Understanding Story

by Sarah Leckie
A story is broken down into three segments: the beginning, the middle, and the end.

The beginning establishes everything the audience needs to know about the story. For example, it will give context of who, what, where, when, and why. It gives audience members the tools they need to follow the story that is unfolding and, more importantly, it allows them inside the story. The trick is not to give too much away too soon, and at the same time not to withhold information that is necessary. The beginning also provides a dramatic action that gets the story going.

After the beginning occurs, the story begins by exposing the audience to a challenge that must be overcome. This can be anything from the training process, personal difficulties that must be overcome, or the actual competition.

Once the story is established and the action started, the story becomes more complex. This is called the middle of the story. There is a rise in action and conflict, which affects the main character and gets in the way of fulfilling his or her main goal. There is no story without some kind of conflict! If a random series of things happens and it is not a source of conflict for the main character, it is not a story. It is just a narrative of events.

When people hear the word conflict, they immediately think of some type of competition. Competition is a type of conflict, but it is not the only type of conflict. Conflict is when a character or team wants something and someone or something prevents him from getting it. This is the journey of the story. An audience loves to watch someone try to overcome obstacles; they want to see the expressions, shots that show the obstacles, and then overcoming them.

At its core, a story is about a character or characters who want something and overcomes conflict to get it. As the audience listens to this journey, they ask: “Will this character get what he or she wants?” That is why we stay to listen. We wait to see if they reach that goal. Even if we know the outcome, we keep watching.

The point of a story is never about the end. It is more about your character being changed by the hard work through the conflict in the middle. Without conflict and obstacles, stories become dull and uneventful.

“We are Going to Add Show Business to Television Sports”

In 1960, when television sports were more documentary than story, a 29-year-old assistant producer at ABC Sports, Roone Arledge, wrote a memo to his boss that outlined his ideas for covering American college football. The excerpted document below became a blueprint for ABC’s coverage of sports:

Heretofore, television has done a remarkable job of bringing the game to the viewer—now we are going to take the viewer to the game!!

We will utilize every production technique that has been learned in producing variety shows, in covering political conventions, in shooting travel and adventure series to heighten the viewer’s feeling of actually sitting in the stands and participating personally in the excitement and color of walking through a college campus to the stadium to watch the big game. All of these delightful adornments to the actual contest have been missing from previously televised sports events. . .

To improve upon the audience. .. we must gain and hold the interest of women and others who are not fanatic followers of the sport we happen to be televising.

We will utilize six cameras for our basic coverage of the game. . .

In addition to our fixed cameras (using the term advisedly) we will have cameras mounted in jeeps, on mike booms, in risers or helicopters, or anything necessary to get the complete story of the game. We will use a [miniature] camera to get the impact shots that we cannot get from a fixed camera—a coach’s face as a man drops a pass in the clear—a pretty cheerleader just after her hero has scored a touchdown—the referee as he calls a particularly difficult play—a student hawking programs in the stands—two romantic students sharing a blanket late in the game on a cold day—the beaming face of a sub-stitute halfback as he comes off the field after running seventy yards for a touchdown on his first play for the varsity—all the excitement, wonder, jubilation and despair that make this America’s number one sports spectacle and a human drama to match bullfights and heavyweight championships in intensity.

In short—WE ARE GOING TO ADD SHOW BUSINESS TO SPORTS!

In addition to the natural suspense and excitement of the actual game, we have a supply of human drama that would make the producer of a dramatic show drool. All we have to do is find and insert it in our game coverage at the proper moment. And this we will do!

The moment we take to the air, we will start making the viewer feel he is at the game. Instead of the hackneyed slide to introduce the telecast, we will attempt to video tape a college cheering card section or a great college band spelling out NCAA FOOTBALL on a football field; and after our opening commercial billboards. .. we will have pre-shot film of the campus and the stadium so we can orient the viewer. He must know he is in Columbus, Ohio, where the town is football mad; or that he is part of a small but wildly enthusiastic crowd at Corvallis, Oregon. . .

