Constructing a Package (2)

An understanding of the rudiments of film direction is a valuable asset to any reporter. This has not always been the case. When news items were short and uncomplicated it was scarcely necessary. But now that some reports qualify almost as miniature documentaries, the need has been created for better technique. Formal training is increasing, though not necessarily fast enough, and those still waiting should aim to learn all they can working alongside their colleagues in the camera crew.

The grammar of pictures

Despite the general simplicity of its approach, news filming tries to conform to accepted pictorial grammar. Audience understanding of technique has been stretched over the years by what has appeared on the big and small screen, but the conventions should not be broken unless they further enhance understanding.

In particular, do not expect to tell your story effectively through an assemblage of single, unrelated shots. Always think in sequences leading the viewer progressively towards the action: long-shot, mid-shot, close-shot.

Picture composition

Few professional camera crews will like it if you insist on looking through the viewfinder before every shot. But that should not stop your journalistic eye being kept open for good backgrounds which help tell the story, or for errors in picture composition which might have been overlooked in the haste of news gathering. Try not to let interviewees appear to sprout trees, lamp-posts or other objects from their head as they speak. Look out for spectators creeping into shot or other background goings-on while the crew are absorbed in their work.

Be aware of what is written on walls over interviewees’ shoulders or behind you during a stand-upper. It could be seriously offensive or inappropriate. Don’t be tempted to take risks because it’s in a foreign language. Someone will understand it, even if you don’t. The same goes for street signs and advertisements which could distract the viewer during your report. The safe rule is: if in doubt–find another wall.

Sound

Television is two-dimensional. With the picture goes the sound. ‘Natural’ sound –‘effects’ in this context–is often under-used by reporters who scarcely pause for breath, preferring to fill every available second with their own voice or those of interviewees.

Listen for any opportunity to make use of the natural sounds of life. They will give your work an extra quality. Some stories are simply better told by limiting the talk and letting the sound speak for itself.

 

image

Basic camera shots

Think in picture sequences, not unrelated single shots. Long shot (1) shows the whole of a human figure; medium shot (2) shows from the waist up; medium close-up (3) shows from the chest up; close-up (4) shows head and shoulders.

 

Package example

STORY: the installation of a new computer system aimed at easing traffic flow in a particularly busy part of Britain.

WORKING TITLE: COMPUTER TRAFFIC.

 

PROPOSED DURATION: 3 min 30 sec.

 

OUTLINE TREATMENT: find out the reason for the project, see those at work on it and ask for their opinion of its value; contrast the beauty and tranquillity of the surroundings with the subject–traffic noise and congestion.

 

INGREDIENTS: shots of traffic (recent archive material if necessary); computer being installed; monitoring equipment; building and grounds; interviews with project leader; piece to camera; electronic graphics; voice-over commentary.

 

INTRODUCTION: by Presenter in studio, with map to show location.

 

ORDER OF CONTENTS:

1.Voice-over commentary to accompany recent archive pictures of traffic congestion in area (planned duration 15 sec).

2.Piece-to-camera (stand-upper) in grounds explaining how a former stately home has become a centre for the planning of road-building and traffic control (planned duration 20 sec).

3.Voice-over commentary to cover exteriors of building (planned duration 25 sec).

4.Interview (one answer) with project leader (planned duration 30 sec).

5.Voice-over commentary to show other staff at work collating information (planned duration 20 sec).

6.Natural sound as computer operators monitor traffic flow on video screens (planned duration 25 sec).

7.Voice-over commentary showing reverse angle of computer operation (planned duration 10 sec).

8.Second part of interview with project leader (planning duration 30 sec).

9.Summarising voice-over commentary showing restored part of building (planned duration 15 sec).

10.Final piece-to-camera on bridge overlooking traffic (planned duration 25 sec).

 

SEQUENCE DURATION CUMULATIVE COMMENTARY
1 12 sec 12 sec The planners say no-one could have possibly forecast the growth in traffic volume over the past few years. But they agree the time has now come to adopt a new approach to road-building.
2 21 sec 33 sec Here in the grounds of a nine-hundred-year old estate less than two miles from one of Britain’s busiest motorways, the roads of the future are being planned. The government has invested more than fifteen million pounds in a computer which will calculate future trends from current traffic flow. The hope is that traffic jams will become things of the past.
3 25 sec 58 sec In the time of the Norman Conquest The Lodge belonged to a local baron who hunted boar across its extensive grounds. Probably the only sounds were those of laughter and merriment as the lords and ladies of the house feasted on chunks of roasted boar meat in the shade of the splendid oak which still dominates the front lawn. The irony isn’t lost on John Smith, who’s in charge of the project.
4 30 sec 1 min 28 sec ‘One thing we simply have to get right…’
5 20 sec 1 min 48 sec Installation work on the computer is still continuing, and the project proper won’t begin until test programs have been run. But there are signs that the experts will have no lack of information on which to base their future calculations. Traffic volume has already increased by almost one per cent in the few weeks since they have been here.
6 25 sec 2 min 13 sec ‘I think we should have camera four moved to give a better view of that bridge, Brian. What do you think …?’
7 10 sec 2 min 23 sec But what guarantee is there that all the expense and effort going into this new project will result in forecasting which will be any more accurate than in the past?
8 30 sec 2 min 53 sec ‘Well, of course there can be no guarantee. What I can say is …’
9 17 sec 3 min 10 sec On the evidence of the splendour in which he lived, it’s not hard to feel envious of the Baron. Nor of his successors who strive for a sensible solution to a problem of society’s own making. No-one will begrudge them their comfortable life-style if they find it.
10 30 sec 3 min 40 sec The sceptical motorist down in these traffic jams is unlikely to be convinced, however much money is poured into projects like this one. No-one pretends traffic forecasting is easy: the price of oil, the drive towards a pollution-free atmosphere and the volatile Middle East all add to the uncertainty and have an influence on the number of cars on our road. What I do believe is that hunting wild boar from the saddle couldn’t have been much more tiring than driving home from the office along the crowded M180.
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