Our final project in Broadcast Tech 1 is to create a news story. We studied some professional examples from Steve Hartman. The picture on the left is a story about an elephant sanctuary, and the unusual friendship between one of the elephants and one of the many stray dogs that find refuge in the sanctuary. Hartman gets the viewer attention by showing an extreme wide shot of part of the sanctuary and an elephant trumpeting. He interviews one of the co-founders of the sanctuary who explains the relationships the elephants have with each other, except in the case of Tara (the elephant) and Bella (the dog). He goes on to explain that Bella suffered a spinal cord injury and had to lay in the sanctuary office for three weeks. For that entire span, Tara sat in a corner as close as she could to the office because she missed Bella. Hartman goes on to tell that Bella recovered and the two became happy together again. This is a heartwarming story that shows that anyone can look past prejudices and differences and become friends.
The picture on the right is a story about a middle school football team that planned a play to let one of their teammates, who is autistic, score a touchdown in a game. Hartman starts off the story showing the school and saying, "Between classes they schemed and conspired." This is a really good hook because the viewer wants to know who was scheming and what they were scheming about. He gets the perspective of some of the players during the interview, and finds out that the entire team was in on the plan and the coaches didn't know anything about it. Hartman presents conflict when he talks about Keith, the boy whose autism prevented him from playing football, and how no one knew who he was and were rude to him. He resolves the conflict by finishing the story and telling how the football team helped Keith score a touchdown in a game. This is a story to show that everyone can make a difference in the lives of those around them. I can use the tactics Steve Hartman uses by using voice-overs, natural sounds, and sound bytes. A good news story always has a conflict and usually a resolve to that conflict. The story needs to be informative and have emotion as well. I'm excited to practice these in my upcoming news story.
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I learned that it's not good to start questions with "did" or "will" because the interviewee will give one or two word answers. Ask questions that allows them to expand on their answer and talk for a while. It's also very important to make the subject comfortable because then they'll give better answers and be more invested in the interview. Another thing that's important is the positioning of the camera, yourself, and the subject. If you have the camera over your left shoulder, the subject should be on the left side of the screen and talking across towards the right side. The rule of thirds is important because it creates balance and is pleasing to the eyes. The subject should always have talking room on the screen and should never look at the camera. The viewer should also be able to see both of the subjects eyes. Another thing to conduct a good interview is to make it more of a conversation than interrogation. Having a conversation will provide better answers than reading a list of questions and asking for specific answers. Possibly the most important part of an interview is the last question, "Is there anything you'd like to add?" This is usually where the interviewee will give the best answers and provide what you were looking for in the interview. All in all, be casual and relaxed. The more conformable the subject, the better answers you'll get.
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Drew OlsonDrew Olson is a senior at Ladue High School. Archives
December 2017
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