Then the viewer must meet the players, but he will meet them as he would if he were at the game. This will be accomplished by using a blowup of the cover of the actual game program and introducing the individual players by means of pictures of them in their normal street attire. . .

The announcers will be as familiar with the college town, the players on the two teams, the relative merits of the teams involved, the traditions surrounding the game and the type of people involved in it as the most enthusiastic undergraduate actually present at the game.

We will use video tape recorders to enable us to replay the decisive plays of the first half during the half-time break. . .

Arledge’s storytelling game plan was adopted quickly by ABC Sports, and many networks around the world followed suit. While working as a producer at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics, he added this:

The goal of television coverage is simple. What we have to do is to make people, in a very brief period of time, know enough about an athlete: whether he’s likely to succeed or not; whether what he’s doing is particularly difficult; how he has to do it; and then whether he did it and his reaction.

Today’s television sports is no different. Story still rules. During the 2012 London Olympics, NBC emphasized story by creating what they called the “Five Rings of Storytelling”:

1. Make the audience care.
2. Explain your sport.
3. Tell it like it is.
4. Let the moment happen.
5. Communicate.

NBC Producer Andy Tennant says that “when it comes down to it, a good story is a good story, and it starts with something with heart, soul, and drama.”

The Sports Director’s Role as a Storyteller

(Adapted from Kalevi Uusivuori and Tapani Parm, Producers/Directors, YLE Television Network, Finland)

Directors must understand the way in which viewers watch television: how they think, feel, and want to be entertained. This means that the director must find ways to capture the viewer’s interest. This is best done by doing thorough homework and proper storytelling: the two keys to better coverage.

Equipment Enhancement

Equipment has played a very large role in storytelling. However, it is important to remember the priorities. “We are still in a business about content,” said Craig Silver, Coordinating Producer for CBS Sports. “The content has to be enhanced by the technology, not the other way around. We can’t just do this stuff because we can. Any good production is ruled by making those decisions: when is the right place and right time to use these tools? You always need to be looking to push the story forward.”

Fox Sports Producer David Neal echos those sentiments: “You have to use the technology as a tool for storytelling, first and foremost. Don’t let the equipment get in front of you, but, instead, use it as a powerful tool to be a better storyteller.”

Directing is Like Conducting a Symphony

Michael Narracci is the Coordinating Director of Red Sox broadcasts on NESN and has spent 14 seasons with the network. This is his behind-the-scenes look at NESN’s Red Sox game coverage.

I’ve been the director of Red Sox baseball at NESN since June 1, 2001. When I meet new people, and they ask what I do, the next question almost always is: “So what do you actually do?” I usually laugh and say, “What ever the producer, talent and host of others tell me to do.” There are many types of directors. There is the most recognizable motion-picture director, but then there are live-event entertainment directors, entertainment serials, nightly news directors, and the group I belong to: sports directors. I like to think we’re a special group of television professionals who are reliant on instinct, adaptability, and ability to deal with stressful situations. Most of the other directors are able to block their shows, rehearse, and—in some cases if something goes wrong—“fix it in post.” But live events are non-scripted, and there is no margin for error. It’s a nightly adrenaline rush, and that’s what makes it fun. So, getting back to the original question: What exactly do I do? I usually use the analogy of a symphony. The producer is the composer—he comes up with what we want to do—and I am the conductor. I try to get our orchestra (crew, cameras, audio, replay people) to make beautiful music (great TV).

My job starts with camera placement. I have to decide where in the park I want to put my cameras in order to make a great broadcast. This really isn’t as complicated as it seems. We have in the industry the “basic six or seven” cameras. They are:

• Camera 1: Low third
• Camera 2: High home
• Camera 3: High first
• Camera 4: Center field
• Camera 5: Low first
• Camera 6: Tight center field
• Camera 7: High third

After the basic seven, you place cameras where you think they will most benefit viewers. At Fenway Park, those positions are mid first, mid home, bullpen robotic, high right field, and an RF (wireless) handheld. We also have a mid third camera for select broadcasts.

