video production 1 NON-FICTION PRODUCTION

News / Interviewing / Media Literacy / Advertising / Convergence / Graphics!

GOALS!

Function as a convergent journalist

Discuss media literacy, importance of evaluating news

Learn interviewing & shooting techniques

Learn the basics of persuasion and advertising

Learn new visualgraphics and editingtechniques

Produce either a high quality commercial for a fictional product or a news package

some important dates

THURSDAY, APRIL 11Current Events QUIZ & Planning Document Completion

TUESDAY, APRIL 231st Edit Day

MONDAY, APRIL 29News Packages or Commercials due at end of class!

What is convergence journalism?

Difference between hard & soft news?

What is media literacy?

What is consolidation and a media conglomerate? What are some of the biggest conglomerates?

What are the problems with having a small group of companies producing nearly everything you read, watch, and listen to?

What is media bias (& describe a few general categories / examples)?

What is sensationalism? Describe some examples!

Ptjer

Other negative media trends! (list concrete evidence here related to articles, videos, links, and other resources Ive made available)

TOOLBOX FOR NEWS SEGMENTS / INTERVIEWS

News segments must be fair and accurate, but they must also use visual & narrative techniques to keep them interesting to audiences with increasingly shorter attention spans. What can you do to make videos more interesting?

Sit-down Interview (see next page for setups / shot variety)

HELLCAT!

H -

E -

L -

L -

C -

A -

T -

Stand-ups

Walk and Talks vs. Streeters / Vox-Pops

B-roll

Re-asks / reactions

Archival footage / pictures

Reenactments

Questioning Techniques in the article on pages 57

News / Documentary Interview Tips

We've all seen documentaries and informational videos in which the interview material carries much of the information and much of the story.

Interviews are the backbone of most non-fiction video presentations. Interviews are powerful message carriers that you can easily intercut with other production elements in a documentary, such as actuality sequences, re-enactments, graphics, animation and scripted narration.

Typically interviews use talking heads (to camera) and voiceovers (to pictures). Don't confuse voiceovers with narration. A v/o is the audio portion of an interview clip laid over supporting visuals in editing. Narration is scripted information sometimes voiced in the field to camera (stand-up), but it is usually recorded in the studio by a narrator or a participant reading from a narration script to the edited documentary.

Before you shoot an interview, consider the following:

What will each interview contribute to the information flow of the story?

Will you conduct a factual or a personal interview?

How will you shoot the interview?

So, where do you start?

Pre-Interviews

Research is also about knowing your participants. Pre-interviews are critical. Visit your main characters without a camera and get to know them - what they do and how they live. With secondary characters, such as subject matter experts, a phone or e-mail pre-interview will usually suffice.

Don't feed subjects the questions ahead of time, but do tell them what you would like to talk to them about in front of the camera. This should make for a spontaneous and unrehearsed interview session.

Styling

Some of your interviews will be in-depth sit-down sessions, while others will be less formal.

Before launching into how to shoot an interview, be sure about the style of interview you have planned. First of all, will you include the interviewer's questions in the final presentation? If not, make sure interviewees know this, and prompt them to include the questions in the answers. Otherwise you'll end up with out-of-context and unusable one- or two-word answers like this:

Q: For how many years have you been managing this project? A: Fifteen.

Don't set yourself up for "yes" or "no" answers. Ask people open-ended questions; have them tell you stories about what happened. If an answer is too general, ask for examples. Ask people to describe and explain things, events and feelings. "What was that like?" Keep the conversation going by asking follow-up questions and going deeper. Dont be afraid to give the person some time to think. Dont feel like you need to immediately ask the next question.

Sit-Down

An in-depth personal interview with a main character can carry an entire documentary, as the interviewer peels back layers of the subject's life and times. A good way to approach this kind of interview is to ask your questions chronologically: "And then what happened?" Interviews with secondary characters can be in-depth as well, but they tend to be factual, as the interviewee provides context and background: "Please give us a sense of what it was like politically at that time."

The key to in-depth interviews is to listen. Maintain eye contact with your subject, and don't look down at your notes and questions. Move the interview forward by responding to what your subject is talking about rather than waiting, poised to ask your next question. Have a conversation with the interviewee. Don't let opportunities to explore emotion slip away, and don't settle for generalizations. If a subject says, "That was the worst time of my life," you need to follow up with something like, "Tell me why," or "Please talk about that."

