Reading

I liked how he talked a lot about natural sound to tell the stories and accent the dramatic build in the story. I thought it was very interesting how he said silence can be so powerful and it is worth to have in a story even though it is so hard to write it. I liked how he said you should pick a good scene or soundbite in your story and use the entire story to build up to that moment to make it the most important and relevant.

2. What is the name of the story, and on what date did it first air?

Breast cancer fundraiser gains relevance in Austin February 4, 2013

3. List and describe four instances of natural sound. 

1. the wind outside
2. the talking in the nail room
3. background noise in the interviews
4. the hugs

4. List and describe (including the type and what they are showing) four camera shots that you find interesting.

1. the picture of her family is like a rotating tight shot
2. the tight shot of the flag flapping in the wind
3. the depth shot of women getting their nails painted during the interviews
4. tight shot of painting the nails

5. Write a possible focus statement for the story (strong verbs; no “-ing” words)
Fundraiser leader's breast cancer story
6. How does this story utilize Dotson’s “Building Blocks” (from Page 68)? Discuss a few of them, please. (100 words)
The story "Breast cancer fundraiser gains relevance in Austin" uses Dotson's "Building Blocks" in several ways throughout the story. The reporter picked a scene, when the women reveals she has cancer once again, and builds the rest of the story around that. The beginning talks about the fundraiser and what a large part she plays in it and then reveals how much more of a personal matter it truly is for her and the rest of the community. Silence is used fittingly when she talks about not only her own cancer but her husbands as well. the silence between her words and phrases shows her emotion as she chooses her words and what all to tell. 

Interviewing Notes

Run and Gun Interviews:

1.  What is a "Run and Gun" interview? When can we use a "Run and Gun" interview?
When youre just shooting a bunch of informal interviews

2.  What is the first thing you should do BEFORE starting off for the interview?
Ask their permission

3.  Why do you think we should ask for permission?
Its polite, and legal stuff

4.  Why should we always ask the interviewee to state and spell their names?
So that we can pronounce and spell the name correctly

5.  Where should we place the microphone?
"Hang loose" away

6.  Should we hand the mic to the interviewee?
NO

7.  The photographer is responsible for the sound levels.  What are two things the photographer should be aware of?
1. The sound meter, making sure its at the proper level.
2. Background noise

8.  COMPOSITION:  How we should frame our interview shot:
a.  Eyes on _____third______
b.  2 Eyes One _____ear_____
c.  Camera should be Higher, Even, or Lower than subject? Even
d.  Talking space or ____nose ____ Room


BACKGROUNDS:
9. Avoid shooting in front of  _____windows_______.

10.  Why should we keep signs out of the background?
Distractions

11.  If we were doing an interview about the high cost of parking at EVHS where would a good place to interview be?
Eastview Highschool

12.  What is a demonstration interview and what are the benefits?
It gives the person being interviewed something to focus on and show off a point the story is trying to make. (requires a wireless mic)

Mudhouse Skrip

shot of coffee grinder	Grinding sounds
people standing in line shot of sign ‘Pick Up Drinks Here’ girl restocking the creamers	“everybody knows to come downtown to the Mudhouse for a great cup of coffee; but nobody wants coffee when its a hundred and five degrees.”
shot of flash reporter in front of the counter	“For coffee shops like the Mudhouse there is one way to beat the heat. And thats to offer refreshing, cold drinks.”
depth shot of girl working girl scooping ice	“You know during the summer months, we ice most of our drinks. A lot of our customers still need their caffeine fix. So you know if they usually get a latte, they'll come in and get an iced latte instead.”
Tom Mattox sitting at a table	“Pretty typically i like a nice hot cup of coffee, but ah in the summer its just really nice to come in and get a cool drink.”
Jenny Grier calling out an order and handing it to the customer and him walking away	Jenny Grier: “the double peanut butter puddle” Customer: “that’s mine”

