These notes will be a merge of the two editors we had in today.
Today’s bulletin had a good mix of stories, which covered all areas to reach out to the largest audience possible. The fact we managed to use the regional point of view of the shipyard and put a local angle to it is really good.
Each week, we must find the time to have a run through of almost the whole bulletin. This would significantly improve the professional look of WINOL and overall finish. Another note to help with production would be to extend the headlines at the end and also the same with the coming up segment just to avoid black holes when switching between VTs and studio. The coming up contained a good selection of pictures, it just needed to be lengthened that little bit.
As reporters, we must always remember to never assume anything – explain everything no matter how trivial it may seem.
HARVEY OB: Harvey had a good quality first story, he had confident delivery and it worked well. The only component that was lacking of some sort was a David Cameron piece dropped in to link it in nationally and look more professional.
ROWENNA DAVIS interview trail: The content of this was extremely good but we could have used a clip/explanation of Ed Miliband’s stance that Rowenna discussed because our audience may not have followed the story. Again, Nadine gets brilliant political access for WINOL. The only issues were that the colour scheme of the interview made it a bit dated and showbiz so viewers were not sure what to expect from the candidate, also the mic position is vital in an interview. Rowenna’s looked odd, even though the sound captured was pretty much perfect. Will thought that this story shouldn’t have been so high up in the bulletin for the audience we have.
SCRAP METAL story: Liam’s package contained every TV trick Angus could think of, he branded it as the template of how to do it. He had pictures galore, the most vital element of TV news, three sequences in one package and good use of NATSOT – letting it breathe. Everything that Ian described in last week’s master class was in Liam’s report. To be picky, Angus said that the use of a couple of stills as a cut away could have been animated but this was a minor editorial point.
DEAD DOGS story: This was a follow up story – these are good for two main reasons: you already have a built up list of contacts and you fully understand the story so can only do your best work with this. Having said that, Ellen had very good explanation throughout the entire report and consistently delivered as always.
20 mph story: Ben really thought about what pictures he wanted and the end product of his package – he planned it. He used a go pro and had a mix of interviews and a range of shots – innovative with this report. Ben shows us how to use a different angle to suit the story, always search for the news angle. We could have seen more pedestrians and a wider variety of GVs and cutaways to look like busy roads.
OOV: Calum got good access in getting the Deputy Vice Chancellor to talk. There was one editorial point to make in that like the headlines, the OOV needed some extra footage with the sound turned down to make cutting back to the studio easier and less jolty.
RADAR story: There were a few issues with the interviewee’s framing; to begin with it was pretty centralised but for Sam’s first news package everything else was almost perfect.
SPORT: We need to start producing a news angle to introduce to the sport, rather than just match reports. On the Basingstoke game, there was a slight issue with colour balance as under the floodlights images can look slightly blue. The link in the script for Winchester City needed work it needs that angle. In a sports interview, we as viewers want to see the interviewee first and be careful of framing PTCs.
HEDGEHOG story: The first 15 seconds were the best explanation Angus had seen in his journalism teaching career, he ‘totally got it’; the whole story was given in this small time. A few pointers for Lucy’s piece, apart from being technically great, she could have been more involved with the hedgehog during her PTC and had some more personality.
For production and the ease of future presenters, we will aim to get talkback working in the near future. Angus thought my directing was good but for him he would have liked it more authoritative and to keep the gallery updated more frequently – pretty much non stop.
You don’t want to spoon feed your audience but you must get the right balance for explaining.
Be careful not to repeat in the cue and the package, they need to link but not be the same.
megrosefisher 