Just For TV Teachers

The second “HTV Magazine” produced by this year’s Broadcast I students just wrapped. We split the large class into two staffs a few weeks back and each team of 15 produced a show, filing stories for our cable access program for the first time.

The reviews from the audience are not in yet. We run the show at school early next week, then it debuts on the district’s citywide channel. My reviews, however, were in yesterday as I visited with these young broadcasters. It was not pretty, at least not at the start.

There were problems, and I addressed them like any veteran teacher who spent the first semester preparing these students to do a real show: I griped. It bordered on yelling once or twice. Faces looked away as I cited specific problems, eyes were averted, and well, it was not a lot of fun for them or me.

Some things had to be said, I suppose. Here are the talking points:

*We did not find memorable characters. Almost none. It’s the cardinal sin of storytelling, I think. “News is people,” a friend who produces in St. Louis once told me, and she was right. So find interesting people.

*Video sequences matter. Otherwise, why would we spend so much time practicing them throughout the first quarter? So why, in a show with six segments, did I observe ONE sequence, one wide-medium-tight combination? Guess what we’ll be practicing next week? They will wish they were doing wind sprints instead when we get done.

*Panning is evil. It’s beyond evil when you pan without a tripod. “Hello, it’s ‘Home-movies-are-us’ calling. We really like what we saw on HTV. We might have a position for you.”

*Make ME the bad guy. When you have one lav microphone, and two business owners insist they be interviewed at the same time, here’s how you respond: “I can’t do that. I have this mean, bitter, scary teacher who will flunk me like that if I let you share one mic. Please, let’s just do one interview at a time. I’m begging you. My grade depends on it.”

So as you can tell from all that, the experience of producing their first HTV stories provided the Broadcast I kids with some excellent educational moments. I did calm down about ten minutes into my review of their work, and actually tossed out a few positives. A little sweet with the sour. They did do a good job framing interviews, they asked good questions, found a few surprising story topics, and worked well with their partners for the most part.

Next up? Another deadline for the regular HTV staff next Friday, then we’re off to the STN Convention in Anaheim, where we’ll meet plenty of professionals who will remind us of the evils of panning, and of the wonders of shooting sequences. I hope.

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It’s time for some well-deserved plugs.

Dennis Kane’s creative staff at Marquette High School in Chesterfield, MO produced a clever parody of the Super Mario game to show how you can successfully navigate their hallways despite construction on campus.

The Marquette show has been available online for quite a while, so this “convergence” thing we will all be talking about at the upcoming STN convention will be old news to them.

My good friend Lynne Sueoka, the broadcast adviser at STN affiliate Moanalua High School in Hawaii, must have forgotten to send me this link to an article on the school’s website. Just click on the box at the bottom of the page captioned, “World Record Spam!”

Read all about the effort to create what I have to call the “Musubi of the Century.” Lynne knows we already consider her our resident STN authority on all-things-spam. This should seal it once and for all.

The folks in Carlsbad, CA are an enlightened bunch. They now have a Root Beer Store in their mall. Sweeeeeet. Literally. I found out by watching the February 5 edition of their show, CHS TV Worldwide. The store has over 100 brands of root beer. If they don’t have my personal fav, “Henry Weinhard’s Gourmet Root Beer,” then they need some serious help.

Here’s a fun assignment I found on the Shawnee High School webpage. Students produce “TV Show Opening Remakes.” Take a look at a few here. It might give you ideas.

Enough plugging for today. I see the sun, which is rare lately, so it might just be a good day to go outside. Kind of a tease from Mother Nature before we head to Anaheim.

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So my Broadcast I students have been working on features for the next edition of “HTV Magazine.” These will be their first stories to be shared with our cable audience. It’s also a great chance for them to show their stuff as I look ahead to choosing next year’s staff in a couple of months. in addition, they also get a very big grade for these stories. All in all, it’s a big assignment, with a lot of pressure.

Since the class has 29 students, we divided into two groups. The group that just finished did segments for HTV #144. The others start next week on HTV #145, and they’ll have until February 15 to submit their final packages. I’ve been overseeing this little show since 1989, and every year, I am amused by the things my rookies do on their first stories to make their jobs more difficult. For example:

*The group that arranged to shoot a story about a dairy farmer on one of the few days he wasn’t milking–he was doing required testing, and well, they came back with not a lot of compelling video, and no opportunity to go back for more.

*The group that shot interviews with a tripod, but decided using the tripod for the b-roll was just not necessary. Too much steady footage is a bad thing, I guess.

*The group that interviewed using a stick mic, figuring it would capture good audio while it was held four feet from the subject. It didn’t. We only have six lav mics sitting around waiting to be used. (Yuck, you have to ask them to clip it on under their blouse or shirt, which takes like 13 seconds)

*The group that interviewed young kids and asked questions that solicited those insightful, one and two-word responses: “Yeah.” “It’s fun.” “Uh-huh.”

*The group that had a reporter too shy to ask for interviews, and a photographer who thought panning and zooming were okay.

*The group that picked a topic with no concern for visuals. “We’ll get some good bites, and we’ll have a story.” Oops, it’s TV, not radio? Seriously?

*The group that lined up two of their main interview subjects directly in front of windows.

Okay, I know it’s all part of the learning curve. They will do better now that they know better. Thanks, all you Dr. Phils out there who think I’m being hard on the kids.

It’s not that I am mad at them for making rookie mistakes. This one is on me. I’m the one who taught them how to do a story, right? But I think I’ll let them off the hook, and let their teacher off the hook as well.

The thing I have decided after 18 years of teaching broadcasting is that nothing teaches you better than your mistakes. When you pop the raw footage tape in and start watching video that shakes, is backlit, has poor (or no) audio, or interview questions that have nothing to do with the focus of your story, somehow it makes a much bigger impact on you than the teacher ever could.

Of course, none of those “learning moments” will prevent the critique that’s coming after the entire class watches the show. Those are the moments I live for. See you in class, rookies!

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