As I mentioned earlier with the Interviewing reflection, editing is also a very important process. If it is sloppy, your audience will notice. And they may specifically dislike you because of it. They may think that you (the reporter/editor) doesn't care (see Henry the turtle rant below) or that you aren't good at your job. You want your editing to be fluid as well as clear. You want your audience to be there and see it as you saw it. This makes your story more believable as well as captivates your audience more.
Interviewing is a very important part of the news package. If your interviewing is bad or boring, you won't be able to make your story interesting. This makes it harder to edit, as well as draw your audience in. For example if you ask someone, "Is there a new turtle at the zoo?" They might say just, "Yes." However, if you were to ask someone, "Is there a new family member at the zoo?" They would probably respond more lively. They might say, "Yes. We have a new turtle. His name is Henry. He is 12 years old." And right there you have more to edit in your story and this makes it easier to draw an audience in. Something else that is very important, you HAVE to be interested in what you are doing. Continuing with the zoo story, if you were attacked by a turtle as a child and hope all turtles are dead, then maybe you can let a co-worker do a Henry the turtle story. Because, your not interested. It has nothing to do with you being close-minded, it is your opinion that you don't like turtles, so you may not to be able to as good of a job as you normally could.
Disclaimer: No one/turtles were harmed in this story. As a sound technician, I am very involved in sound. I want it to sound good, and for the audience to enjoy it. Sound is the tricky one. If you are filming on an iOS device, they have quality microphones so that the sound sounds crystal clear, however, the mics can only pick up noise from a certain distance. If you are standing 10 feet away from the subject, (you shouldn't ever be that far away, just an example) your mic will pick them up, however they will be very faint, and it will not sound pleasing to your viewers.
Shooting (with a camera) is very important to do right, and do it right the first time. You need different angles to express different points of view and keep your story interesting and in depth. For shooting on an iPad, some important things to remember...
Make sure you don't cover the camera or microphones with your finger. This can ruin your whole project if you don't have good footage. There isn't too much footage. When recording footage, it is always important to get a lot. That way, if something turn out to be bad, then you have a backup. Hold the iPad from the bottom corners. This makes it easy to grip, as well as it doesn't cover microphones or the camera. Give the subject space to talk. When recording footage, make sure that if the camera is on the right side of someone, they are in the right side of the camera. This uses the rule of thirds. If your subject is looking at the camera and standing in the center it looks very awkward. Those are just a few tips. Good luck! As mobile journalists it is our job to tell a good story that is important to someone. That is why everything leads up to storytelling. You have to make your story interesting to draw your viewers in, and you have to keep them in by keeping the story interesting. To tell a good story you need a concept that you can keep true to, as well as something that you can turn into a story. It has to be in depth, you can't walk on camera and say for example, "This is a Cat." and then be done. You will have people come to the story because they Google, "Cats," but that doesn't keep them entertained. Realistically you could say, "This is a Cat. Her name is Bob. She sleeps all day..." Actually talk about the story and get involved in it.
With the research we have to be knowledgeable on the topic we are doing our interview about long before we go. This helps us ask better questions, which then makes the interview more interesting. This all relies on the interviewer knowing what they are talking about. Reporters who are not knowledgeable on their topic have far less interesting stories. As a reporter you have to captivate your audience, and when you can't entertain them, you aren't doing your job well.
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AuthorIan Mason Archives
December 2016
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