Presenting points
A good improvement on last year well done.
HEADS: Lively heads, good pics, good to go out and talk to people.
IN STUDIO: Keep it simple – questions, be more at ease.
Prepare yourself and enjoy the conversation more, what is beneficial to the news viewers? Put yourself in the victim’s shoes what would help you. Give them something tangible, justify public interest for showing this news story, say professor not first names, flatter the guests etc, have more control you are the journalist
Brooke: Put source on facts and graphics – credibility. V good for victim interview with Brooke, handled well and flow of piece
Production: Allow time to sort angle, inform guests more
Harvester: great public interest story, well to get mother, great intro, really professional in heads, some shots weren’t great but interview was filmed well, slow down in the PTC
Fire: Some info interested in not in the final cut, why not put protest at the beginning natsot etc? Believe in your shots and your story. Needed more interviews in piece, more facts, go to film with a plan of what people are going to say
Think about putting things into perspective, be honest about where you found your story and find the fresh aspect. See how you can make it news or in some form of exclusivity
Put yourself in the shoes of the viewer for what should be in your edit, filter what is important and what is not
If you’ve got something new to shout about – do it, don’t recycle news, find the new angles
Keep in contact with your sources
Remember your motivation for wanting to be a journalist. If you feel like giving up remember this, keep in your mind the motivation
Water meters: needed a range of answers with a range of interviewees, minor inconvenience doesn’t constitute place in bulletin – need to go for the money, southern water profits have gone down
Consumer choice as a factor
Highlight fact and emotion – what is most important?
Heart package – well voiced, good story, say Italy fact make it useful
OOV: museums, choice of pics looked like a selection of postcards felt so weird, show the museum, does this mean costs are up? Vox pops?
Good stories, good narrative something always at stake.
Always have the end result in mind – think of the viewers and self evaluate
Think about what you have in common with the interviewee
IAN:
Original stories, original interviews. Thinking about playing to strengths when you’ve got original stuff. Strongest SOT was Harvester mum and dad in heart package
Good mix, good grip of stories, balances of stories and depth – think about the whole picture ie the sport section.
Strategies of in studio chat getting in and out was good practice for production
Grammar of sequencing great but still need a variety of pics, not enough shots
Very good presenting for the first time and coped with interview well – relaxed into it by the end
Loved the walking football but needed more from the people involved – pensioners not the people advertising it. Sport overall was very good
Website: last week 445 unique IPs 4334 page views, this week 512 IPs 4415 views.
The figures are always increasing – going in the right direction, just need to boost it now.
Pimp my room got quite a lot of views. Social media did really well this week – best we’ve had so far.
Website pretty well organised – but a bad idea to have slider on top, gets in way of news and looks a bit messy. Good quality of pictures; depth of field, layers in post production, typography is right differentiate between san serif and serif, default is not what we want, it tells you something, don’t decorate communicate, a professional standard. We used the WinchXtra photo as a template for continuity in the other graphics – this is for house style. There needs to be a much clearer idea right through to the title. WINOL has now set a visual standard and we cannot dip below this.
Football cancellations graphic was very strong last year – we need to develop this.
Features – must be done on infinity now, masking etc. People’s faces are the most interesting thing to humans; emotion is in the eyes. Main job is to tell a story. Visually led in features with video and still.
Food needs to be presenter led but visually very good.
No social media in sport – local fans should come to WINOL for their updates league positions etc, we should be the first place to go
Bulletin: Great to get on the day, shows value of contacts, Tom quick turnaround, archive, arrest charge then sentence
Bracken: Bit wordy but news peg keeping it fresh with now, good partial quote. Detail is the enemy. Legal danger of privacy with GVs but dealt with well, cutaways could be more inventive, bureaucrat rooms echo, good grabs heads, quote goldmine
Lauren: No panning GV, too much expo, your voice should be facts, quotes in their voice
Hattie: No I spoke to, sound mix wrong, framing wrong sound bad but good grabs to have, not much point to Sean Woodward interview provided fact not quote, fighting focus in front of window
Lloyds: Camera wrong on in studio, good content
Flood: Walking PTC – stop at point then deliver killer line, stopped too soon
Work on pronunciation Brooke, needs a throw forward at the end
Stephen: Dull pic Stoneham park to start, it’s a nightmare quote here, cut walk out shot quicker, pull focus
Expo talk over: Cutaways. Sequence. Graphics. Pull focus
Sport: stand up?
