This is a short training module setting out the basics for creating a news package for TV. It’s been created for those starting out in TV journalism. We have embedded a pdf of our training presentation at the bottom of this module. You have the option to open it in full screen or download and print it. We hope you find it helpful. Let us know if you have any questions by using the contact form.

No pictures, no story

The golden rule for all TV news is “no pictures, no story”; pictures provide the “what” – words provide the “why”.

Storytelling in pictures

• Three skills are necessary: Reporting, camerawork and editing
• You need at least a basic knowledge of all three
• The guiding principle: let the pictures tell the story

First steps – what is the story?

• Who is the subject?
• What are they doing?
• Why, and what is their motive?

Research – the evolution of the story

• Find out what has happened
• Uncover the who, why, when, where, and how of the story
• Ensure you understand fully all the elements

Next steps – plan your news-gathering

• Be sure you know what story you want to tell
• Discuss it with your camera operator
• Decide what shots you are going to need

How the elements work

• The hook – grabs the attention
• The context – gives essential background
• The unfolding – the details of the new story
• The wrap – reiterates the main points or throws the story forward

At the scene – get enough shots

• Anything showing action: arrivals, establishing shots, walking shots, noddies, cutaways, sitting-at-a-desk shots, interesting locations etc
• Film faces, especially those showing emotion
• Avoid getting to the edit suite without the shots you need

Interviews – what are we looking for?

• You will need only one or two short clips
• What will tell the story best? Emotion, analysis, an eye-witness account?
• Be neutral in your tone

Interviews – the skill is in the questions

• Don’t ask questions that can be answered with yes or no
• Don’t ask two questions in one
• Use the old favourites: who, what, when, where, why, and how

The stand-up – a.k.a. piece-to-camera

• Why are you doing it?
• How does it help with the story-telling or the editing?
• If it is really necessary, keep it short

Back at the office – consult and agree

• Make a shot-list
• Show your editor the pictures
• Agree on the treatment of the story

At the edit station – choose the pictures first

• Identify the shots which best tell the story
• Decide their optimum length
• Choose the right sequence (not necessarily in which they were recorded)

Editing dos

• Make sure each shot joins up smoothly with the next
• Keep points which attract the eye in the same area of the screen at changes
• Remove anything that can be cut without damaging the flow of the story
• Make a shot list of the finished edit
• Try to let the pictures tell the story
• Let the images speak and add as few words as possible
• With walking shots, end with them walking out of the picture if you can

Editing don’ts

• Don’t use the same shot twice in a package
• Don’t use jump cuts
• Don’t use the first question from an interview – start with the answer
• Don’t start or end a moving shot with a static shot
• If you cut away from an interview or a press conference, do not go back to it
• Don’t use noddy shots in edits; it could come across as agreement
• Don’t split clips and use them out of sequence

Packaging – putting it all together

• Understand – the story and the pictures you will need to tell it
• Capture – action, emotion, atmosphere, editing shots
• Discuss – agree the treatment with your editor
• Edit – use pictures to tell the story
• Script – add as few words as possible to complement the pictures

The post Constructing a news package for TV first appeared on Media Helping Media.

While delivering a training course at a TV station I noticed that all the packages were made in exactly the same way. The reporters would go out with a camera operator, shoot some footage and get an interview or two. They would come back to the office, decide what interview clips to use in their package and start typing.

The scripts they wrote would have worked fine for radio or newspapers – but they had no connection with the pictures. Apart from the interview clips, all the other pictures they used were just wallpaper behind the reporter’s voice.

This misses the point of television reporting; let the pictures tell the story, wherever possible. Here’s one way of making a TV package by thinking first about the pictures:

Pictures come first

When the pictures have been ingested into the system, make a shot list then show the editor the pictures.

Which are the most interesting shots? What is their optimum lifespan (in seconds)?

What is the right sequence to tell the story? (It is not necessarily the order in which they were recorded)

Do you have a good opening shot? Do you have a good shot for the end?

What is the best place for your stand-up (piece-to-camera) if there is one?

Agree with the editor how the package is to be put together and the key elements of the text

Agree the target length of the package.

