He Said What?

Flirtatious: "Hey, Bank Robber? Need a ride?"

Real Mood: Megaric

Prediction: I still think at least one person is going to go for the five bucks?

My goodness it's Wednesday, the one day a semester I get Rich Westra to visit campus in what he calls, "My News Car." [HELICOPTER] He tells students today his News Car goes for close to Two Million. There's another Million Five in TV gear implanted inside.

Do you remember the addendum to my announcment that I would award 5 dollars to the the writer of the best TV story this week? I said I hoped fuel prices wouldn't  go up to 5 dollars a gallon by friday? That would make me look kind of cheap. Well, if Rich Westra wins the contest? Jet Fuel, which is what Helicopters run on? Well, holy smoke, Jet Fuel now costs 5 dollars a gallon.

"Nice story, Rich. Here's a gallon of gas!"

Well, back to the story.  Another element to a good piece of TV journalism is use of the CUTAWAY.  If I were describing an angry mob in a print story?  I might write, "the governor's remarks were met with  shouts from an unruly, angry crowd. About 500, mostly young people, stood behind police barriers where they were heard chanting TYRANT, WARMONGER."

Well, with the use of TV cutaways? As the Governor is speaking? You cover up some of his spoken words, with video of angry faces. And you blend some of the shouts of TYRANT, WARMONGER, right in with his remarks. That way you are presenting it all at the same time, as it really occured, and no need for written descriptions of the crowd.

Without knowing it, we are all trained to expect cutaways. So, bottom line, I'm going to give you some to play with. The captions with them will be what someone else is saying in the story. The picture or facial and body language then becomes part of the story.

Like Natural Sound or a really good Soundbite, the irony it presents can turn a story in a completely different direction. Example:

The Governor is speaking:

"Thanks to my administration's policies Coloradan's have more money in the bank than they've ever had before."

As he is saying that? You Cut Away to a shot of a bag lady standing in the front of his invited audience with her hand up. No words needed.

Okay, go through the pictures above and enjoy their potential for livening up your story.  

WE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ARE EVOLVING, AND SO IS THIS STORY. ON FRIDAY, THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF PaulsModestMusings, I WILL PRESENT MY VERSION OF OUR TV STORY. THEN I AM GOING TO SET A DEADLINE OF TUESDAY MAY, 4TH FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS.  BE THERE FRIDAY!

please make your story better than rich westras...i don't want to look cheap.