1. RTV 440 Week 6
How do you tell a story? It’s about writing … and about the connection with the storyteller and audience.

2. Why do we tell stories to people?
Share human experience and understanding
Think about TV shows, movies, etc.
Difference in visual stories and reporting:
Visual stories reveal someone’s goals and actions as they unfold sequentially, along a timeline.
Reports commonly emphasize just the facts.

3. Storytelling basics
Just as audio serves to draw audiences into the environment of a real-life event, listeners and viewers become more deeply and more tangibly involved if you allow them to see, and feel, and smell, and touch, and taste that moment.
See NPPA

4. Storytelling basics What is a ‘story’?
Who, what, when, where, why and how.
Entertain, inform, persuade.
In video media you can only communicate in two ways; one way is with images, the other is with sound.
Remember—a story needs to be a 2-way communication process: sender / receiver

5. Storytelling issues Culture impacts perception Plan the visual story
‘theme’ / focus statement / structure
The best stories convey a sense of progression
Find images that convey a clear story focus
You’re looking for what ‘tells the story’ you want to tell when you capture images and decide how to assemble them

6. Storytelling issues Write the pictures first
‘write to the pictures’
‘visual lead’
Do Reportorial Editing: the process of previsualizing the story, including the pictures, the sounds, the words, and even the visual and audio transitions
Like a movie director

7. PROVE THE STORY’S FOCUS VISUALLY
If your subject is a routine warehouse fire, you may identify the focus by the statement as, “This is a big fire.”
Your “visual proof,” just as your words, will then follow naturally.
Visual proof is one or more shots that illustrate a main point or help convey the overall story focus.

8. You select a focus based on available information
The focus may change – be prepared to adjust the story you are telling.
TELL YOUR STORY THROUGH PEOPLE
STRONG NATURAL SOUND HELPS TELL THE STORY

9. ADDRESS THE LARGER ISSUE CHALLENGE YOUR FOCUS STATEMENT
BUILD IN SURPRISES
KEEP SOUND BITES SHORT
ADDRESS THE LARGER ISSUE
CHALLENGE YOUR FOCUS STATEMENT
“so what?”
PACKAGES ARE FACTUAL MINI-MOVIES

10. The story structure The lead The main points The close Types of leads
Visual lead
The main points
Prove points visually
The close
Nothing else can top it

11. The Package 1. Focus (the story stated in a sentence)
2. Beginning (lead)
a. Studio lead-in
3. Package lead
a. Visual lead
b. Voice over (VO)
4. Middle (three or four main points)
a. Main point A
b. Main point B
c. Main point C
d. Main point D
5. End (close)
a. Final visual
b. Final VO
c. Strong closing sound

12. Student package examples
(Links on drive)

13. PKG Studio lead-In:
If you want to lose weight and become healthy for life, you’ll never need a fad diet again. In fact, you never did. You learned the secret in elementary school.
(Reporter) has the story.

14. The Package Lead
Plan the “visual lead,” or first video of your package (include a ‘nat pop’)
Identify the central idea you wish to communicate before you worry about the words. In general, the thought process focuses first on (a) an idea to communicate; (b) images to prove the idea visually; and (c) words as necessary to interpret and explain the images.
Summary lead, hard lead, soft lead, etc.

15. WRITE THE MIDDLE OR MAIN BODY
After the package lead, begin the middle or main body of your report.
In a 1:10- to 1:30-minute package, try to limit yourself to no more than three or four main points.
Again, focus on the ideas to be communicated before you worry about the images or words.
B-roll with VO, sound bites, stand up

16. Body Main Points Main Point 1 Main Point 2 Main Point 3
Supporting facts, prove visually, reaction / commentary from SB, transition
Main Point 2
Supporting facts, prove visually, reaction / commentary from SB / transition
Main Point 3
Supporting facts, prove visually, reaction / commentary from SB, transition into conclusion

17. WRITE THE CLOSE
Next, write the close to your package. The close makes it obvious to your audience the story is ending.
Without a strong close, the package will stop but it will not end.
As soon as you arrive in the field, begin your search for a closing shot—a visual close you can build toward throughout the entire piece, something so strong it’s obvious the story is finished.
Lazy reporters sometimes end stories on interviews or standups, but such endings resemble unsigned letters.
‘stand up bridge’ (samples)

18. But, beyond the package RDR VO (VO) (script) VO-SOT
VSV (VSV1) (VSV2) (script)
RDR-SOT
‘if you don’t have pictures you don’t have a story in TV news’
(packages)

19. Remember: Basics of News
Timeliness, Proximity, Conflict, Prominence, Human Interest (and others -- ‘what makes it news?’)
Spot News, hard news, routine news (note news releases and VNRs), soft news, features, investigative
Target Audience – who’s watching? Who Cares about this?
Production terms
B-roll, sound bites, nat sound, seamless editing (steady shots, sequences, matched action shots), voice over (‘track’), stand up, BOPSA, Rambo video, shoot to edit, in-camera editing, shooting ratio, focus/commitment, lead, lead-in, write to pictures, photography is... (lighting issues), close miking, handheld mic

20. Basics of News Stages of production Points of view
Objective, subjective, reportorial
Shot composition
XCU, CU, MS, LS, 2-shot, OTS, etc.
Z axis –put main subject close to camera
Camera angles
Eye level, low/high level, low/high angle

21. Field Shooting In camera editing / shooting ratio
Use a tripod (steady bag option)
Zooming and panning before shooting
‘make the zoom invisible’
Story focus and rough script before shooting
The focus may change
Rambo video

22. Shooting sequences WS, MS, CU, XCU and vary angles Mostly CU and MS
Fleeting / perishable video
Example: Bus arrives to pick up child
Child waiting on corner LS/MS/CU/XCU
Bus LS, child, then CU OTS bus into frame
MS child moving to get onto bus
CU bus driver smiling, LS bus
CU doors close, MS bus starts to pull away
Bus exits shot

23. Other shooting notes Static shots vs. shots with movement
Anticipate action
Shoot subjects in-frame/out of frame
Plan for jump cuts / false reverse
Staging versus motivating
Issues in one-person band ‘MMJ’
Shooting interview and cover shots
B-roll & interviews on two different tapes
Shooting the stand-up
Flip viewfinder, wireless mic, sequence shot

24. Safety & Legal Issues Where can you shoot?
Public/private, permission, libel & privacy
Informing people you are coming
Making interview arrangements
Tell them you’re with KETV News
Distancing while shooting
No opinions in stories / clear attribution of facts
Putting people in stories

25. Start getting sequencing
Sequencing 3 – the 5 shot method

26. News Photography for Non-Photographers

27. Photography or journalism?
What is the difference between:
A photographer, and
A photojournalist?

28. What makes a good news picture?
Improves understanding – adds to story
Helps readers know
Tells a story without words
Gives context
Timely – not yesterday’s news
Useful - Readers can use the information in the picture
Unique and compelling
Documents the life of the community
People are visual
Can the story be told with an image? You don’t always need words
Shows surroundings, emotions, places the reader on the scene
Adds to the story; is not just “eye candy”

29. Tips Close-ups vs. landscapes
There is emotion in this photo above, and it gives context to the story.
At left, if you snapped the whole troop, the story would be different
Sometimes you need context, other times the story is in the close-up. But more often than not, close-ups work best. Or put the subject at the forefront.

30. Action, action, action Get people doing something
Show the essence of their action and emotion
What would the bridge photo have been like without the boda guy. Shows the difficulty the situation has created. (Note: It would have been better from the other side, showing the driver’s face rather than back.)
When they are active, the aren’t thinking about YOU, the photographer
Photo above about a bridge that flooded illustrates the point by showing action

31. Inaction, inaction, inaction
Mug shots are boring!
Unless they show emotion, tell a story
Sometimes they ARE the story; e.g., candidate shots
The same test as other photos: does it advance the story. If it is just to break up the text, it detracts from the story.