Now do your rough cut. Each shot should be as long as it is visually interesting.

Do not use the same shot twice in the package, unless there is a compelling reason to do so (helping with the edit is not a compelling reason).

Does each shot join up smoothly with the next?

The points which attract the eye should ideally be in the same area of the screen at each shot change.

Avoid jump cuts.

If someone is walking, try to end with them walking out of the picture (especially if they are in the next shot in a different place).

With moving shots, only use the moving part, not the static beginning or end.

If you cut away from an interview or a press conference, don’t go back to it unless there is a good reason to do so (helping with the edit is not a good reason).

Don’t use the first question in an interview – start with the first answer.

Watch the finished edit carefully. Does it flow, is there anything that can be cut without damaging the overall package, is there anything missing, is it visually effective?

Now write a shot list with accurate timings.

Now write your script.

You might want to read our training module on ‘How to create a broadcast news package”.

The post Letting the pictures tell the story first appeared on Media Helping Media.

This training module was written for journalism students in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. They were studying broadcast journalism, and in particular creating news features for radio. Many of those attending the course had no previous journalism experience or training.

How to make great TV and radio packages

Structure, timing, and letting the interview breathe are all essential elements for ensuring a general TV or radio news package works.

These are the packages where you introduce the audience to an issue and explore multiple elements of the story through interviewing different people.

It’s also important not to cram too much into an item, perhaps just three points.

And try to avoid noddies (shots where you, the interviewer, nod and which are edited in later) and walking shots for TV, they are overused and boring.

Try to think of original shots and sounds that will capture the attention of the audience.

1: Clarity

Before you start, have a clear idea of how long your finished item is likely to be and roughly how much footage of your interviewees you are likely to use.

2: Format

Map out a structure for the piece and try to work out a likely order for the interview clips and which points they will address.

3: Main points

Try to limit yourself to three main points for one item.

4: Use of interviewees

Make sure each of these three points is addressed by a different interviewee.

5: Review

Listen or watch the interview in full from start to finish at least once in order to ensure you haven’t missed anything. Take notes of the time on the recording of each potential interview clip, the words that begin the clip and the words that end it.

6: Coherence

When you have repeated the process for all the interviews in your piece, return to the structure you have mapped out and see if it is still coherent or if the order of interviewees needs to change.

7: Strength

Try to put the strongest interview near the start of the piece.

8: Selection

When you are selecting interview clips, choose ones which give opinion over ones which relay only information; information which is not controversial can easily be summarised by you in your linking commentary.

9: Pace

Try to leave a pause at the start and end of each clip. Life isn’t breathless; neither should a radio or television package be.

10: Clichés

In television avoid using noddies and walking shots to illustrate your material. They are the mind-numbingly boring to look at and do not make best use of the medium.

11: Editing

Avoid cutting excessively from the answer (such as taking one part of three seconds from the start of an answer, three seconds from the middle, and five from the end). This sounds and looks unnatural, misrepresents the interviewee, and is excessively difficult to process for television interviews.

12: Context

Never take an answer from one question and use it in response to another. This is gross misrepresentation.

13: Commentary

When you are writing commentary to link the clips together, try to avoid using the same words at the end of your text as the interviewee says in the beginning of the clip ie. : John Smith said he was delighted.. [John Smith] “I am delighted …”

14: Summaries

In TV and radio journalism, your package may often be mentioned in a news bulletin in the form of a clip before its broadcast slot. When writing the introduction for that clip, avoid summarising everything that is going to feature in the clip.

15: Positioning

In television reports, try to stick to the convention of alternate interviewees being on opposite sides of the screen. (First interviewee looking left to right, second right to left, third left to right etc.)

16: Voices

Try to avoid running two clips back to back without a commentary in between. Where this is unavoidable, for example in the case of vox pops, try to alternate between male and female voices. The reason for this is to avoid confusion.

17: Titles

Always make sure that you have the correct title for your interviewee and the correct spelling of their name. This is particularly important for TV captions. If they have a particularly long job title, agree a shortened version before you return from the interview.