Next, I have to come up with a coverage plan. Each camera has its individual coverage responsibility that it must follow in order for the broadcast to have a chance to succeed. I have a camera meeting with my crew about four hours before first pitch to explain what I expect them to do. For the most part, coverage is the same from director to director, but each adds his or her own subtle nuances. For instance, one thing I insist on is when we first see the batter, I really like to see him head to toe with the catcher and a bit of the umpire in the shot, before the camera zooms in to his face. Below are some brief, routine coverage shots for my show. It’s extremely important that everyone follows his or her camera assignments. If they don’t, when a complicated play develops, I will have no chance presenting it to the viewers.

Camera 1

• Left-handed batters
• Right-handed pitcher or low right infield defense on right-handed batters
• Trail runner

Camera 2

• Follow the ball loosely

Camera 3

• Follow the ball tightly
• Infield and outfield heroes
• Shoot anybody the announcers are talking about

Camera 4

• Pitcher/batter
• Pull on stolen base
• Follow batter to first base on a walk

Camera 5

• Right-handed batters
• Lead runner, score all runs
• Pitcher (tight) or right defense on left-handed batter

Camera 6

• Batter

Camera 7

• Ball follow tightly
• Cover right field corner

Cameras 8 and 9

• Ball follow loosely with relativity to runner

Before the season begins, I work with our creative services department to develop a variety of animated wipes (also known as “eye candy”) that we use for replays and transitions to elements such as lineups and full-page graphics. It adds a little more energy to the broadcast than just cutting or dissolving to these elements. When we get to a ballpark, I sit with the technical director (or TD) and explain our effects to him or her, so they can build the show on the switcher and other peripheral devices that we use to make the show work.

Next, I lay out my monitor wall in the truck, which is a rolling TV studio. Generally, there are between 75 and 100 monitors in the truck that we put all of the video sources available to us in. This would include cameras, tape machines, graphics, transmission router, and the other team’s broadcast (we like to look in on what they’re doing, in case our camera guys miss something). Our camera guys are our eyes in the park, so if they don’t shoot something that’s happening, we can’t see it. Our other eyes are Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy in the booth. Everyone lays out their monitor wall a little differently. I lay mine out so that the cameras on the left side of the field (third base) are on the left side of my bank of monitors, and the cameras that are on the right side of the field are on the right side of the monitor wall. The engineers can store these monitor wall settings for us so the next time we use the truck, our setup will be quicker. Time is a precious commodity on remotes, so any way we can save some is greatly appreciated.

Figure 13.1 Every director lays out their monitor wall a little differently.

Any bump in the road—such as a camera that won’t work, or a graphics machine that malfunctions—has pretty big consequences physically, mentally, and financially. Once we’re on the air, it’s my job to tell the story that the producer develops with my crew and talent. If Don is talking about the pitcher, I want to show the pitcher to reinforce the story. I also might want to cut to a shot of the pitching coach if he’s a part of the story (such as if he’s going to the phone to call the bullpen), then show the bullpen if a guy is getting up to warm up. We call that enhancement. Producer Jim Daddona does the same thing I do, but with our replay sources. He listens to Jerry and uses his judgment as to what’s the most comprehensive and educational sequence of replays. At very exciting points in the game, I start talking like an auctioneer, moving camera shots around and instructing the TD what source I want on-air to tell the story, because there is a finite amount of time between pitches and I want to be comprehensive (pitcher, batter, runners, crowd, managers, etc.). It’s a big responsibility that I have to bring the sights and sounds of Red Sox baseball to fans everywhere. We are, of course, on cable and satellite in New England, but we often are on in Japan with our partners from NHK and other parts of the world with MLB International. It has been a blast doing this job for the past 14 seasons, and I have been fortunate to be here in what has been a very successful period for the team. I hope to continue to do this for a long time to come.

(Courtesy of NESN.com)