Live Shots? Producer, please!
Watch the news on any given day and you'll notice reporters and anchors tossing back and forth from the studio to locations all around the region – or world. These shots provide context to stories, give visual a visual background for Reporters and allow for better logistics management in the newsroom. But here at ATVN, a mixture of a limited budget, complicated equipment and tight staffing make live shots an extra fun adventure.
Unfortunately, this week fell vicitim to equipment failure, and our Wednesday broadcast wasn't able to have a live shot. There was a great opportunity for one; a live shot outside of Dodgers Stadium with fans celebrating the pending sale of the team would have been perfect. Alas, live shots are one element of broadcast news that completely rely on the availability and functionailty of equipment. We weren't so lucky this week.
But last week we were! With a Red Flag warning in effect and with wildfires threatening to spark across dry areas in the Southland, we sent our weather anchor Danica Ruberti to the top of the Hancock foundation to give her weather forecast remotely. The shot had great signal, was cued perfectly and went off without a hitch. It was one of the smoothest live shots I've seen at ATVN. There was one problem, however, as there was no wind down at USC. As Danica was explaining the fire danger, conditions couldn't have seemed more calm. Of the live shots I've been fortunate enough to be a part of, I'd say the biggest lesson I've learned is to no give viewers a reason to question why we're doing the live shot in the first place. Here, with no wind, viewers were given an obvious opportunity to question the need for a live shot. Basically, if we're worrying about wind, there better be wind in the shot. It's something we're trying to focus on in the coming weeks.
