Deliver the Package!

Storytelling is an ancient practice. It is probably one of the first ways humans developed socially, sharing knowledge with emotion and perspective. It is also one of the basic tenets of a newscast. The self-contained story (one that doesn't need any explanation or setting up before you see it) is called a "package" in the news business. I want to share with you a little about how a package is put together.

First of all, remember that news is about PEOPLE, not things. If you have a story about a new 10K road race that will be happening in Atlanta in the fall, tell me about it through the eyes and experience of a young man who was told he could never walk and is now training for this race. If you want to do a story on the potential loss of accreditation by the Atlanta Public Schools, have a student tell the story of how his family came to Atlanta to get a better education than he would've gotten in the third-world country he came from and how this would be devastating to him. Do you see how this works?

Once you come up with your idea, there are a few questions that you should ask yourself before you dive headlong into production. First, is there a PERSON I know that I could tell the story through; someone who is involved in this story or who has an investment in the outcome? If the answer is "yes" then start interviewing! If the answer is IDK, then see if you can find such a person. If you're doing the road race story, call the organizers of the road race or a related organization such as the Atlanta Track Club. Organizations are GREAT resources to find people involved in the story that you want to do. They are more than willing to help because they want publicity for their "cause". Just about EVERY story you do will have a related organization that could help you, you just have to take the time to do research and don't be afraid to call these people.

Second question: can you tell both sides of the story? Every story has two sides. In the case of the road race you have the determined runner who has beaten all odds and then, perhaps you have the doctor's who said that he's never walk and they are blown away by his progress, or you have, maybe, the young man's mom who is supportive, but feels like he's bitten off more than he can chew.

Then, ask yourself, what are my visuals? What elements do I need to shoot aside from the basic interviews? Can I shoot the race itself? What about the race route as it's being marked off? What about b-roll of the race organization office as they process applications? Volunteers? The young man at home, putting on shoes to go out for a conditioning run? Him playing with his dog? (unrelated to the race, but good cover footage to show his regular life) Low angle shot of his tennis shoes as they pound the pavement past the camera? What about pictures of him as a boy and his injury? Crowds cheering the runners? ETC. Hopefully, you get the idea. Shoot more than you need. Did you hear me???? SHOOT MORE THAN YOU NEED.

Fourth question....do I have NAT SOUND that I can get related to my story? In this case, YES! Why not mic the young man as he's running and get him slightly out of breath as he works out? Sounds of his shoes hitting the pavement, crowd noises during the race, etc.

Fifth question....can I visualize how I want to open this story, develop it, incorporate the race organizers, how I want to lead the viewer along in my story (in other words, do I hold information about the young man's challenges until later in the story when the viewers have gotten to know him and then surprise the viewers with this?) Or maybe I want to introduce the race first and then say that there is a very special participant this year.

Sixth question...who are my "experts" that I will interview to give my story credibility? Race organizers, orthopedic doctors, occupational therapists, etc. You must have these to give your story credibility. If your entire story is all about opinion...you haven't produced a package, you've produced an opinion poll. There is very little substance to this. You haven't taught me anything new or showed me something that I didn't know already.

Next, do I have statistics, facts, history or other information on the story? How many races are in the Atlanta area? Why is this one new and what do race organizers hope to make this one different from all the others? How many people in Atlanta are members of the Atlanta Track Club OR what is the estimate of Atlantans who are serious runners? What is the prognosis of walking, let alone RUNNING, for someone who has an injury like your guy? Can you take me through the part of his life when he didn't think he'd ever be able to walk? What has he gone through in the last few years to get where he is now. (for this one, don't just tell me, show me.) See what I'm getting at? Your news packages are little research projects - you have to do your homework.

Finally, what happens now? What is the future for the news issue? In your case, what is the future for the young man? Can you show me that he's developed a relationship with the race organizers and now, maybe, he's been asked by them to be one of the race spokesmen? What is his next goal? What does his mom and his doctor's think now?

