Problem is, many of you have never been taught how to properly put together a story; you don't know what really needs to go into a good package. Many college instructors have never worked a day in the business; the result is a lot of rookies who are putting stories together based on theory rather than real world experience. Sure, your package has all the basics, but you're not done.
Think of it as eating an elaborate meal in a nice restaurant. The people in that industry call it "presentation"... those little things that make a basic meal special. You can go to a cheap restaurant, order a steak and baked potato, and that's what you'll get. A steak slapped on a plate with a baked potato wrapped in foil on the side. Nothing else.
The restaurants known for presentation do it differently. They might deliver your meal while the steak is still sizzling on the plate. It might have a garnish of parsley, or a few scallions off to the side. Maybe a dollop of horseradish. The potato has been sliced open, "fluffed out", and loaded with butter, sour cream, bacon bits, and shredded cheese. There might be a few tiny carrots on the plate to give it a bit of color. Maybe there will be a basket of steaming hot bread as well. The meal looks like a high-def television commercial that makes you hungry.
And that's what so many packages lack these days: presentation and color.
Here are some of the most common elements of "colorless" packages:
-Single source sound bites: We've discussed this before, but this means interviewing one person, and one person only, and then chopping the interview up into several bites. A ND looks at this and thinks, "So, six billion people in the world and this reporter only talked to one of them." Remember that "two sides to every story" thing you (hopefully) learned about in college? Well, if you only talk to one person, you're... wait for it... only getting only one side of the story!
-The b-roll repeat: Nothing annoys me more than seeing a package with lots of video possibilities and seeing the same b-roll more than once. If you have limited b-roll, at least get wide, medium and tight shots so you can mix things up. If you run out of b-roll because it is very limited (a perp walk, defendant walking out of courtroom) then use that wonderful non-linear function called slow motion. Or throw in a graphic.
-The lame close: The reporter who can't think of anything to wrap up a story often just throws together a basic sig-out that falls right out of a sound bite. Would it kill you to write one sentence and tie the package together before saying your name and location?
-The official-could-not-be-reached-for-comment line: Can't find the other side of the story? Don't tell me, show me. I want to see you dialing the phone, knocking on the door, asking the secretary if you can get an interview.
-The missing graphic: A story with too many numbers and no graphic doesn't make sense to the viewer. Graphics are one of those great elements a ND looks for to make confusing stories understandable.
-No standup: Unless you're covering a funeral, every package needs a standup.
-The dreaded meeting video: Yep, we've all been stuck covering meetings, and if your package has nothing but meeting video, you were too lazy to get the agenda before the meeting, find out the topic, and get 90 percent of your story shot before the meeting. For example, if there's a meeting to determine the location of a sewage plant, go to the neighborhood, show the location, and, what a concept, talk to the people who live there. Meeting video should be kept to a minimum.
-The dreaded official sound bite: Apparently no real people live in some neighborhoods, as some reporters only talk to officials. Again, McFly, that's one side of the story.
-Earthquake video: As a News Director you might think the United States is plagued by constant earthquakes in all fifty states. You have a tripod for a reason. Use it.
-Mood lighting: You wanna have dinner by candlelight, fine. I don't need to see a news package that looks like late night on Cinemax. You have a light kit for a reason. Use it.
-Shotgun interview audio: Ah, the lovely sound of someone being interviewed in a barrel. Shotgun mikes are for natural sound, not interviews.
-No nat sound: One of the biggest mistakes. Sound can add so very much to a story. Next time you're watching the network, turn away and just listen. You'll be amazed at how much sound means to a package.
I realize that many of you are time crunched these days, but this is basic stuff. If you want to grab a News Director's attention, show that you care about the basics, but take the time to make presentation a key element in your stories.
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