The order of things....

There is order to the world. I'm not talking about the precise angles and cubes that a crystal forms or the fact that the earth orbits and tilts around the sun which gives us days and nights and seasons, over and over again.

I'm talking about crawling before walking, walking before running, using training wheels before you use two wheels and so on. You can't write a book report without reading the book first nor can you be a doctor without studying medicine first. A diamond goes through many steps as a piece of coal before it becomes a diamond. It's a process.

I'm trying to teach you the "process" of producing news stories and you aren't listening. As a result, you get in the edit room, pull down various clips in no particular order, move this one here and that one there....dang, it still doesn't sound or look right! Then, you realize you need b-roll of this or that. Oh, that b-roll won't work because it's not white balanced or there is no audio. Ooops, what are we going to say in our VO? You don't know because there is no "order" to the way you produce a package. You have to go through the proper process; just like professional broadcast journalists/photogs/editors, etc.

I'm going to put it in a nutshell for you here, but I'm holding you to it in class. I am grading the process this time, not just the finished product. And, here's how I want you to do it....

Step 1. Dig for story ideas. There are story ideas all over the place. Find a topic that is visual, do-able, interesting, different and tell me something NEW that I didn't know before.

Step 2. Do research. Find out any organizations that are related to your topic. Find any statistics that will support your story and give it credibility.

Step 3. Pitch your story to me. Write your focus statement or angle that you're committing to, tell me why this is an important story and who might be interested in it. Tell me what I'm going to learn by watching your finished story and how it will look/sound/feel. How will your package open, will you have someone telling it through their eyes (most of the time the answer to that question is yes because news is about PEOPLE), how will you find that person and how will they add credibility to your story? Show me that you've done your homework and that you already know a great deal about this topic and that you've explored resources to make it a reality.

These above 3 steps should take one class period.

Step 4. Planning. Write a planning sheet. Who will you interview and when? Write down a shot sheet. What shots do you need to get? What are the necessary or primary shots? What might be the secondary shots? How about creative shots? Visualize your story and write down your vision on a planning sheet. What nat sound or b-roll must you get?

Step 5. Get on the phone. Call those people in those organizations and find out who is the expert that you can interview. Set up interviews.....don't take no for an answer. If the answer is an emphatic no, then ask them who else you could talk to. Set up times and dates. Tell them you're on deadline and need to schedule the interviews here at the beginning of your project...not the last days before your deadline.

Step 6. Draft interview questions. What questions MUST you get answers to? Then, don't stay married to your question list...you must listen to your interview to come up with additional, follow up questions. What things can you find out about this topic from research? Can you use that knowledge you got from research to come up with more in-depth, probing questions of your subject?

These next steps...4 - 6 should take the second day of class.

Step 6. Gather your elements. Shoot your interviews. Shoot your b-roll, nat sound, your stand up. And then shoot some more...........and when you think you're done, shoot even more!

This one step (6) may take a couple of days. Certainly, if you've set up your interviews for the beginning of your week, you should be done by day 3 or 4.

Step 7. Log your raw video on a log sheet. This is NOT the time to Log and Capture, but use the logging sheet to watch all the video you've gathered and write down the time code of the shots you got and the ones you plan to use in your package. This is on paper....not on the computer. Log sheets are in the form shelf.

Step 7 should take you a day to a day and a half.

Step 8. Now...write your script. No, you're still not editing yet. You MUST write your script now that you have looked at your footage, your nat sound, your sots and the b-roll that you've gotten as well as the information you've learned by doing interviews or research on your own. Come up with a creative way to tell your story.

Step 9. Record your Voice Overs. Since you have written your script, you know exactly what you are going to say in your video. You can record these on the same tape at the end of what you've been logging on your log sheet. Just don't record over your video...make sure that tape is cued to the end!

Eight and 9 should take one day.

Step 10. Log and Capture footage on the edit machine. NOW you get to edit. Because you have identified the SOTS and B-roll that you plan to use by time code, this should be very easy.

Step 10...one day or less.

Step 11. Edit A roll, then B roll. A-roll is the primary footage such as SOTS, stand ups and VO's; the backbone of your story. Place your voice overs on the timeline. Then, place your interviews on the timeline, then place your graphics (lower thirds, etc.) throughout your package and slate at the beginning on timeline last.

Step 11...a day or perhaps a day and a half.