See...simple. (yeah, right!) But really it is. You're just telling us a story....an amazing story, but a story nonetheless. You just have to do a lot of legwork before you're finished. I bet your runner did a lot of legwork to get where he is today, right? Bad joke. Sorry.

Develop your story here: tell me the answers to all of these questions I've posed to you and show me in your comment that you've thought about how your pkg will be developed. This may take a little thought. You may want to write down your blog response on paper before you write it here so you are thorough. Tell me about this amazing project you're working on and tell me how it's going to blow everything else away on Eagle TV by telling me how you've thought about all these questions. Tell me your story!

Because we are starting on story creating this week, I'm re-posting a blog from September of last year. It's still timely and informative and gives you a pretty good idea about how to come up with story ideas and how to pose them to me, including the research you'll need to put in your package.

Story ideas. Where do we get them? How do we convince others that we have a good story worth doing? How do we keep our audience interested in the story we are telling?

It all starts with a good story idea that is well-written, has a distinct angle, good characters, relevant to our audience, compelling visuals, well-researched and newsworthy.

The reason we turn in story ideas is because I want you to begin to think in terms of a reporter, producer or photographer about what makes a story worthy of your time and research. I also want you to become better writers and researchers as well as being a good journalist. You have to be able to incorporate numerous pieces of data yet filter out the irrelevant information to focus your stories. That's hard. So, let me tell you what I'll look for when I grade story ideas.

Start out by looking around for something that's interesting to you. Look at local news in papers, newscasts, magazines and radio. Look at bulletin boards, newsletters or subjects that you and your peers are talking about. As your parents what's going on or look on the internet news websites.

If it is a national story, you must localize it, or determine an angle that's relevant to your audience. Your audience would be teenagers in the metro Atlanta area as well as adults (parents and educators) who might see your story on Eagle TV or on Cobb EdTV.

Do research. Do you have information that supports your angle? Are there enough visual possibilities to make it TV-friendly? Are there local experts that are available for you to interview about it? And most importantly, can you tell the story through the eyes, or experience, of someone who has been there?

Once you've done these first few steps, you are ready to write your proposal. The elements that need to be in your proposal are: a statement of what story type it is, a summary, how will you tell the story, who are your potential characters, elements to include in the story and any background information or statistics.

Here's my idea....I recently saw on the TV news the results of a recent study that says that teenagers are physically incapable of waking up early because of their body clocks and a later start time for schools is being pushed in some states. So I did some internet research:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/teens-health/CC00019

The Story Idea Summary part of your proposal begins, "this is a story about..." and explains what makes the story relevant or newsworthy? Why would your audience want to see it? This is your "elevator pitch".

This is a story about a new study that says teenagers are biologically incapable of being alert during the early start times of middle and high school. Some people believe that later start times would decrease absenteeism and increase grades.

Telling the Story. Describe how you'll open the story, what you'll go to next and how you will end it. Tell us who we will be meeting and why they are important.

I will open the story by talking about the role sleep plays in our life then spotlighting a student who has had incredible difficulty with staying awake for his early classes over the last few semesters (not just one semester to rule out a problem subject matter) perhaps even find someone who has had sleep studies done. I will then go into the study and other statistics about sleep patterns and teenagers. I will then revisit the student at the end of the story with his solution to sleep deprivation.

Potential Characters. List the characters in their order of importance to your story. Who are the people you want to interview or what kind of people do you want to interview? What role do they play in your story?

I will interview, of course, a student or students who have trouble staying awake in the mornings, parents of those students who can talk about their son or daughter's sleep habits (and maybe frustrations with teacher calls!) and sleep experts from a local sleep study center. I may also talk to a teacher or two. I know a student named Jason who has had a very difficult time in his first block classes over the last few years. Perhaps he would be willing to talk about his experiences.

Elements. This is for you to describe any visuals or pictures that will be part of your story. Very important! How do you plan to cover your story outside of interveiws? There must be pictures or video! Warning...you don't want to "stage" your video!

