Whistle While You Work/Write While You Log

This is a tip I wish I would have come to much earlier in my career. While you are logging, let the video you are watching inspire lines. You don't have to ever use them. You don't have to force to work them in. Just try to jot down whatever comes to you while you are logging video and sound. You'd be amazed after doing this for a while how more fluid your writing becomes. And by this I mean, instead of doing a script where this come here and that comes next, it sort of organically flows from one thing to the next.

You probably have some really talented and created photographers in your shop. Look for the shot that inspired them and let it inspire you, even if you don't use the line you come up with in the final version of your script. After all, without the pictures, we're just print or radio, so the writing process shouldn't be divorced from what should be driving your script- the video.

Some examples while I was logging tonight:

0030nk Nats from welder
“Believe or not… that’s the sound of money…”

00711q 1:41:26 Decent nats of construx. Pan up of bldg to crane
“Look around New Orleans and you’ll see a skyline punctuated by cranes…”

Not Emmy material but hopefully better than I would have come up with had I just saw down with my laptop.

GRANTED your average car crash might not merit this kind of attention, but give all the stories you are writing a quick look (at the video) to see what comes to mind. There might be something small that can distinguish your writing/story/show. Put a lot of these little things together and your overall package becomes better.

Quick I-News Tip: Control T

I have just learned what "Control T" does and it is fabulous.

Control T puts the current time in your script, like so- 09:18:03. There's your incue. Presser guy says something else, blah, blah blah. Control T again and boom- 09:18:10- you have an out.

Fantastic! The next time you have to log a long, boring press conference as it happens, just have whoever is rolling on it set the timecode to the current time.

Queen of the 3 Question Interview

One thing I've noticed about people just starting out is that they ask a lot of questions in their interviews. Too many questions. When they go back to log, they have an hour and a half of tape to look through. Too much! Especially when you are on deadline! Most of us are not producing documentaries. If you do a 15 minute interview, or even a ten minute one, how much of that are you actually going to use in a minute and a half piece? Maybe 15-30 seconds, tops. So go easy on yourself and only ask a handful of questions. The best ones are the ones where your question is actually shorter than your interviewer's answer. Obviously make them opened ended. I like really broad generic questions to start. Here are my favorites:

What happened?
Tell me about...
What where you thinking? (This is the more polite version of "What were you feeling?") Or, what do you think about all this?
What happens next?

There are some notable exceptions to the short interview rule. One is if you have an emotional or exceptionally nervous interview and you need to ask a lot of questions just to get them comfortable and forgetting the camera. You may need to reask questions toward the end to get what you need.

The second is somebody important. It feels sort of wham-bam-thank-you ma'am if you are interviewing a heavy hitter and you only ask a couple questions-- especially if that person has blocked away a chunk of time for your interview.

The third exception is if your photographer has set up a lot of lights. There again, it feels sort of weird to have an interview last shorter than the time it took him or her to set up the lights. But for your average local politician, cop or mos, a couple questions will be just fine.

There is a time when you want to ask a ton of questions. Off camera. Before you get to the interview-- when you're setting it up, ask a million and take some notes. Also, before and after your interview, ask questions to make sure you have a full sense of the story. But you don't need to use the camera as an electronic notebook.