• Multimedia Minutes: Point of View Isn’t Always Pretty

    May 4th, 2010

    Point of view photography plunges the viewer into the experience.   This example is from Darren Brown, News9.com Web Journalist:

    I visit the blog OFTEN.  Great stuff on there. I covered a story the other day I think might help demonstrate the “you never know” category.  Here’s the skinny.
      
    NFL Draft Day is a big deal around here.  OU and OSU always have guys going early.  But this year was even bigger–3 of the first 4 guys were from OU.  Those guys were all in NYC, but there were some family draft parties around town.  I was sent to cover Gerald McCoy’s.  Since there was so much family and friends, they decided to have it a church nearby.
     
    Here’s the rub.
     
    The church didn’t have cable.  Now that might not be a problem on Sunday mornings, or on Sunday nights, or on any other day…but when you’re having a DRAFT PARTY…IT’S A HUGE PROBLEM.
     
    The draft was supposed to start at 6:30PM.  We all knew Sam Bradford was going first, but weren’t sure if McCoy was going 2nd or 3rd.  So I figured I needed to be there when it started.  
     
    I pulled up to the church at around 6:13, and walked inside expecting folks to be waiting patiently (or impatiently.)  What I found was chaos.  People were running around yelling, and there were laptops and cables everywhere. 
     
    They couldn’t get ESPN.  Someone had brought a satellite dish and they were fiddling with it, but it wasn’t working and neither was the laptop signal ESPN was streaming live.
     
    Now it’s 6:20PM.  McCoy’s aunt, who was my contact for the party, was freaking out.  “I’m not gonna miss this,” she was screaming.
     
    “Let’s go to my house!” yells some guy.  “It’s just a couple minutes away!”  And then more chaos.
     
    Folks ran outside, piled into cars, and took off.  I rolled on it, and rolled on the drive to the guy’s house, where their boy got drafted number three overall by the Tampa Bay Bucs.
     
    After that, it was back to the church for more celebrating, a self-shot standup, and food…of which there wasn’t much left.
     
    I’ll admit that the shooting in this pkg is not my best, ESPECIALLY the stuff at the front.  But I think it captures the chaos of the moment, and I can live with that.
     
    Sometimes you gotta go with what works even if it ain’t pretty.  

    Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | 18 Comments »

  • Multimedia Minutes: Why Throw a Brick at a TV Set?

    May 2nd, 2010

    A viewer threatened to smash her TV set if anchors and reporters continued to ask softball questions of officials when she wanted tough questions — especially those related to wasting tax money.  Many viewers share her opinion.

    This represents an opportunity to serve those viewers.  One station with a “asking tough question” brand of journalism is WRGB-TV/Albany.  We collaborated with news director Lisa Jackson on creating this promo, which grabbed viewers’ attention in a convincing way when we tested it in focus groups.

    Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | No Comments »

  • Multimedia Minutes: Old Way vs New Way

    May 2nd, 2010

    Identifying the “New Way” compared to the makes for a strong learning tool.

    Learn alot 24/7 by watching Videos under Recent Posts to the right.

    Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | 1 Comment »

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