Breaking news in video
Most of the work we’ll be doing this semester is slower-paced video where you’ll have the ability to take your time to put together a thoughtful, carefully edited final product. But you might one day find yourself in a spot news or breaking news situation where you’re filing material throughout the day as you get it.
If you are working or stringing for a wire service, they will have a system for filing footage and still images. When sending in photos, you have to enter a lot of information in the metadata fields of your editing program.
Freelance Image Metadata Fields
With video, you’ll need to file something called a dopesheet along with your footage. The dopesheet is basically a summary of what you’re sending them so they can see it all at a glance.
Information Document for AFP TV
Here is an actual dopesheet I filed on a breaking news assignment; feel free to use it as a template:
The actual video file you’ll send them (I usually use WeTransfer, although some places may have another system in place, often via FTP) will be minimally edited, but the trick is that you have to work fast. You pull out soundbites, transcribe them, and cut together a sequence of your best B-roll. Then you put it all in one video project (sound bites first, then B-roll), export, and send. It will look something like this:
Discuss: What are some of the practical considerations you might want to keep in mind when covering a breaking news event?
Assignment:
At some point during the semester, you must cover one breaking news event. You will file a video with at least two sound bites (from different interviews) and 45 seconds of sequenced B-roll, with accompanying dopesheet. The trick is that you must file it within 3 hours of wrapping your filming.
It’s up to you what you want to cover: the Queens St. Patrick’s Day Parade on the first Saturday of March (I highly recommend this one over the big official parade in Manhattan; I covered it once and I don’t want to be responsible for any of you quitting journalism), the March for Our Lives on March 24 (this should be a really good one to cover), the Phagwah/Holi parade in Richmond Hill on April 24, the Cherry Blossom Festival on April 28-29, etc. Just make sure you pick something that takes place at least two weeks before final projects are due so you’re not scrambling to get them both done at the same time.
In addition to the material you film with the school cameras, you will cover the story on social media. I’ve set up an Instagram account for our class where you will post at least one photo and three Stories updates before you leave the scene.
What makes a good journalistic Instagram post and a good Story update?
Kerri MacDonald, @nytimes photo editor, talks about her job.
Reminder: Bring your footage to class on Monday! We will be devoting both classes next week to in-class editing/production.