Be Better Than You Were Last Time
The two most critical things I need to work on for the remainder of the semester are video editing and writing. As producer, it's important to know how to do a variety of tasks in the media center. This is essential when MJs come up to you and ask questions. When last-minute video needs to be edited and MJs are still struggling to complete this task, it then becomes the producer's responsibility to ensure everything is finished.
It was just moments before we were going live and there was one story that did not have video edited. I delegated this to an MJ but she, unfortunately, was not very trained with editing in Premiere Pro. This was when my expertise in editing was tested. I found myself very hesitant and slow when I was editing because I did not remember how to do some of the basics. I became very stressed and nervous, as the video needed to be sent in minutes. Thankfully, I was able to get assistance from another producer and the video was finished in time for the newscast. As a result of this, I realized I really needed to refresh my memory on how to edit footage.
Efficient editing skills are vital not only as a producer, but in broadcast journalism in general. Video is a method of compelling storytelling. If I was better with Premiere Pro, the overall atmosphere just moments before going live may have been less hectic and stressful. Video editing is all about technology and production techniques. It has an obvious technical side, however, there is also an opportunity to extend storytelling even deeper into the production process. Decisions made in the editing phase often times have a big impact on stories. Words explain but the power comes from the image.
Another area I need improvement in is writing. A love for writing is one of the many reasons I chose to pursue journalism. It's common for producers to write and finish incomplete stories and this task must be done in just a few minutes. I need to work on writing faster and not spending so much time on writing and copy editing just one story.
The most difficult aspect of writing is that facts and ethical questions are always different for each story. Each story requires a completely new approach. However, we all know that writing is the most important element of broadcast journalism. We write with images and sounds, which require their own rules of grammar and unique vocabulary. I need to focus on my clear and condensed writing skills. After all, a TV viewer can't go back and re-read a sentence. To improve my broadcast writing, I am reading newspaper articles out loud. By doing this over the past week, I have found that newspaper writing is often times very long and dry. I find myself even running out of breath before finishing a sentence, which is not what I want when re-reading broadcast stories. Reading the narration out loud will determine if it truly sounds like myself.
I need to do a better job with writing in my own voice and in a conversational tone. Sentences need to be short and if I use a long sentence, it should follow up with a shorter sentence. It's important for me to stray away from the pressure of trying to be 'clever' because too much detail can become irrelevant and therefore, the story will lose focus.
Both editing and writing skills are essential in the current job market. It seems that the market is putting less importance on the degree a person has and more importance on his/her skills. Learning to tell stories in nontraditional ways and developing different skills will allow me to become a more marketable journalist.