Step 12. Write anchor lead in, TRT, etc. on your air confirmation form and turn it in! You're done and it only took about 8 school days! That's less than 2 weeks! You're on to your next awesome project! Right!!!???? (The answer is yes)

That, my dear Eagle TV student, is the order of things.

Tell a story with sound

I wrote about Natural Sound (Nat Sound) back in September, but I want to revisit it with you. News stories that are told only with Nat Sound and no VO are very powerful because the viewer feels more like he/she is IN the story.

Try to find at least one nat sound opportunity in your packages that you'll be editing this week. Telling an entire story with only sound is very difficult, but you should look for at least one bit of sound that will help transport your viewers into your story; give them an experience they'll not forget.

Most people remember what they FELT after viewing a news story, not what they learned. Check out these Nat Sound pieces from one professional photojournalist and see if you can at least find a way to tell your story with a little sound and not just voice overs. http://www.newslab.org/2010/01/13/natural-sound-stories-a-how-to-guide/

Study your story and tell me what kind of sound that you will look for while you are shooting video this week. Really learn how to do this well, and you'll be on your way to really nice packages.

Perfection is not necessary....yet.

Yesterday, I was driving down Barrett Parkway on my way to Target to return a few items when all of a sudden, traffic stopped. I was the second car behind all the activity, so when I drove around a wrecked car in the middle of the road, I looked to my right. A minivan had careened off the road and down into a 30-foot ravine, near I-575, landing on its driver's side. I had to stop.

As I watched the driver of the car in the middle of the road get out of his car and disappear down the hill to see if the driver in the van was okay, I, and several other people did the same thing.

It was raining and slick, but in 45 seconds there were about 7 of us down there with the van and the driver, who was trapped, in shock...and scared. She kept closing her eyes. I was afraid she'd go unconscious.

We spoke to her through her closed windows.

"Stay awake"

"Put the car in park!" Car wouldn't go into park.

"Take the key out" She was too much in shock to figure out how to do that.

"Are you okay?" She motioned that she hit her head.

"Are you alone or is there someone else in the van?" She was alone.

"Can you unlock any doors?" No. She was trapped and we couldn't get her out, despite someone climbing on to the top of the van to try to open the passenger doors, which were facing the sky.

The men were trying to upright the van, but it looked like it wouldn't stay upright because it was on a hill. The van was teetering, looking like it would go over on the top any minute, so it was decided that the guys would, together, hold the van up so it didn't go over until help arrived.

I, and another woman, positioned ourselves in front of the van where the driver could see us through the front windshield and we kept speaking to her, reassuring her that she'd be okay. We heard the sirens, we told her. Help was coming. She nodded. She began to tremble from shock. Don't forget to take deep breaths, I told her in an effort to help her with her body's reaction to shock and to put her mind on breathing and not on the fact that she was nearly upside down in a ravine of water and trapped inside her flipped car. I'm sure that's not exactly where she planned to end up when she was driving around running errands yesterday.

After help arrived, I smiled at her and made my way back up the hill to watch the rescue from a 20 foot distance. I was joined by another man who had also stopped to help. He asked me if I saw what happened. I said no, but was one of the first ones down to her. I also mentioned that I felt very helpless to do anything, other than talk to her. I'm not strong enough to right the van or force a door open and even if I could, I couldn't pull her out. He said something very significant to me. Something that I had lost sight of.

"It's not always your strength that helps, sometimes it's your heart."

In some small way, maybe I did help. Maybe having me and the other woman in front of the van to talk to and focus on helped that trapped driver take her mind off what she had just been through. Maybe it was enough to keep her awake and going until help arrived.

It made me think of the beginning of each semester with students. Particularly my advanced students. I don't expect perfection right away, just effort. You have 4 packages to do before the semester is over, among other projects, and I just want to see improvement. I want to see that you are trying and that you are putting your heart into each project. Your strengths will come later as you learn. I know that. Sometimes it's just your heart, not your strengths that are important.

So, do your best. Put your heart into each project and know that your skills will get stronger every day, as long as you concentrate on improving. Small, concentrated baby steps.