Walk and Talk

Interviewing a subject while they are doing something can be engaging for the audience and more relaxing for some interviewees than a formal sit-down. For example, in a factual interview, consider filming an athlete talking about the importance of pre-game warm-ups while she's doing her stretches, or, in a personal interview, have a single dad talk about his domestic challenges while he's preparing a meal for his kids. Then there's the literal walk-and-talk of a handheld interview where the cameraperson moves backwards trying to keep a uniform distance from the forward-moving subject.

Streeters

Streeters or vox-pops - often known as man-on-the-street interviews in news shooting jargon - are where you park yourself with camera and microphone on a street corner, hoping somebody will stop and chat with you. These short informal interviews typically ask the same prepared questions of passersby to collect their opinions on a subject. Streeters make for short, snappy sound bites that can be cut into the doc to support (or contradict) its main themes.

The key to conducting a useful in-the-street interview is to put the subject at ease. Make it light, make it fun. Tell them what your doc is about, and ask if they would like to comment on the subject. Always give the last word to your interview subject: "Is there anything you'd like to add?"

Tip: Begin all interviews by having subjects introduce themselves on camera: full name, age and title or position, so you have that detail later for proper pronouncement during voiceovers and proper spelling for graphical IDs or even possible legal needs.

Interview by Design - Shooting Tips

Sit-down interviews are conventionally conducted in the world of the subject. Interview people in their homes, their place of work or wherever they live their lives. Interview locations should say something about the character. Your technical instincts will be to seek out an interior location where you can control the sound. But you can shoot a perfectly good interview outside in an interesting and appropriate location by using a wireless microphone.

For static interviews, consider using a unidirectional shotgun mounted on a boom stand. Bring it in from the top or bottom (great solution when you're a one-person band). Frame the interview in a pleasing way and, depending on the tone of the interview, use lighting to achieve the appropriate mood.

Don't shoot an interview with the subject sitting against a wall. You want to set up your interview shot with depth in mind. Move your interview subject well away from any background element to achieve this. In shot design, the convention is to separate the main subject plane from the background plane. In a sit-down interview, you don't want to be behind the camera. You can't have a decent conversation with the interviewee looking through the viewfinder. Get somebody to shoot for you, or lock the camera down on a tripod.

If directing, verify the framing of the interview - eye-level is best for eye contact. Make sure the shooter gives you plenty of lead or nose room in the direction your subject is looking. For the best eye-line, park yourself as close as possible to one side or the other of the camera. This way both eyes of the subject make eye contact with the audience.

Mix up your interview positions, sometimes to the left and sometimes to the right of the camera. That way, in editing, your talking heads won't all be facing the same way. Plan your eyelines so that you can cut opposing characters' talking heads together as if they were facing off with each other. Work out a cue protocol with your camera operator as to when you want her to change shot sizes. It's best to reframe during a question.

Typically, do the beginning of an interview in a medium shot when the interview is about introductory subject matter. Include interesting hand gestures. A wider shot also allows you to add a title in editing. As the interview becomes more personal and as the audience comes to know the interviewee better, it makes sense to shoot closeups, even extreme closeups, for the intimate portions of the interview.

You can shoot the walk-and-talk interview from a tripod, but I find handheld to be the best shot for a show-and-tell, where somebody is demonstrating an activity. With practice, you can develop a fluid handheld technique for following the subject during an active interview - knowing when to slide away from the face to what the hands are doing and smoothly back again. As long as your lens is zoomed out wide, you will bring back plenty of usable dynamic material.

When shooting handheld, the beginner's instinct is to try to capture everything, zooming in and out, hunting and pecking and playing the trombone with the zoom trigger. Usually this comes back from the field as uneditable material. If you need to, just shoot insert or cutaway shots afterwards to be edited in.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES for TV MOTION GRAPHICS and TV GRAPHIC DESIGN

LOWER THIRDS

BUMPERS / TITLE SCREENS

Graphic Design & Motion Graphics Terms

Opacity

Leading

Tracking

Title Safe / safe margins

Contrast

Saturation

Drop Shadow

Fill

Stroke

Keyframing

ADVERTISING OVERVIEW

What are 6 of some of the most common advertising techniques? Please also explain them

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

What is puffery?

What are demographics? (target audience?)

Video Production 1 News & Advertising Unit Video Options

1. Produce Your Own News Package!

Your task is to be a convergent reporter. Youre going to create a news segment from start to finish, including writing, shooting, editing, graphic design, and audio mixing. You may work alone or with one other person.

