Entrepreneurial Journalism Writing for Radio, TV, and Internet Audio and Video Entrepreneurial Journalism

Using Actualities and Soundbites In broadcast, we don’t have any use for “quotation marks” It’s too awkward to keep saying, “quote,” “unquote” In addition, because audio and video are available, it’s much more compelling to show the person speaking So we use audio and video of the speakers whenever possible and whenever they say it better than a simple paraphrase – for instance, when they are expressing strong emotion

Actualities In radio, we usually call a clip from a newsmaker an actuality In TV, such a clip is usually called a soundbite. An actuality is simply a recorded piece from the newsmaker inserted into report You usually write an introduction to the actuality, introducing the speaker, and then play the clip from the speaker, and then continue the story with a natural close

An Example of an Actuality News announcer: More headaches for downtown motorists…Public works commissioner Frank Link says Main Street will be torn up later this month to fix a water main. He hates to snarl traffic, but says we’ve got no choice. Recorded Voice of Commissioner (the actuality): The pipe is leaking thousands of gallons a day and the buildup has compromised water flow to the extent that we’re trying to push the flow of a main feed through a pipe that has the diameter of a garden hose. News announcer: Commissioner Link says Main Street will be narrowed to two lanes from June 15th through July first.

Sound Bites A sound bite is like an actuality with a video picture A simple way to illustrate a sound bite is to repeat the previous example with video instead of sound Shot of news announcer standing on street talking to the camera: More headaches for downtown motorists…Public works commissioner Frank Link says Main Street will be torn up later this month to fix a water main. He hates to snarl traffic, but says we’ve got no choice. Video of the commissioner answering the question: The pipe is leaking thousands of gallons a day and the buildup has compromised water flow to the extent that we’re trying to push the flow of a main feed through a pipe that has the diameter of a garden hose. Close-up of the news announcer: Commissioner Link says Main Street will be narrowed to two lanes from June 15th through July first.

Other Ways Video is Used The previous structure – announcer on camera, shot of the person being interviewed, the announcer back on camera to close – is a simple “package,” in TV terms If we wanted to make the story more visually interesting, we could start with the announcer reading while some shots of the project are shown instead of showing the announcer on camera Reading while other shots (other than the person doing the reading) are being shown is called “voice-over,” abbreviated VO A segment of TV where the reporter reads over video and then the newsmaker’s sound bite runs is called a voice over sound on tape and abbreviated VOSOT or VO/SOT

Writing a Video Script In a complex video news package, you can use a variety of different shots, graphics, and editing techniques If you are writing a video script, you can indicate how close the shot is… LS=Long shot MS=Medium Shot CU=Close up

Writing a Video Script, Continued… You can also use an abbreviation to indicate that an announcer is on camera: OC To indicate movement, you can write… Pan – move sideways Tilt- move up or down Zoom – make the image bigger or smaller, depending on if you zoom in or zoom out You can superimpose a graphic, indicated by Super

What a Video Script Usually Looks Like The video is on the left, with shots indicated with abbreviations such as those in the previous slide The audio is on the right, with the speaker indicated If the speaker is talking over video other than the speaker, the abbreviation VO goes before his or her name

A Sample Video Script, First Page

A Sample Video Script, Second Page #