Updated syllabus: multimedia-reporting-syllabus-johnson
The highlights:
Wednesday October 19 – Radio script due
Wednesday October 26 – Final radio story due, and video pitch due
Wednesday November 9 – Video draft due
Wednesday November 16 – Final video due, pitch for final project due
Wednesday November 30 – Final project draft due
Monday December 12 – Final project due
Introduction to Audio Reporting:
Here are some basics you’ll want to keep in mind as you set out to collect sound:
Choose your environment wisely. Be aware of your surroundings. If you interview someone under a subway track, your recording will be impossible to understand. Pick a relatively quiet space. A little background noise is fine and adds atmosphere – except for music. Music makes editing difficult, so avoid it if at all possible.
Check your batteries beforehand. It’s a real bummer when you start interviewing someone and realize you only have ten minutes of life left on your recorder or phone.
Cell phones off. Yours and theirs. If you’re using your phone to record, make sure it’s set to silent.
Don’t forget your nats. Natural sound is a crucial element of any audio piece. Think about what sounds will most effectively place your listener in the scene. Footsteps, dishes clinking, phones ringing. Don’t be afraid to get in there and get close. Music is fine to use as a nat sound.
Don’t forget your ambi. Ambient sound, also known as “room tone,” is the background noise of wherever you happened to conduct your interview. It could be the chatter of a cafe or it could be what seems like the total quiet of an office or somebody’s living room. You’ll want to record about 90 seconds to two minutes of ambi for every interview you do so that you can run it under your narration.
Headphones in. Monitor your sound while you’re recording so you can make minor adjustments if you’re holding the mic too close or too far away. You also don’t want any background noises to show up surprisingly loud on the recording, when if you’d just been listening you would have known to turn off the air conditioner.
Ask open-ended questions. Yes or no questions won’t give you good long responses filled with usable quotes.
Get close, but not too close. Putting a mic right up against someone’s mouth can result in popping and crackling sounds on the recording. Make sure to test your equipment so you know roughly where to hold your recorder for optimal sound quality.
Keep quiet while they’re talking. Active listening is a fantastic skill for a journalist to have, but if you keep murmuring “Uh-huh,” “Yeah,” and “Sure,” while they’re answering your questions, you won’t be able to use the material. Stick with smiling and nodding.
How to Write a Radio Script
Sample script: islammombasa_johnson_2
Radio version: Raids and rehabilitation: Kenya’s dual fight against Islamic extremism
For radio, you’re writing for the ear, meaning you need to use shorter, simpler sentences than you would if you were writing for print or online.
Pacing is important. You need to keep things moving and let the story “breathe” because listeners get bored if they hear one voice for too long. Actualities (also known as sound bytes or quotes) should be no more than 15-20 seconds each. You can edit and condense them slightly if people are rambling or have lots of “ums,” as long as it doesn’t change the meaning of the quote. Your narration can go a bit longer, but keep it as concise as possible.
The purpose of your narration is to provide background information, set up your sound bytes, and then transition out of them.
Your stories should be three to four minutes long, with actualities (quotes) from two to three different interviews, and at least one or two natural sounds. (You can have multiple quotes from one person but probably not more than two, or mayyyybe three very short ones due to time constraints.)
Finally: Tutorial on Zoom microphones