Swell music in gallery over end sign off – production need to do this this week
Good work – keep aiming for the big names and do more gonzo
Good improvement well done.
Busting at the seams with stories there is almost too much going on – volume of stuff is very good. Quality of stories pretty good too.
Remember that the time should not be filled in, the time should be quality; every second should hold the attention of the viewer.
Not a story there to spike in the bulletin – none that Angus wouldn’t run.
Tate looks comfortable in studio but needs to find light and shade in the script i.e distinguish between puppy farm murders and an and finally story. Balance is needed in the heads, work on writing in terms of length of each head. Teasing is the only reason for heads to make people watch the show. Jacqueline head is too wordy.
Puppy farm: dispute over whether this is breaking news, is a court case ever really breaking? Tom turned around old pics and freshened it up. Kept going for phone call – most emotive stuff. Visually and orally really strong piece. Well rounded. Shows what we can do, can have a quick turnaround. Good use of archive. More credibility and beef in a package than a newsroom OB, worked better. Explain a bit more before going straight into the phone call? Tate needed more help on the link. Inflammatory language not comment in script – dramatising what it is, no legal trouble, just not formulaic police piece
Immigration street: voice is excellent, think about language ie committees, fantastic grab, safety is most important thing, maybe expo in package because it could look like nobody lives on street?
CUTS: device where two stories are similar x will tell us this story in a moment but first x tells us this.
Lauren: nice PTC, well told, punch, well rounded good interviews, two PTCs? GV pan cutaway is a no – cover with frontline services. Dry stories unless you get people
Hattie: marantz didn’t work, DSLR camera sound not good enough, tighten shot shove gun mic in face, looks like same shot be sure to have a variety, play it back and if bad do it again, never say I spoke to
Lloyds bank: where’s the local angle? Winchester high street. What’s the local angle? Very wooly. Repetition at start. Don’t need to be with autocue the whole time
Flood: nice link. Put a date on archive not WINOL archive, standard phone interview template, well rounded package, singy voice, mention name and see face
Dangerous drivers: didn’t understand the figures, bit more expo in terms of graphics, overlay pics for interview have the sound underlaying don’t mute, bit like a public information film
Link to housing was too short. Read to graphic don’t just use them to fill space
OOV: Chris Huhne cut too long, naked rambler fine good sensor
When directing say out words when VT has rolled – team can react accordingly, not just reliant on the countdown
Skateboarders: bit too short link, good PTC should have been some voiceover, update it – english heritage story etc. Don’t end with a grab then SOQ – lazy end
Drew: be a bit happier. It’s football. Zoom in on aggro at Totton, needs to be shot tighter, script was good not saying what you see, big up two players being sent off. Tough mudder – all pictures are brilliant – visually outstanding, so engaging, really well explained, make it bigger in world, BANG, great grabs. Goal of the month – liked it, commentary not so much, like tease of it, driving viewers to go to other website, really good idea. Vote or celeb
Jacqueline Wilson – just a grab, good, heads, sell her as much as possible
Features package needs to be a bit more sexier, pace needs to be snappier, sell it! Throw tricks and toys at it. Got to have your best pics and grabs. Pump some music into it
John Denham undersold?? Running order potentially wrong we own immigration street, news belt pushed higher changes pace of bulletin
Bracken’s PTC good and told something interesting
Councillor Caroline Dibden interview nigh on perfect, framing, sound, depth of field, tight
Get someone else to voice statements
Go pro skateboard – do it yourself
Sound on Jacqueline Wilson isn’t quite right
Brooke good craft – lack of pictures this is how you do it
Text stories – PEOPLE
In the HEADS
My opening shot grabs the attention of the viewer and there is rich NATSOT. I am very happy with my choice – on location I thought about the best possible opening shot for a package about money. If in doubt, keep the camera rolling and film everything.