Criss Country Runners

1st We come up with a Topic:
celebrate cross country homecoming

2nd We decide on a Focus Statement:
cross country team runs ball far

3rd:  We Conduct Interviews to get Sound Bites to use in the interview:
"our cross country team holds traditions very dear to us"

4th We Shoot B-Roll to complement the sound bites
the overhead shot of them running down the highway

5th  We Shoot our stand-up
linking shot of the girls passing the football to the guys and then the camera stopping on the reporter

6th:  We Edit our story together adding Voice Overs as Seques between interviews.
talking about the distance between schools, shot of the map

WALLDO Video

Break In Video and Stand-Ups

Answer the following questions on your blog:
1.  What is the lead in this story?  Does it intrigue you to keep watching?
"Its hard to imagine that something like this could happen in a quiet neighborhood." it intreaded me because it makes me think, "okay so what happened?"
2.  What are the 5W's of this story:  Who, What, Where, When, Why

• Heather Burg
• someone breaking into her house through the doggy door
• in a nice quiet neighborhood
• to steal her electronics
• after 4 years of living there

3.   Give an example of the reporters Voice over or seque (Write it down word for word)
The beginning of the video "Its hard to imagine that something like this could happen in a quiet neighborhood."
4.  When do we see the reporter's stand-up?  Beginning, Middle, or End?
Middle
5.  What is the purpose of this reporter's stand-up?
To take us to another spot where there was a break in of the same sort.


Write in your blog the purposes of stand-ups from the following video:

High School Reporter Stand-Ups Examples

Discuss the purposes of Stand-UPS:

• Moves the story forward
• Reporter becomes b-roll
• Take me to the scene
• Use props
• Be creative and surprise us

Make It Memorable by Bob Dostson Assignment

ASSIGNMENT FOR FRIDAY:
Regarding the book by Bob Dotson, Make It Memorable: Please read the introduction and Section One (pages 3-41). Then, answer the following questions and be sure to exceed the requested word counts:

o What do you notice about the way he writes? Use specific examples, please. (75 words)
The way that Bob writes flows very smoothly and encouragingly. He tells us how he started out and learned things himself, before applying them to his own work and pointing out every step in the examples. Like when he is talking about his story on Ruby Bridges. Bob fist shows us his entire story as a whole them breaks down all of the steps and pulls out the part of his story that uses that step.

o What did you learn from reading pages 9 to 27? (75 words)
I learned about the rule of threes and filling the silence. The non-question question is the best way to get a unique soundbite. By talking to someone just about what they are doing and steering the conversation in the direction you want it to go and let the silence go on after they have answered so that they say more to fill it. Don't throw away thoughts, because they might not be useful for your current story but they could help you out on future ones.


o With the scripts: What do suppose is described in each column? Why would it be split like that? What else is interesting about the scripts? (50 words)
In the scripts, on the right side is directions of what is going to be shown on screen, or the video parts of the story. On the left side of the script is all of the words that will be spoken. I think it would be split that way to better show the difference of what will be in the story.

o On Page 34 (and to the end of the section), Dotson writes about a long-form feature. Find one of these (a story at least 4 minutes long) on a TV news magazine such as Rock Center, 20/20 or 60 Minutes. Then, give and explain examples of how the storyteller uses the five bulleted traits Dotson gives on Page 34. (200 words)
In the story, 'Revenge porn' victim: 'My life was ruined' the scene setting was done by explaining what revenge porn is and saying what happened to the girl in the story. Foreshadowing is done by talking about the laws that the country currently has against revenge porn, which isn't much. The conflict in the story is suing her ex boy friend for posting this revenge porn all over the internet. Sometimes the pictures even had her contact information or her work information attached to them. The boyfriend claims that he never posted the pictures and that instead that his computer was hacked and someone stole the pictures and then posted them. He states that he is also a victim and not responsible for any of this. She had character growth as she learned the consequences of what she did and also working to establish a law to protect futurevictims of revenge porn. The resolution is that she believes that this should not be okay and she encourages other revenge porn victims to stand up for what they think is right. That people trying to take advantage of them in that way is wrong and there should be laws protecting them.