Notes to students

As described on the home page of this site, a goal of this course and Television News: The Heart and How-To of Video Storytelling is to prepare students for entry-level work in television news.
The larger ambition is to help you see the flexibility of video storytelling skills in providing you with career flexibility. Moreover, I hope that this book will help you to use your intellect, creativity, skills, and a sacred commitment to truth in a career that will make our society better and our democracy stronger.

Chapter Outlines

You will find chapter outlines at this site that will help you navigate the content of the book where you will wrestle with the definition of news, evaluate news value, and find the heart of a story. From there, you will develop more advanced skills in reporting and video editing. Inside the book, you will see quotes from news professionals all over the country who started their careers in classes like the one you are in now, and who want to help you develop as part of the next generation of journalists.

The Video

The website that accompanies Television News: The Heart and How-To of Video Storytelling begins with an overview of a television newsroom, courtesy of WCYB-TV in Bristol, Virginia.
The following video links supplement your study of Chapters 5–7 in the book.

Chapter 5: The Basics of Shooting Video

The Web video that supports Chapters 5 will move quickly in the study and practice of shooting good video. As you press the record button for your first shooting assignment, you should hear these tips in your head:

  • Hold the camera still
  • Fill the screen
  • Count to ten
  • Think in thirds—tic-tac-toe
  • Lead room and headroom
  • Avoid profiles
  • Avoid pans and zooms
  • Get plenty of shots

 

Chapter 6: Shooting Video II: Beyond the Basics

From the shooting basics, you will move to mastery of artistic principles in shooting video and use of cutaways and sophisticated sequences. You will be able to practice cutting on the action, shortening long actions into shorter ones, and using cutaways to cross the shooting axis.

Chapter 7: Video Editing

The downloadable video that accompanies this chapter provides you with two advanced exercises where you demonstrate your ability to simplify complicated information into broadcast style and support your written story with editing that produces compelling video stories:

  1. A hypothetical national news story where you use information from the end of Chapter 3 to write and narrate a script, choose a sound bite from the video footage provided, and edit a news package with downloadable B-roll.

 

  1. Use your creativity in editing a nat sound package about a woodworker that tells his story through interview clips and lots of quality video B-roll.

 

Glossary

The book glossary is included at this website for your convenience in reinforcing your understanding of important terms and definitions.

We wish you the best in your journey through this course and throughout your career adventure.

Teresa Keller, Author
Brent Treash, Website Producer