This week was my first attempt at filming a walkie talkie PTC and I found it much easier than a static PTC. I felt that my voice was quite confident and the presentation was clear. I agonised over my scripting to check grammar. I need to work on more punch to my news voice and watch BBC PTCs to check style and not have a slightly awkward splint arm.
I really liked the structure of my package in the end after playing around all Tuesday to decide on the VT only to change it all on Wednesday morning. There was a good use of archive footage with a minor style point that we will change on all packages on WINOL from now on – just put the date and not ‘WINOL archive’.
Tony Higham gave a great grab as he usually does although it was unfortunate to have him as a phone interview. I would not have included him if he hadn’t have provided a good quote. There is a new plan in place to have a standard graphic for phone interviews so they all look the same.
I used close, tight shots to build a sequence for the shopkeeper although it would have been better to show his face when introducing him. For Martin, there was a good range of cutaways and a variety of shots from the location to choose from.
Shots to cover Caroline were limited, with an outside interview you need to weigh up the pros and cons. It was a tightly framed, good depth of field and nigh on perfect eyeline interview. She had a good camera presence and a good enough grab in one edit so felt it best to leave her on screen rather than cover her with essentially pointless cutaways.
Sound throughout my package and PTC was good and I mixed it well – I feel like it was one of the best sound edits I have done.
For the pilot show, WinchXtra has a lot of potential and can only improve with more episodes.
I feel particularly pleased with my choice of running order this week. Unfortunately at news conference I felt that some ideas were lacking but I got the stories in that I wanted to be in the bulletin. Six out of eight stories produced this week were carried through from the news conference stage – which I think is fantastic. Graphics were extremely strong this week – a few style points but it’s very promising for the future.
HOMEBASE: good on the day news story thrown into action, edited quickly, could have changed position of Tate but we have not done this type of as live before, PTC was confident but could have slowed down presentation slightly.
STANMORE STUDENTS: good opening shot, good use of summarising a statement in PTC, confident presentation of script, needed more students in the piece, good quotes from councillor and petition leader, good use of nod to cover edit, lighting on petition leader not right, SEQUENCES, try and record the whole voiceover as one because you can hear the difference
DANGEROUS DOGS: good use of NATSOT and opening shot – Brooke delivered what I asked for. Strong PTC and presentation, good graphics, good case study with good quotes, lighting needs work on case study, kitchen interview is questionable in terms of sound, good phone interview
TECH HUB: great opening shot exactly what was needed, made a dull story interesting, good camera work but maybe shoot a bit tighter on the second interview, slight lack of pictures when editing, good scripting, captions on their footage potentially distracting?
STORM: PTC would have been nice in this but still works, good shots, some more variety ie close ups perhaps, always try and use a tripod if possible, use of met office graphic was good and well explained, presentation and script was well done. Well done on trying to get the Skype OB from Southampton Airport even if it failed
DRUGS: good use of drop intro and us of archive footage, camera work in play could have been better but the context made it okay, good interviews, good scripting, edit was slick
OOV BELT: good content and great camera work but were cut too short, needed more room to digest
SPORT: sport was a great improvement it did not feel as if it was over five mins, it was edited well and snappy, voices have improved still work to be done but getting there, camera work was good, not bad presentation of Sportsweek for the first go, Ross’ PTC was confident and well presented but was a shame about the lighting, good quotes from the interviews though
WINCHESTER MODEL: good work from HATTIE off of beat, voice is too fast but script isn’t bad, lovely DSLR filming but needs to be on a tripod for this story, good quotes from interviewee and shot well, I extended a deadline to re-film some shots of the model
FEATURES BACKANO: pretty much perfect, short snappy edit, good sound mix, good to self- promote especially when it’s this good
TEXT STORIES trickled through continuously throughout Wednesday and all were completed and subbed before the bulletin went out
The key theme this week was communication between news, production and Tate. It was a success and a necessary combination.
With the BJTC and Chris Coneybeer as guests in this week I wanted the bulletin to run smoothly and to to show off what we do here at WINOL because after all we are a course to be proud of.