Respond to my blog by talking about how it feels to not be perfect when you try something the first time. How you deal with the fact that there are other people who are better at things than you are while you are learning? How do you improve yourself? How do you get better at things? How do you make yourself feel better while you're learning? What keeps you going when you get discouraged? Do you remember learning to ride a bike when you were a kid and you couldn't ride more than a couple of feet before you tipped over? What did it feel like when you finally "got it" and rode? You weren't perfect. You were wobbly, but your body learned what it felt like to keep a bike upright and moving forward. How did you get better at riding your bike? Did you eventually learn tricks on your bike? Talk about your experiences at learning something new and then getting really good at it.

On your mark, get set.....GO!

The beginning of a new semester and the new year does wonders to erase the past, start anew and motivate us to begin with a clean slate. Whether it's because you have a New Year's Resolution or you just promise yourself that you'll do better....here's your chance!

Our video production semester promises to be a busy one. You'll have 4 news packages to produce, 5 outside projects, a short documentary, a presentation on one of your news stories, a senior video segment, weekly blogging, bi-monthly news stories and other assignments as they come up. You only have 18 weeks to complete this, on deadline, with a high level of mastery.

Whoa!...you say? How on Earth will I be able to accomplish this? You can do this! I promise. I'll walk you through it all. I have made a new resolution myself and that is to spend more instructional time with you. You'll just have to hold up your end of the bargain to keep yourself motivated and in pursuit of excellence for yourself. Everything you put your name on should be the best you can do. Always.

So...on your mark, get set, let's go! Tell me what will keep you motivated this semester to stay on track, on deadline, and on target. What will you ask of yourself? How will you improve every package, every blog, every story idea, every interview and every editing session every time?

Can't wait to hear your responses. The race is on!

Family

If you look up the definition of "family" on the internet or in a dictionary, you will get numerous definitions. It's because there is not one single way to describe what a family is or what family means to each of us. Families are formed in many, many different ways. I am learning that through my journey in adoption.....and have learned that from you, my students.

Family, to me, could be biological, but it can also be a collection of people, who spend time under the same roof for a regular period of time, who experience happiness, joy, pain, rejection, depression, laughter, feelings, tears, successes and failures...together. People who support and love one another, even though our differences are as great as our similarities.

DeAndre came to me yesterday and asked if he could read out loud his poem that he wrote about the class, to the class. In all the finals, cleaning, picture-taking, etc. I forgot. I deeply regret that because what he had to say to me, you, and all of us needs to be heard. If you ever believe that you don't make impressions on people in your life, think again.

Below is the poem he wrote for all of us. Enjoy. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and if you're moving on, please keep in touch with me, your friends, your family.

Love to all,

Mrs. Watson

BVP-CCP
Lights… Camera… Action… for all the world’s a stage and we… we are its mere actors… but what use is a stage… the lights… the camera… or any action… without friends…no… dare I say... I do dare… without family

I’m gonna miss it… for you see this semester… will be my last… So I have no choice… but to miss… miss it all… from the bro’s that have my back… to the sisters I could never replace… from Cody’s unique joy to bring happiness on a cloudy day… or Pricilla’s strict attitude to keep us all in line… but still it’s with love… or Malike’s Swagnificent Hustler’s attitude… or Tyrell’s cinematic happy go lucky attitude… to the little argument’s we all have had… I will miss it all dearly… but even still… hands at each other’s throat’s… and even through the blood sweat and tears… we made it… to see each other one last time in this room…

But what I will truly miss… more than anything… more than my experience…. Is my 2nd mother… Ms Watson… Watson… You actually did it… you actually sparked the creativity in me… and awoke the outgoing young man who lied dormant in my soul… you kept me going when I thought there was nothing left… even on your worst days you were the shelter to me in my great storm of depression… You showed me I’m not as worthless as I was told to be… or as worthless as I thought I was… You made me a better person…and turned me into a better man… a man that I can be proud of…and doing all this and watching over me with great love… and for that I thank you.

So you see I couldn’t let you all leave… I couldn’t let you go… not without saying this… you all to have helped me grow… grow for the better… and not for the worst… I can never repay you all… or really let you all know how much you all mean to me… I could spend an eternity writing s novel and still… it would be inadequate… but I digress… I will sincerely miss you all… and I hope you all won’t forget skateboarder kid… grim… Dre… or sprite man… because these are the names I will always remember and cherish as well… so stay in touch… for I could not have prayed for a better family… because I Closely Cherish Peoples (CCP)

Love Grim (Deandre)