Writing for Visual Media

I have watched my boss make television news packages once a week for almost two years now. With many years behind him, he makes it look so easy. The radio story was relatively easy, but knowing what kind of b-roll you have determines your voiceover. My personal take on making a package is that the reporter's main purpose is to flow the piece together and provide factual information to supplement the appropriate sound bites. So the bites that you take from people are the ones that bring emotion and opinion to the story that the objective journalist cannot. Bites of statistics or the like shouldn't be used unless they are the main focus of the story. Otherwise, the reporter can make reference to them to connect the dots. When it comes to choosing correlating video clips, it's very subjective I think, with the various creative choices available making it more difficult. In terms of my particular story topic, my main challenge is keeping up with the action. The dogs move so fast I have to make an extra effort to catch them on camera in nice tight shots. Definitely good practice. I feel like by the time I graduate, I will be very well-prepared for the broadcast arena.

Writing for Visuals

When reading Chapter 9 about how to actually write a package, I began to feel more comfortable with the video-taping and editing process for our next 1:30-2:00 assignment. This Chapter was INCREDIBLY helpful! I have such a better understanding of how to effectively communicate a story through a combination of two particular methods. On one hand, I've realized it is best to allow the images and sound bites to tell the story itself, while on the other, it is necessary to have a reporter closely narrate a piece in order to bring the viewers understanding and insight. A combination of these two methods can also be extremely powerful and really bring the viewers into the story.

I feel the most important information I took away from this particular article is that, in order to save myself a lot of time, chaos and indecisiveness, it's essential to storyboard the piece even before actually going out to do interviews. One of the key elements in this storyboard is the focus and how the different soundbites and images used (especially the closing shot) can sustain that focus. In doing this though, it is necessary to keep in mind the ethics of good, true journalism, and not simply feed the source lines to say because it would support our story. Overall, this concept of storyboarding is something I am definitely going to put into practice.

Now that I've read these articles -particularly Chapter 9- and have learned more about the style of shooting video tape, I almost want to go out and re-shoot my whole story! I actually really like the footage I have so far, but I do want to go out again to collect better video tape, now that I have a better understanding of how to structure a TV package. I think this last part of our individual projects will be challenging, but a great learning experience. I'm definitely looking forward to our group projects because of the learning experiences I've had thus far.

writing for visual media

By far, the most helpful of those three readings was the one about writing the package. I felt that, for the most part, much of the information in the video editing section was already discussed in class on Tuesday. I have never written a timeline like the one that I now know is common in broadcast journalism. I tried once in 2100, but found it to be more of a waste of time for the project than a help to me.

This article gave me a deeper understanding of the proper formation of a television news report. When it talked about planning a story, then having to go back again and reformat your plan after you have shot your story is something I can take to heart. Somehow, things never really go the way I plan them. I think it is a good idea to prep yourself for what you want to shoot (you cant shoot something for a story without really understanding what your angle is).

One thing that concerns me for the upcoming 2 minute video project is the fact that I will be doing both the camera work and the interviews. When I do my entrance and exit to the piece, I don’t know exactly how I will get myself properly in the frame with no one to tell me if I’m off. This wont be a problem as much on the group project, but I am concerned about this for the first try.

Blogging in my underpants

It seems to me, having read some of the posts as well as the articles, that video journalism involves a see-saw. Yup. That's right. Like on the playground when we were kids and the woodchips would get all displaced because of the mass displacement that thousands of stupid little feet caused and acually make the see-saw more ineffeffective thanif it were on some sort of rubber base or even concrete. Run on!

Anyway, this see-saw is more of a metaphorical one...I can't stand those damn woodchips. Video journalism invovles a see-saw of balance of premeditation when going to report a story. On one end is total premeditation. On the other is no premeditation. In the middle is the fulcrum...I don't know what that would be called in this metaphor. These two modes need to be balanced perfectly to get the best story. If a reporter goes in with no premeditation about where the story is going to go and just hopes that the story comes to them, then they will get nowhere, and have a lot of fun editing 5 interviews with kids about how they most liked the clown that rode the elephant and jumped over the lava pit.

On the contrary, if one goes in with an unwavering idea of what they want and are not flexible at all, then they will not be good interviewers, and they will not get what they want. After a few interviews of getting more kids enjoying clowns doing jumping jacks with bowling pins getting thrown at them, the premeditated journalist gets frustrated. The questions become "Did you think that the TIGER WAS NEAT?! HMMMM??!!!" and other yes and no questions that do not lead to sound bites (which I have definitely been guilty of in the past, to a lesser extent), simply to get people to say what they want them to say.

When one enjoys the see saw the most is when it is going up and down smoothly and both are working with each other (well aside from when one kid falls off, but again, I have no clue where that fits in this oh so simple metaphor). A video journalist needs to do both to succeed, get the best story, and occasionally, enjoy the circus.

Walking the Line

Focus, focus, focus-BUT don't focus so much that you form preconceived notions of what the story is. I feel like I'm walking the line. With a print story, I could have an idea, but change it halfway through the interview-no harm done. Visual is different. Like the readings reiterated-you need a focus. You don't want your story to be so broad that it spreads itself too thin (anyone remember that "jack of all trades, master of none"-you don't want this to be your story). However, at the same time, you don't want to go in so determined to find the story your looking for that you misinterpret what is truly happening. Take for instance, my project. I went in to the school cafeteria with my camera expecting to take pictures of fryers, but they weren't there. It took me a little while to shake off my initial focus of the story and find a new one.

The technical issues addressed in the readings were helpful, but nothing is better than trial and error. Someone can tell you how to do something-those guidelines do help (especially with the preplanning process)-but nothing is better than physically having to do it yourself.

I agree with what Meghan said. In print, you should know what your story's focus is before going into the field, but if you're still playing around with ideas, you can narrow the frame of the story once you get back to the newsroom. Video is so different - if you just show up with a camera, it's likely you won't get the shots you need to make the story as compelling as possible. I know I ran into this problem my first time out, and I'm pre-planning from now on.

Of all the readings, I found "Writing the Package" most helpful. The blueprint helped "click" into place what we're working towards. I also have a better understanding now of what goes into a package versus what goes into a simple story. We just visited KOMU with J2100H, and it definitely makes more sense now why the anchors' lead-ins would essentially be the report. At the time, it didn't seem like the best way to tell the story, but thinking back, there wasn't anything a reporter's narrative could have added to the story.

Television Tunnelvision

One recurring theme in all of the readings we were assigned was "focus". The idea is simple enough: without a specific, narrow focus, your story can quickly become a jumble of ideas, quotes, and video clips. No focus, no impact.

But like many things in journalism, there is a fine line that we must try to walk. How much focus is too much? If we go into a story with a extremely narrow, preconceived notion of what the story is and what is the best way to shoot it, you might miss some very important details and opportunities.

There's no question, though, that having a plan for each story is important. Trying to gather all the pieces of the puzzle and throwing them together before a deadline is almost impossible in visual journalism. We should focus on our focus, but not ignore the possibility that a story might not go as we envision it will.

This can be challenging at times, but no one said convergence journalism was easy. That might have something to do with why convergence journalists are in such high demand.