Your standup is your signature

I haven't seen this too many times in my life, but I saw it again a couple of weeks ago.

Reporter package. Nothing special about the piece, and no standup bridge. So you assume a standup close is coming. (The crutch of the creatively challenged.) Then the standup close arrives, and goes like this:

"John Doe, name of town."

Seriously? Could a reporter possibly put less effort into a standup?

I saw this for the first time several years ago. We'd hired a new reporter and one person on the staff had already worked with him. The guy was supposedly a solid reporter, really creative.

And then, right out of the gate, we got the three word standup close.

The value of standups has been long debated. The journalism purists, the ones with the big letter "J" tattooed on their foreheads, often take some high and mighty position that a standup is a self-serving tactic that adds no value to a story. They'll even get all flustered about walking standups, getting on a soapbox and ranting about the fact that the reporter has no good reason to be walking.

You wanna believe that, fine. Enjoy your life at the bottom of the ladder.

The main reason for a standup, journalistically speaking, is to put the reporter on the scene. To show the viewer that the reporter was actually there and is bringing an up close and personal view that you can only get by being on the scene.

The main reason for a standup, when it comes to your career, is to brand that story with your signature. It's your chance to shine, to show your creativity, to tie a story together. A great standup can take a package to the next level. There's a reason resume tapes start with a standup montage.

If you can't do a decent standup, you won't go very far in this business.

So put some effort into your standups. Your first preference is a standup bridge. A standup close is okay but shows you can't think in the field. A standup open is never a good idea, as the meaning can be changed if the director punches you up late.

And don't be afraid to walk and talk. Movement adds, well, movement to the piece.

And we are, after all, shooting video, not still pictures.