18: Ending

Try to avoid ending a report with a clip of one of the interviewees. In TV this looks untidy. In radio, it complicates life for the studio presenter. It also gives one side or another of an argument the last word.

19: Answers

If you are editing an interview as a stand-alone item, try to put as much of the non-controversial information in the intro or lead-in to the item, and always make sure the intro ends with a question and the piece begins with an answer to that question.

20: Options

For stand-alone interviews, always give an option of an early ending, with a shorter duration and the right out-words. This will help the production team in case more urgent news breaks or they need to cut back your item.

Related training module

Preparing for and carrying out an interview

The post How to create a broadcast news package first appeared on Media Helping Media.

If the editor-in-chief of your news organisation is out of the country, she or he should be able to browse your news website and, by looking at your story choice and treatment, have a good idea about the news priorities of the entire news organisation.

Your website will probably share the same news schedule as your broadcast or print colleagues. You may share reporters and correspondents. Some have a combined planning team.

When stories are discussed for TV, radio or print, someone from the online team needs to be present. They need to sit in on news meetings and suggest interactive elements for all the big stories. Their role is to come up with ideas for presenting information in ways that can engage the audience.

The duty editor needs to ensure that the material that appears on the news website cross-promotes other news output areas. If the website is part of a broadcasting organisation with TV and radio news output, it will be expected to display the best of the material produced by the broadcasters, along with supporting in-depth background information.

The news website should include details of when that item can next be seen on TV or radio. This is particularly true where your news operation has uncovered valuable, exclusive information and has a special programme, or a special report, running on TV or radio.

The cross-promotion can be shown as a text link signifying when the next opportunity for watching or listening to the news item is scheduled, or it can be a box offering some or all of the material from the TV and radio output. For news websites offering video and audio on-demand, cross-promotion is essential.

Managing all these resources so that they enhance the news website and the stories that appear on it, is one of the main functions of the online duty editor. It is also important that the audience finds the same facts online as they hear or see on air or read in print. They must not be given mixed messages.

Liaising with other departments

It is important that the duty editor has a system for letting other departments know which stories the online team is investing time and resources covering. This usually begins with the daily news meetings. The chances for cross-promotion on air, on screen, and in print, will be far greater if the person in charge of the editorial content on the website lets the editors of other news outlets know what the online team is creating.

Some news operations have a shared folder on the organisation’s computer system where the various elements of a story are added so that all are aware of what is being created and what is available. Some have a superdesk system where representatives of all outlets sit together and share knowledge. Whatever the system, the duty editor in charge of the news website should tap into this resource regularly.

TV and radio producers will need to know when an interactive element is likely to be ready so that they can promote it in their programmes. They will want to know when the interactive team is in place to take feedback from users online. They will need to know when a guest is being lined up for an online interview.

All these elements need to be brought together by the duty editor and offered to all outlets in good time for them to include a mention in their output. It is pointless for a news website to organise a talking point on an issue if the duty editor hasn’t told his or her counterparts about it.

As you inform these outlets, be ready to consider their suggestions. The other editors might have excellent ideas about what should be created online. Keep an open mind. Be prepared to try new ideas if they will enhance the output.

News agenda

The duty editor of a news website must check every decision to ensure that it is in the best interest of the news brand and its users. Examining motives is essential. There have been hand-over meetings where the incoming duty editor has decided to change the front page completely.

This is justified if the previous front page was an inadequate reflection of the news, but it is not justified if it is to try to make the incoming duty editor look good. There have been stories that have taken hours to create, removed from the front page after appearing there for less than an hour. It may be, however, that there is so much breaking news that there is no room for everything.

The news agenda must:

• include all the main stories being covered by the rest of the news operation.
• exploit all resources and effort being committed to covering the news.
• reflect the strengths of your organisation’s newsgathering effort.

The news agenda is not:

• the chance for the in-coming duty editor to look good.
• an opportunity to play with news to appear clever.
• an excuse to deploy inappropriate interactive elements.
• a news product isolated from the rest of the news operation.

The duty editor of a news website has an enormous responsibility. She or he needs to be clear about why news items appear, and why changes are made.

The post How to set online news priorities first appeared on Media Helping Media.