in the
Interview
• 180-degree rule
– Crossing the line
– Shooting axis
– Neutralizing Shots
– Changing perspective
• Reverse (reaction) shots /
noddies -
TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi

4. TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi
http://www.filmmakers-
toolkit.group.shef.ac.uk/shots.html
Subject has
'room to
breathe'
Subject too
central in shot
How to describe shots

5. TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi
• Zoom
• Pan
• Motivated pans and zooms
• How to pan and zoom
• Continuity -
• White balance
• Three-point lighting
• Key light
• Back light
• Fill light
• Shooting outdoors
• Reflectors
• Shooting at night
• Piece-to-camera / stand-up
• 10”-20”; 1 or 2 points
1. Standard Outcue (SOC)
2. Location: To show you
were there
3. Drama: To reveal
something
4. Acting: To show
participation
5. To provide transition
• Place to place
• Topic to topic
6. No appropriate video
• Walk and Talk –

6. TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi
• Is ‘a picture is worth 1,000
words’?
• If it is, the do not repeat what
the picture says .
• Is it is not, add
o Meaning
o Context
o Background
• KISS
• Short sentences
• No sentences
• The sound of silence
• Nat sound package
A group of young people
eating with their hands
Jordanians say Mansaf is best eaten
with hands
-la-/viva07/2005http://linasturmoil.blogspot.com/
mansaf.html

7. TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi
• Leading Lines
• Visual Entrance
• Movement
• Color
• Light and Dark
• Balance and Symmetry
• Perfect Symmetry
• Asymmetrical balance
• Informal balance
• Foreground
• Background
• Practice assertiveness
• Understand the Story
• Broaden Your Skills
• Avoid Complacency
• Communicate
• Tight editing
• Except for conclusion
• Final shot kept for several
seconds
• So the director can cut away from
story before screen goes black.

8.  A-roll, or Footage
◦ In film and video, footage is the raw, unedited material as it had been originally filmed by movie
camera or recorded by a video camera which usually must be edited to create a motion
picture, video clip, television show or similar completed work.
◦ More loosely, footage can also refer to all sequences used in film and video editing, such as special
effects and archive material (for special cases of this, see stock footage and B roll).
◦ Since the term originates in film, footage is only used for recorded images, such as film
stock, videotapes or digitized clips – on live television, the signals from the cameras are
called sources instead.
 B-roll
◦ Secondary footage that adds meaning to a sequence or disguises the elimination of unwanted
content.
◦ This technique of using the cutaway is common to hide zooms in documentary films: the visuals
may cut away to B roll footage of what the person is talking about while the A camera zooms in,
then cut back after the zoom is complete.
◦ The cutaway to B roll footage can also be used to hide verbal or physical tics that the editor
and/or director finds distracting: with the audio separate from the video, the filmmakers are free
to excise "uh"s, sniffs, coughs, and so forth. Similarly, a contextually irrelevant part of a sentence
or anecdote can be removed to construct a more effective, succinct delivery.
◦ This can also be used to change the meaning of the speaker to fit the view of the producer.
In fiction film, the technique can be used to indicate simultaneous action or flashbacks, usually
increasing tension or revealing information.
◦ "B roll" also refers to footage provided free of charge to broadcast news organizations as a means
of gaining free publicity. For example, an automobile maker might shoot a video of its assembly
line, hoping that segments will be used in stories about the new model year.
◦ "B roll" sometimes makes its way into stock footage libraries.
TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi

9.  In film, a cutaway is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a
view of something else.[1] It is usually, although not always, followed by a cut back to
the first shot, when the cutaway avoids a jump cut.[2]
 Method: Cutaways do not have to contribute any dramatic content of their own, often
being used to help the editor assemble a longer sequence.[3] For this reason, editors
choose cutaways related to the main action, such as another action or object in the
same location.[4] For example, if the main shot is of a man walking down an alley,
possible cutaways may include a shot of a cat on a nearby dumpster or a shot of a
woman watching from a window overhead.
 In news broadcasting and documentary work, the cutaway is used much as it would
be in fiction. On location, there is usually just one camera to film an interview, and it's
usually trained on the interviewee. Often there is also only one microphone. After the
interview, the interviewer will usually repeat his questions while he himself is being
filmed, with pauses as they act as if to listen to the answers. These shots can be used
as cutaways. Cutaways to the interviewer, called noddies, can also be used to cover
cuts.[8]
 Some television shows utilized cutaways, mostly in comedies. Family Guy frequently
uses them for visual gags and characters sometimes mention the use of the
technique.
TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi

10.  Production jobs
 A newscast director is in charge of show preparation, including
assigning camera and talent (cast) positions on the set, as well as
selecting the camera shots and other elements (recorded and
live).
 The technical director operates the video switcher which controls
and mixes all the elements of the show.
 At smaller stations, the director and technical director are the
same person.
 A graphics person operates a character generator that produces
the name keys (on-screen titles) and full-page graphics.
 The audio technician operates the audio board. The technician is
in charge of the microphones, music, and audio tape.
 Often, production assistants operate the teleprompters and
cameras, and serve as lighting and rigging technicians ("grips").
TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi

11.  Anchors (formerly "anchormen"), serve as masters of ceremonies and are usually
shown facing the camera in a studio while reading unseen teleprompters.
 They are often in pairs (co-anchors) side by side, often alternating their reading.
 Meteorologists describe and forecast weather and show "graphics" (maps, charts,
and pictures). Any of those people can become the most recognizable faces of a
station.
 Reporters research and write the stories and sometimes edit them into a package.
Reporters are usually accompanied by a
 videographer at the scenes of the news.
 The latter holds the camera.
 That person or assistants manage the audio and lighting.
 They are in charge of setting up live shots and might edit, too. The producer might
choose, research, and write stories, as well as deciding the timing and
arrangement of the newscast.
 An associate producer, if any, might specialize in elements of the show such as
graphics.
TV News - Dr Hossein Shahidi