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Multimedia Minutes: Overcoming a Big Challenge — No Action
July 24th, 2011
How do you overcome the challenge of virtually no action in a story? Say just a guy in a chair. Here’s one approach.
Learn more to create engaging storytelling. Click on the links to the right under “Recent Posts.”
Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | No Comments »
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Shootback Concept for MMJs
July 8th, 2011
Galen Culver, a colleague for AR&D’s MMJ training sessions, has developed a mount for a second camera, showing the photographer.
It’s a great way to include your questions or even narration. Yes, you’ll need to edit in the second camera video (Kodak Playsport), but it can save you the time it takes to set-up the tripod for re-asks.
The top image shows Galen’s concept and the image below how the final product looks on air.
Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, TV news training, Web Video | No Comments »
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News Director Comments on AR&D’s MMJ Training
April 6th, 2011
KRIS-TV news director Sandra Richards comments on AR&D’s training of multimedia journalists in Corpus Christ, Texas.
Team for the three-day training sessions included multimedia journalist Galen Culver and AR&D consultants Regent Ducas and Bob Kaplitz. AR&D trains multimedia journalists across the country. You’ll find some excerpts of the training on this blog.
Posted in Bob Kaplitz video, broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, Social Media, TV news training | No Comments »
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Multimedia Minutes: How to Avoid Missing the Great Soundbite
September 9th, 2010
“How can you avoid missing the great soundbite?”
That was one of several questions MMJs asked AR&D strategist Fred Ertz during a webinar on how to work efficiently. Fred provided practical solutions in the discussion, which included insights from MMJ Galen Culver who trains multimedia journalists with AR&D’s Regent Ducas and me. You’ll also hear Galen comment that “Story ideas come from meetings — stories don’t.”
Because video screens from the webcams are small, we suggest you expand the screen when you start playing the video. Just click on the icon on the bottom right of screen.
Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | No Comments »
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Multimedia Minutes: Storyboarding + Brainstorming
September 4th, 2010
Your stories will improve immediately if you “storyboard” them.
Learn about storyboarding in this short learning video. The excercise in this workshop was to come up with strong opening shot, memorable moments, closing shot, and on-camera question. The assigned story was about cops stepping up patrols in school zones to catch speeders.
Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training, Uncategorized | 43 Comments »
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Multimedia Minutes: Tips on Taking Control
September 1st, 2010
You can improve your visual storytelling if you take control.
See how to do that in this video clip from an AR&D workshop with MMJ Galen Culver.
When taking control, be sure not to “stage” news by directing your subject to do anything other than what they’re doing. If you need to, advise iewers, “We asked Joe to demonstrate…”
Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | 1 Comment »
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Multimedia Minutes: Watch Hands-On MMJ Training
August 31st, 2010
You can learn alot by watching this training session for new MMJs.
We believe in hands-on training, so you’ll see that from the start of this video. I didn’t want to distract from the training, so I shot this with a hand held camera from the corner of the room, but you can still learn alot from AR&D trainer-MMJ Galen Culver.
In this exercise, one of the MMJs plays an artist in a limited space. The challenge is to get a variety of shots. This was a fully engaged group of MMJs, so you’ll hear their suggestions in the background.
My colleague Regent Ducas makes a good point when he says “Keep it simple.” Photographers are learning so much so fast about reporting and reporters are learning so much about visual storytelling that it can be like drinking from a fire hose. Our recommendation is to take it one step at a time.
Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | No Comments »
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Multimedia Minutes: “Best Advice I Received” — MMJ Rod White
August 31st, 2010
What’s the best advice you received as an MMJ?
Here’s what KTBS-TV’s (Shreveport) Rod White said following hands-on training by an AR&D team that included MMJ Galen Culver.
Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | No Comments »
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Multimedia Journalism: “Where’s the Wow?”
August 30th, 2010
In a Sea of Sameness, one of the most timely and relevant questions you can ask yourself is “Where’s the wow?” in your story.
This is the question my colleague Regent Ducas has been asking MMJs across the country during our training workshops with MMJ Galen Culver. This soundbite is succinct and worthy of watching.
The problem is all the stories look just about the same. In fact, many stories are so forgettable that even news people have difficulty answering this question we frequently raise: “What local TV news stories do you remember?”
The question gets several blank looks, then responses about non-local stories on ESPN and the Comedy Channel, for example. And several MMJs admit they don’t watch local TV news on a regular basis because it’s not relevant to their lives.
And what questions do they remember? Several mentioned Jay Leno asking Kanye West “What would your mom have said about this?” following his infamous rant during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech. The only problem: This didn’t have anything to do with local TV news — and the story ran more than a year ago.
Of course, it doesn’t take a genius to observe: “If we can’t get our own people to watch regularly and remember stories, what chances do we have to pull in non-employees?
Don’t ponder that too long. Here are takeaways:
- Cover stories relevant to the lives of viewers, including yourself. If they’re not relevant, the most creative photography won’t matter. Viewers have no reason to watch it in the first place.
- Plan the wow. Don’t wait for Divine Intervention. Plan the wow. For example, we often ask workshops participants to shoot a story about “Eating Healthy in the Newsroom.” Just about all the stories we see look the same. Yep, news people eating junk food. You know what that looks like, so we haven’t grabbed any frames for you to see. What are the possibilities for wowing viewers with an inventive approach? Think different.
For example, bring in a few dollars’ worth of healthy vegetables — like spinach — setting them in front of a news person eating the salty, sugar-laden, fatty burgers complemented by sugar filled pop and a sweet dessert. Will they eat the healthy food? Regent and I can’t predict for sure, but it certainly adds drama to what can be a ho-hum story. It can add a wow!
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An honored TV storyteller with a keen appreciation for delivering a wow in visual storytelling is NBC’s Bob Dotson. This is one of my favorite stories of his:
Multimedia Minutes: What the Nation’s Most Recognized TV Storyteller Learned from this Video
Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists, TV news training | 8 Comments »
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Multimedia Minutes: Squeezing More Time from Your Producer
August 27th, 2010
Need more time for your story, but concerned you won’t get it?
Here’s a quick tip from MMJ Galen Culver as he presented it to multimedia journalists at an AR&D training session in Shreveport, LA.
Of course, don’t let the producer down. The story should deserve every second!
Posted in broadcast journalism, Multimedia Journalism, Power Tools for TV Journalists | 3 Comments »