broadcast journalism. Upward Bound, Boulder, CO
week 2.
Day 3: Filming Interviews! Editing!
Tuesday June 24, 2014
Content
First hour:
Basic introduction to Premiere with Paul Daugherty.
We'll learn about:
Opening a new project.
Importing clips.
Working on the sequence.
Cutting and mixing clips.
Adding and adjusting audio.
And add in some basic principles:
Clips should be at least three seconds in length.
Begin and end on a still frame.
Saving. Playing back.
Second hour (to hour-and-a-half):
Go outside for…Interviews!
For your newscast, who will you interview? Why?
What do you want to learn from the person?
How does she/he contribute to your story/newscast?
Do you have an alternate?
You need to prepare for your interview:
DO YOUR RESEARCH!
Learn as much as you can about the person, their expertise.
Devise open-ended questions - avoid Yes/No questions ("closed questions").
Build in flexibility – you need to get the answers you want!
Do a pre-interview, over the phone or via email, if possible.
Choose an appropriate venue.
Make your interviewee comfortable. (Chit-chat while setting up.)
Be respectful (even if you’re interviewing a convicted, confessed murderer!) and be culturally sensitive.
NO SURPRISES! You aren't trying to catch them in the act, and you want them to feel comfortable formulating their answers.
PRACTICE!
Break into four groups and take turns interviewing one another, using as many of the skills we discussed as possible.
Use your camera skills! Here's the link to the instructions.
Final part of class:
Return to the Edit Bay, where we’ll upload the interviews together and practice our new skills with Adobe Premiere - this time using our own footage! Here's a link to the full instructions, thanks to Paul D.!
Homework:
EXTRA CREDIT: Watch another newscast or short documentary, and write up a short reaction to it like we did for homework on the first day of class.
Enjoy the Frank Waln concert!
Day 4: Broadcast Scripts!
Thursday June 26, 2014
Content
Watch the following two short documentaries, and comment on them:
Style: more concise, shorter than print news.
Uses active verbs. Very easy to read, and easy to follow.
Certain cadence used by typical newscasters. You all probably know it!
Text to read: typed in uppercase (easier to read).
Use columns: descriptions on the left, script on the right.
Broadcast scripts have weird abbreviations:
TAKE PKG = begin the newscast
(followed by abbreviated outline of the newscast (see: Community Food Share Intro)
TAG = “pass back”
SOT = sound on tape
Cg = computer graphics
Soundbite = piece of an interview
Nat sound = background noise or music
Track = broadcaster/narrator reads
Outcue = final words before end of broadcast
B-roll = background shots
Time stamps: what do they mean?
Leave at least 20 seconds of B-roll at the end of your tape. Why?
READ ALONG!
We’ll read the scripts from the following newscasts:
Here is a link to the scripts online.
Note how long the scripts are, in relation to the length of the newscast.
What do you think of this format?
Do you enjoy this type of news presentation?
What do you think about the innovators we’ve seen during other classes, news presentations that break the mold?
PRACTICE!
Read one of the following print news article online:
Fewer parents paying for college
Create a broadcast script from the news article.
We'll review and discuss together.
Homework
1. Write down five examples of ACTIVE vs. PASSIVE phrasing.
2. Find two short articles (you can use local news - Boulder Weekly, Daily Camera, Denver Post, etc. - national, or international).
Write a broadcast script for each, using the techniques we learned. NOTE: It might be easier to write on lined paper than to type, in order to maintain the proper formatting! It can be tricky to keep your left and right columns aligned.