News Conference
Be aware of the news always, by the time I had got to the newsroom I had already watched BBC Breakfast and the local news, listened to the Today programme and read several papers.
Must come with 2/3 story ideas – need back up plans. Journalism is about finding solutions to problems so don’t give up re route. The conference should be disciplined – editors should ask for your top line, your interviewee’s and your shots. Remember we are producing for TV – pictures are incredibly important. For dull stories, case studies are particularly important they will provide your pictures. All reporters should be fighting for a headline spot, this is your goal and should be specifically focussed on every week from now on. Think about these shots on location, just take some time. A good reporter should know exactly what they aim to achieve/ what the end package will look like – it is not a guessing game. Know what you want on your timeline and go get it *opening shot* The shots I said reporters must have they achieved, it just takes some thought. Take pride in your work, it’s your responsibility right through to it’s output in the gallery. You own it.
Gather a production team on Monday – be prepared. I arranged a practice session on the Tuesday with last week’s script and packages on the archive. Suggest this as possible rehearsal every week. We must go out on time, every time. Industry has technical problems but they push on through. Key to this is pushing for early deads and putting the pressure on reporters. Production was incredibly smooth this week – a triumph as first week out on time. Mimi as director was strong; she had confident communication and total control in the gallery despite the numbers observing. We did not re-record any links and there was one minor black hole issue but there was no rush to edit it all together to put onto the site.
When you have a story, brainstorm either mentally or jot down all possible angles for the story and all possible interviewee’s. Constantly bash the phone; emails don’t work. If a story falls through – this is common and can’t be helped – don’t leave pursue something else. You are a reporter. The news editor is there to help you but don’t rely on them to chase stories for you that is not their job – you bash the phones. Editors tell you what they want in their bulletin and may draw your attention to certain stories but you need to produce them and chase them. Scripting of PTCs and packages is for you to do – editors can guide you but remember it is your work.
Ask the questions while you can – be clear of what you’re doing. It’s much better to ask than to go out and do it wrong.
Make sure you stick to the deadlines – they are there for a reason and you will be spiked if not met. Everything needs to go through the News Editor. Don’t sit there, use your initiative if it needs checking and its finished let the editor know.
Links were all in on the Tuesday evening – which was a precedent set by me – so that Tate had plenty of time to work on the script and had rehearsal time too. We should try and do this every week. They take two minutes to write as you should know your story inside out.
We discussed potential legal problems and scripting issues to produce a very credible bulletin this week. I was very pleased overall.
Really excellent, enjoyed it. Interesting kept attention all the way through
Impressed with the new studio and titles very nice
Confident presentation from Tate
Out on air, time is important
Tech hub headline needs more expo to make it slightly more attractive. Football expression is this right? UPSOT is good. The Homebase story was handled well as top story – sound could have trailed better at the beginning. Get rid of but in link, doesn’t quite make sense
Potentially should have changed the framing on as live presenter – a point to make clear to distinguish
Dogs – good actuality, great ptc, case study strong interview, echo sound on interviewee. Nice shots, extremely good graphics, good piece, balanced
Students – reconstruction tag perhaps, alliteration of ‘clumsy clubbers’ good, estate GVs could have added something, see the students hear their view. Reframing in cut of petition lady worked well, interior light issue here – table lamp to bring in?
Tech hub – made a potentially dull story really interesting, excellent, subtitles distracting on their footage maybe a re crop, cost would have been nice to mention ie attract graduates and things
Storm – wind noise good to hear normally an issue to fight but it was useful here, nice pictures
Drugs – library footage good, strong interviews and play actuality
OOVs – tight clips, bit too short, let it breathe a couple seconds more
Sport – touch overexposed in studio. Football good got the action and tackles, second camera behind goal. Woman ref good lighting, man badly lit. Graphics in sport loved it – cheeky chip nice scripting
Winch model – good story, use of dissolves and moving camera normally a no but good purpose here, need to use a tripod here
Features – very enjoyable, time and effort gone into it has done well, GoT frame out
Good mix of stories liked the menu, reacted to breaking news – do more of that. Sequences, help to tell the story
Ross was great, whistle graphic fantastic
Need to find the variety of stories
megrosefisher 