Your video segment will be between 2 and 3 minutes, and must end either exactly on the minute or 30 second marks (ie. 2:00, 2:30, 3:00). Why?

It can be local, national, or international; hard or soft; human interest or documentary style; serious or playful, etc. Though you have ultimate control of what you produce, once I approve it, your edited segment must have a minimum of interviews, b-roll, music, and motion graphics. Please see the rubric on the next page for more examples of techniques you can include and for more information on how youll be graded.

Here are some basic topics that you could maybe turn into a segment or spot:

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McKosky 2018-19

Students hidden talents

Holiday traditions

Exchange students

Upcoming dances

Theater productions / musical preview

Band / orchestra concerts

Reviewing new restaurants

Spring school sports

Track team behind the scenes

Student health concerns

Musician highlights

Athlete highlight

TV Show review

Campus clubs

Technology / app reviews

Dress code

Student parking lot

school cafeteria food / story

Student surveys

Holiday news

Teacher spotlights

Movies coming soon

Famous people from Seneca

City events/activities

Cyber bullying

Bullying

Peer tutors

Peoples travel adventures

Highlight the schools diversity and exchange students

Interview parents about their kids

A history of what the local area was like 100 years ago

Interview young kidslittle brothers / sistersabout school, etc.

Gym class documentary

Ask teachers questions about their school days

Social Studies Current Events

Preview of new technologies coming out

A feature on international news.

Provide information on local charities

A segment on ceramics and how a piece is made.

VO-TECH, behind the scenes

High school secretaries

Art classes / artists

SHS / IHS Chorus

Guidance counselors

Dance Team routines

New students lives

District events recap

School science experiments

2. Produce a Commercial for a Fictional Product

Your task is to produce a creative, attention-getting commercial for a fictional product. Your commercial will be exactly 1 minute long and should have plenty of varietya minimum of 10 edits. You may work individually or in groups of 2.

Think about the advertising techniques weve discussed and analyzed. How can you use these techniques of persuasion to sell a product to a target audience? Commercials should be fun, interesting, creative, and memorable in order to create a lasting impression on the audience. Campaign ads should be informative, high production value, and possibly satirical (?).

How do you get started? Think about a product that doesnt exist that you wish did. Think about a product that does exist, but doesnt do everything you wished it did. Think about what techniques youd like to use, both visual and persuasive, and work backwards to determine a product.

Video Production 1 NEWS SEGMENT / PACKAGE

SHOOTING _______ / 25

Composition (interesting / rule of 1/3s / depth)

Exposure (good contrast, not too bright or dark)

Variety of shots (mixed, b-roll, WS, CU, MS, etc.)

B-roll is used to enhance editing

EDITING: _______ / 25

Audio is clear and effective (music not too loud, voices are understandable)

Pacing and rhythm (nothing unnecessarily long; no edits for more than 20-30 seconds)

B-roll used frequently, effectively

Appropriate graphic design

Lower thirds

Title screens

Keyframing

Acceptable Fonts / Colors

Interesting uses of opacity

Layering

INTEREST / ORIGINALITY:_______ / 25

Information presented in innovative ways

Story idea is original and informative

Multiple techniques are used:

b-roll

re-asks

vox pops

photos

filters

animation / keyframing

sound effects

music

CLARITY / QUESTIONING_______ / 25

Purpose of video is clear; information is clear and understandable

Interviews are interesting and contain depth

Shows good use of open-ended questioning to hook the audience

TOTAL:___ / 100

COMMENTS:

Video Production 1 COMMERCIAL

SHOOTING _______ / 25

Composition (interesting / rule of 1/3s / depth)

Shots are controlled and stable

Exposure (good contrast, not too bright or dark)

Variety of shots (WS, CU, MS, etc.)

EDITING: _______ / 25

Audio is clear and effective (music not too loud, voices are understandable)

Pacing and rhythm create an attention-getting spotAT LEAST 8-10 EDITS

Photoshop is used

Appropriate graphic design

Lower thirds

Title screens

Keyframing

Acceptable Fonts / Colors

Interesting uses of opacity

Layering

ADVERTISING / CAMPAIGN TECHNIQUES_______ / 25

Slogan is creative and effective

Purpose of video is clear; information is clear and understandable

Techniques used align with target audience

Is professional (can still be funny) / has the look and feel of a real commercial

INTEREST / ORIGINALITY:_______ / 25

Information presented in innovative ways

Story idea is original and informative

Multiple techniques are used:

TOTAL:___ / 100

COMMENTS: