Don't Start with a Soundite

I see this mistake all the time. Unless someone is bawling, use video first and not a soundbite. As a viewer, it takes a second or two to transition from reporter or anchor intro to taped piece. If you start with soundbite, I guarantee you viewers won't catch the first second or two of it. Plus, starting with a soundbite is BORING. You have nothing else to lead your package? How about nats? Nats establishes a sense of place in whatever story you do and can really help you start a pkg nicely. Skip the sot and look for nats.

Best Video First

In a package, your best video goes first. Always. No exceptions. In fact, if it's that good, it's probably worth repeating a couple times in the package.

Sometimes you may think you need to give some background or set-up before you show the good video. This may tempt you NOT to use your best video first. Do set-up in the anchor or reporter intro. Sometimes you can show some of the video once at the top of the piece, give a little background that really explains what happened, and then show more of the video.

An example of NOT using best video first. I was on one station's website and there was a story labelled "Dash Cam Video released." I clicked and watched. I wanted to see the dashcam video. About a third of the way through, I thought, maybe they mistakenly put up a pkg that was written before the video was released. But no. About HALFWAY through the pkg, the promised dashcam video appeared. Most viewers are not so patient. Best video first always.

Even when you don't have amazing video to put at the top of your pkg, try to look at what you've got and think-- what's the most interesting part of this? How can I put that first? I spent a lot of years in consumer on stories with NOOOOOO video. There'd be a fridge, some paperwork, and Grandma complaining she got ripped off. But if there's something compelling enough to get you to cover the story, that element should go first.

Problems in the Show

Unfortunately, disaster strikes shows. You lose your lead package. A live shot goes down. Do youself a favor and don't cannibalize the rest of your show by trying to figure out exactly what happened right then and there. Unless it's an ongoing issue that you need to resolve immediately, MOVE ON. Address it in the break or better yet after the show. Why? If you are freaking out about the top of the show, you're not paying attention to other potential problems and things could snowball. Also, you set the tone for the booth. If the producer is still stuck on the top of the show, the rest of the booth will be thinking about it too, distracting them from the rest of the show and inviting mistakes.

Instead, jot down quick notes about what you think happened and talk about the problem during a post-show discrepency meeting. Keep an open mind about what went wrong, keep your anger in check, and finally, ask the key question: "How can we keep this from happening again?"

And it bears repeating, you should ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS have a back-up plan for the top of your show, even if it's just going on to the next story. Discuss said plan with both director and anchors in this manner, "Hey, I don't expect anything to happen, but if our lead dies for some reason, we'll go to page A4." By giving it at least a passing thought, you're ready with a plan of action should something happen. Everyone else will be ready too and things will go a lot more smoothly.

Finally, another reminder-- 10 minutes prior to the show, chat it up with editing about what's still out there. That will give you a heads up about what you might have to juggle. Producers should not be optimists. Hope the story makes it. Have a plan for when it doesn't.

One live shots, two hits

Reporters often have to do more than one hit from the same live location during the same show. Encourage your reporters to have distinct hits. Figure out the two or three things that are interesting and important about that location and split them up among hits. You needn't pack everything into one hit especially if it's a feature story. What can you show people? Maybe you use a vosot for the first hit but for the second, you arrange for a brief (two or three quick questions max) interview live and have broll rolling in a double box. Showing something that's going on live is always better than tape.Be sure to change up your shots between hits so that it at least looks visually different.

Two reporters, one live location

Sometimes you need team coverage but you only have the one truck. Avoid the hand-off. That's two reporters standing next to each other and one hands the mic to the other on air. Have one reporter toss back to the studio and make like Gumby and strech. Is there some vo you can put in there to assist? It doesn't take long to change out reporters but have some time built in because you want the photog to also change up the shot. Otherwise, it's like magic, you toss back out to exactly the same shot, but surprise, there's new reporter there. Have the photog pan to the left or the right. Pivot a little. Anything to change it up just a touch. At night, this may involve setting up two sets of lights. Can another photog help out? You may not have two trucks, but maybe someone else can donate some lights, maybe somebody who isn't doing a liveshot but is still on the clock. Maybe the overnight guy can come in a little early to help.

Join the fight against lip-flap!

Nothing says lazy like lip-flap. It's using a soundbite for b-roll. How does this happen?

That's all we got.
You're doing a story on a politician for example. You make a file request. Maybe you don't look at the file (you should always look at video before you write). Or maybe this is the only video you have and you think this is better than nothing. It's not. Instead, use the video to make a still of the person. On cam for the first graph, in still for next one or two, back on cam for a tag. Is there anything else you can use in addition to the still? File from the incident involved? File of the Capitol in our politician example? Can someone feed you 30 seconds of this person? Is there something online you can utilize? Get creative.

I see lip-flap in packages a lot too. Mostly, it looks back someone back-timed to the bite. It is o.k. when it's a second or two prior to the bite. Any more than that and it feels like a lifetime. If you see it in your show, follow up with the reporter and photographer. Did they shoot enoguh? If they are interviewing someone for a pkg, they should always get set up shots of that person. It can also enhance story telling. For example, in a story interviewing a student about graduation, if you're interviewing them at home, you might get video of them studying or even kicking back. "Bob has time for video games now that he's graduated..." Whatever. You can always find SOMETHING to shoot for an interview. Without it, you have lip-flap and a lame pkg.

Fark.Com

If you haven't checked out www.fark.com, you ought to, if only to give yourself a laugh. It's "news of the weird," submited by readers who then put their own headline on each story.

I hate to admit it, but that's also how I've found out about some really interesting stories that we might want to cover. And if you're in local, looking for a teaseable story... look no further.