Television Reporting

The following notes were taken from one of our first lectures this term, taken by none other than THE Angus Scott, I say 'THE' as up until now, our year believed he didn't actually exist. The reason for this was because both Chris and Brian (our other lecturers) and the third years constantly spoke of him but we never actually saw him. But yes, he does exist and gave us some very useful information on the do's and don'ts of television reporting. 

On Assignment

- Do research

- Think pictures all of the time

- Know where you are going BEFORE YOU LEAVE

- Know your library

- Forward plan

- Check your equipment before you leave

- Get permission. Ultimately, shoot in public places is the easiest thing as you don't need any permission to do this.

- Be punctual, NEVER EVER EVER BE LATE! Not a second before or after!

- Get shooting as soon as possible

Filming

- Film in sequences

- Use different size shots e.g. small, medium, large, long shot. As Journalists we try and film what our eye see's, pictures tell the story and you have to show this

- When filming, make sure there is extra room at the beginning and end, for editing purposes

- Maintain continuity

- Shoot cut away e.g. an interview, first thing they said to the third thing. A different shot to cover and edit point

- Shoot in the rule of thirds

- Too much is always better than too little

Terminology

PTC - piece to camera

SOT - sound on tape (interview)

GRAB/CLIP - interview sound on tape (more of a radio term)

UPSOT - sound on tape

OOV - out of vision, presenter talking out of vision

NATSOT - natural sound e.g. birds/bombs

VO - voice over

TALKING HEAD - interview

GV - general view

CUT AWAY - covering shos

SOQ - standard out cue/ signing off e.g. "this is Georgia Spears for WINOL, goodnight"

PTC - piece to camera

- Don't ever start with a PTC

- Only do one if it adds something to the piece

- Place yourself in the action - tells the story far better

- Use movement, walk and talk etc

- Walk before you talk

Interviews

- Get cut aways

- Intro shot for interviewee like them reading a book or something similar

- Use sequences

Coming Home

- Start writing your story when coming home

- Check pictures are out of the library/on database

- Organise graphics

- Report back to the news editor

Writing Intro

- Write the link/intro first

- Remember the 5 W's: Who, What, When, Where, Why and sometimes How

- Never repeat something that is said in the link

- When writing a story think of 1 idea per sentence

- Use the present tense

- Speak plain English, BE SIMPLE!

- Simplify numbers

- Use graphics to explain numbers

Packaging

- Tell a story and use a sequence

- Start with your best picture

- Don't name your interviewee, use a caption

- Limit 'grabs' to 20 seconds max

- End with something that means something

- Never end on an interview

- Don't end SOT - use SOQ - sign off

- "What happens next remains to be seen" - DON'T USE IT!

Press Conferences (Pressers)

- Get there early

- Sit near your camera

- Ask if there are one to ones going on

Media Scrums

- Roll early so you don't miss anything

- Be prepared for the crush

- Look after each other, you are a team.

Last but not least, always remember, 95% of stories are about people. Focus on that. Don't always focus on 'guilty buildings' - showing buildings as theres nothing else to show. You always need to have the other side of the story.