I will get video (and permission to use it) from a sleep study center and possibly use some of the video of people sleeping, I'll get alarm clock videos, unmade beds, students attentive in class and some with their heads on their desks. Footage of class changes and teachers teaching in class, maybe students drinking coffee or caffeinated soda to stay awake.

Additional Background. This is for statistics and background information that supports why your story is newsworthy. this is NOT copied and pasted research. It is information that indicates that you've done your research and drawn your own conclusions about how it relates to your story and angle. It shows that you understand and care about your story and how it can be relevant to your audience. It could also be background information on your characters who are in your story. It is information that you may use in your story, but not necessarily. his shows me that you've at least done some preliminary research and that you have evidence to support that this is a valuable story and not just piles of data.

According to the Mayo clinic website, our internal clock guides when we feel sleepy or awake. They are called our circadian rhythms. As a young person, our circadian rhythms signal us to get sleepy around 8 or 9pm. As we approach our teenage years, that internal clock doesn't make us tired until about 11pm or midnight. Because studies reveals that teens need at least 9 hours of sleep to feel alert during the daytime, early morning start times for school make that difficult. Countries as far away as Isreal are looking at this data and are beginning to take note by changing school start times in hopes that teens will succeed more in school. The Sleep for Science research highlights why teens are challenged by an early school start.

Lastly, make sure that you attach any supporting materials to your story idea. Print out websites or cut out articles of your sources. Remember that if you quote statistics in your story, you must attribute them to the proper source.

Your question this week, therefore, is what story ideas do you have that you might like to produce? Come up with some good ones and tell me why they are important and who you would interview and what kind of supporting material/statistics you would use.

That White Stuff!

There's nothing like a good couple of snow days to wipe the extraneous and non-essential off our To-Do list and bring us back to basics. Without the ability to leave the house unless on foot and not many stores open, we are forced to focus on just the necessary needs we might have.

The basics. It helps us focus on meaning and purpose. Do I have enough food in the house to keep me fed until I can get to the store? If we lose power, will I have enough firewood to warm the house? I don't really need that new shirt because I have everything I need in my closet and I can't get to the mall anyway. Are the pets safe and warm? Am I safe and warm?

Each hour that you spend in the house you make meaningful because you invest it with your energy, your intentions, your capital, your decisiveness. There are no distractions. You make meaning to the time you spend with yourself and your family and friends because you are forced to live with just the basics for a few days.

How we live our life with intention should be the path we choose ALL the time and not just when we have a few snow days. Think about school in this way. Don't clutter your life with the non-essential. The drama. The unimportant.

Another aspect to this snow day break includes the ability to be a kid for a minute. I got a chance to sled down the hill in front of my house with a piece of cardboard wrapped inside a trash bag. I'm sure you made a snowman, snow angel, did some sledding, had a snowball fight with your family or friends or at least enjoyed traipsing through the snow up to your ankles.

It is my hope that while we will do lots of hard work in Eagle TV this semester, eliminating the unimportant, that we will have lots of fun while we're at it. We will experience some things that we've never done before and will pave the way for our viewers, down a path that they've never been down before. We will be pioneers and, through Eagle TV, will lead our viewers into adventure. Maybe we'll do a story on zip lines in north Georgia, maybe we'll show SCHS about the gorilla rescue sanctuary, maybe we'll feature a man who teaches young people how to climb trees in order to overcome fear and adversity, maybe we'll show our school a story about someone who has overcome unbelievable odds to follow their dreams, maybe we'll be able to show that Everybody Has A Story.

Eliminate the extraneous and start thinking about how you can use your personal power to showcase greatness. You have the power. Start thinking like a journalist. Show us some amazing stories!

Tell me about how you're excited about your role in Eagle TV. What kind of stories are you interested in featuring? How has this snow storm allowed you to focus on what's important? How can you combine fun and business with Eagle TV?

****Please use full sentences, proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and put some thought into your answer. I want at least 4-5 sentences that make sense. This is a writing assignment, remember!**** Also, make sure you sign your post so you can get credit.