What? [Story Name] is Evolving!
The stories are, of course, different--that's why it's called "news," after all--but the situation is the same: 8 o'clock hits and the producers are confronted with the daunting task of deciding which stories we want in our newscast. We come in with a clear idea of what we want, how we envision the story coming to life, how we imagine each line in the rundown appearing on the screen.
And yet, when it finally hits the airwaves, it comes out as everything and nothing we imagined.
In the road to the newscast, a story can gain different angles or insights that we don't anticipate. We'd land an interview that we weren't expecting to get, the reporter would shoot some really creative b-roll, we'd misread a press release thinking an event we wanted to cover was today, a story falls through because there's not enough exciting visuals...there are many ways the story can evolve over the course of the day, and sometimes you wish you could press the proverbial B-button to prevent it from spiraling out of control.
But it never gets to that point, if you're perceptive enough. You're constantly asking yourself, "What can I achieve with what I currently have? What could be achieved if we got this bit of video? What can we use as backup in case we don't get it?" And perhaps the most important one of all, "What will draw the viewers in the best?"
The day's circumstances certainly affect how the story will appear once it airs. Initially, we producers may have imagined, say, a soundbite, then a voiceover, then another soundbite to end. But then when the MJ comes back, sometimes he or she wasn't able to secure an interview we would've liked to see, or sometimes the b-roll is incredibly different from what we envisioned, or maybe even there's too many soundbites to use. It's all about adapting to what happens during the course of the day, and having a backup plan in case something does go wrong.
As the video teammate this week, capturing the viewers' attention with the pictures we put on television was my job. In many ways, it was my job to make sure the show got eyeballs when 6 p.m. rolls around.
About two hours before I left for the studio, I was very concerned that several of the stories did not yet have any video. And while it's one thing to put a quick copy story on the air, it gets quite dull to see the same anchor's face for a long time. (No offense to our current anchors.) Sitting down with the MJs and walking them through the available video made sure it made the newscast--and that their hard work paid off as well. I certainly hoped they learned as much as I did in the process.