32. Check-passing photos …
… or in this case, chick-passing!
Does the photo give any information?
Does it illustrate the main point of the story?
Remember the reader!
If the chicks had escaped, that would be a great picture!
The story is about Woman’s Day in a district. The first lady talked about not airing dirty laundry (NRM laundry) in public – that’s the lead. And she lauded a poultry project for women, but does this photo show that?
Do you think this is a staged photo? How can you tell?

33. Tips: It takes time Good pictures rarely just happen
The photojournalist who took this picture waited hours for just the right moment …
What are things in your communities that might involve patience to get just the right shot?

34. How could this have been better?
The article was about why kids want to be leaders. The boy at left is Head Prefect at his school. He talked about why he campaigned and why he likes being a leader
Does the picture help me understand the subject of the article: leadership?
Does it add to the story?
Does it tell a story by itself?
Does it tell me more about the boy than what he looks like?
How could it help me more?
How could it add to the article, tell a story by itself?
In reporting we talkedabout interviewing people while they are doing what they do. How could you do the same thing with this photo?

35. More tips Take your camera everywhere you go
Shoot from the hip, literally
Be spontaneous
Put the subject in the front
Make the subject comfortable
Never take pictures of people’s backs, unless that’s the story
Capture the essence of the task
Take more pictures than you need
Use a simple, clean background
Use sequences
It’s not about you: tell some jokes, ask them to talk to each other, tell them to pretend you aren’t there
Sequence can work to report on chronological order

36. News shots that tell a story
Ask yourself what the story is really about
For example:
Football fan when a goal is scored
Storks and kids on garbage pile
Wrinkles on an old farmer’s hands
Talk about photos you’ve taken that told a story
e.g., A picture of a field where baboons hid before attacking taxis. Is the field the story? Is it worth a picture?
What story does this picture tell?

37. Issues: Dealing with the subjects
Objections: who has the right to object
In public places
Asking permission
Politicians, public figures
Weighing news value vs embarrassment
Is it fair? Context
Your friend asks you to – or not to
When the subject asks for money
The picture might be dramatic, but is it necessary?
If a politician does something embarrassing, is it fair to print it?
How do you answer if your friend says he does not want his picture published?
Ditto when someone asks to be paid to use their photo?

38. Issues: Accuracy - again
Get the details and names right
Captions and headlines are the first things people read – maybe the ONLY thing

41. The act of recording, with a camera, human beings in their natural (ie unposed) condition.
With the purpose of bringing attention to a particular aspect of society in hopes of change.
Garry Winograd

42. Street photography tends to be more of a private and individual practice of photographing in public places. Usually, though not always, the interest is connected to urban life, since that's where so much happens on the street.
BY ALEXANDRA COPLEY

43. Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (the collecting, editing, and presenting of news material for publication or broadcast) that creates images in order to tell a story.
Notes taken from Alexandra Copley
Peiter Ten Hoopen

44. Photo Journalism The timely reporting of events
A representation of a person or
scene recorded by a camera on
light-sensitive material (digital censor)
The timely reporting of events
at the local, provincial, national
and international levels.

45. The picture tells a complete story…

46. The images have meaning
Timeliness
The images have meaning
in the context of a
recently published
record of events
SOLDIERS AFGHANISTAN WAR

47. The situation implied by the images is a fair and accurate representation of the events they depict in both content and tone.
objectivty
A photojournalist uses pictures
instead of words to tell a story.
They can also accompany their images
with some text to elaborate
on the details or events.

48. The images combine with other news elements to make facts relatable to the viewer or reader on a cultural level.
Narrative
DHARAVI SLUM, MUMBAI

49. Anticipation Timing Composition The Decisive Moment…
Henri Cartier-Bresson

50. WORLD PRESS PHOTO OF THE YEAR
SHOUTING PROTESTS FROM ROOFTOPS, IRAN--what should be your next shot

51. What is the Farm Security Administration (FSA)?
In 1935 as part of the New Deal in the United States, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) was an effort during the Depression to
combat American rural poverty.
The FSA adopted a goal of introducing America to Americans through photography and a group of talented photographers.
Dorothea Lange