Introduction to Television Reporting

4.Packaging

(This is the Fourth article in the Ten part series on 'Introduction to Television Reporting', this series is part of an online course taken by CBA)

Packaging is the art of pulling together all the different elements: video, audio, interviews, script and pieces to camera. Packaging will turn these into one coherent piece that works seamlessly for the viewer.

To package a news story effectively means using every craft skill well. All of the modules on this course will feed into this overall need to create a good package.

Before you start a story

The moment you start to cover a story, you must be very clear what your story is about.

·         What is the issue or event involved?

·         Who are the people involved?

·         What is the explanation or resolution of this story?

·         What are the facts to report and questions to ask?

If you are going out in the field to produce a news story or feature with original footage make a wish list of ideal pictures & audio & interviews that you would like to shoot. List the specific sequences you would want to film. List the people you like to interview...and so on.

Write this list down in your notebook – and check it several times during the day to cross off what you have and look at what you still need.

Even though things will change, this planning will pay off.

Of course once you arrive at the scene, whether it is a press conference, a demonstration or a news feature, there will be things you didn't expect or know about. Your list is still useful because it gives you guidance and ideas. Because you have already thought about the story, you will be able to include these new elements or modify your original plans. So be flexible and be prepared.

Story structure

It may sound like an obvious point, but never forget that every news story has a beginning, a middle and an end.

You don't have to tell the story in that order, but there are always three parts, so think about them carefully.

A good method is to start with the strongest pictures to grab the viewer immediately. These pictures might come from the end of the story or even the middle. Then you can explain the events that led up to those pictures.

To get this idea, think of movies you have seen and how many movies plots were not necessary telling a story in chronological order.

The only rule is to tell a clear story and connect with the viewers.

Tell one story

You will be able to tell a clear story by telling one story. This will help you achieve clarity and organise all your material. By deciding this one story, it will be easier for you to write your script.

Your audience

Always address the question of why this story matters to your viewers. What elements of this story will they be most interested in? What are the key interviews for your audience? What is the message that you want your audience to take away with them?

Never stop asking yourself these questions.

Create transitions

Make your script flow by creating transitions between sequences. Transitions can be created in a number of ways; by using natural sound; by starting the audio from the next video sequence over your script from the previous; or by writing into the interviews or vox pops before we hear them.

Your piece to camera (also called a stand up) can be used to create a transition between different locations or the passage of time. This works well when using your piece to camera as a bridge between two parts of the package.

Reporter involvement

An effective news story has a strong sense of reporter involvement. After all, the reporter - you! - is the person who is there and telling this story.

You can add personal touches of your own observations. This will reinforce the sense of "being there" for the audience. You can describe the atmosphere, tense or calm. You can describe the feeling of heat or cold or the smell of the salty sea. There are many ways to share with your audience.

Finally, the reporter often has experience of other similar stories he or she has covered and this background knowledge can add to a script. Use your experience to provide some context to a story if that helps.

A Few Tips

·         Provide your audience with a sense in place in your shooting and pieces to camera by describing and showing them the scene

·         Pieces to camera or stand ups can provide a sense of place

·         'Less is more' as we learned in the Scripting module – shorter scripts with lots of natural sound and time to watch the video are more effective

·         Always shoot sequences with matching close ups, medium shots and wide shoots as we learned in the Shooting module – the more material you have to work with in the edit, the better

·         Use library (archive or agency) material as well as you use the material you have shot yourself. Script it and edit it just as carefully.

·         Remember that the journalist is not the story – the journalist is there to tell the story.