Just For TV Teachers

“He’s making a difference.”

“She’s making a difference.”

“They’re making a difference.”

Ah, that warm, sweet, safe description of those wonderful community do-gooders. Where would high school broadcasting be without it?

Please, please, please consider killing that phrase for one full year. Or one full decade. Or one full century. Never allow a student anchor or reporter to say on your show, at any time, the words “making a difference.” Try it. You can do it. It will make you feel better, I promise.

Why the rant, you mean old man, against people who give their time and energy to others, with the sole desire to make the world a better place? I am talking about a phrase here, folks, not the people it seeks to describe.

But yes, I rant, because scholastic broadcasters have worn out the “making a difference” phrase and concept. It means nothing. Nothing. Every human on the earth is making a difference. Everyone. That difference can be positive or negative, and it can be huge or slight. But we all make some sort of difference to someone else.

Broadcasting is about pictures, and sounds, and WORDS. Those words should be chosen carefully. What are you trying to say? Decide that, then say it.

GENERIC HIGH SCHOOL SCRIPT:

Anchor 1: It’s amazing what one person can accomplish with a little dedication.
Anchor 2: In our next story, you’ll meet a teenager who spends all of her spare time not in front of the television, or on her cell phone, but out in the community making a difference.

The story above is probably about someone making a difference by collecting donations for third-world orphans still waiting to be adopted by someone in Hollywood, but it could also be about a 17-year-old girl who sells “X” on the corner. She’s “making a difference,” too, isn’t she?

Cliches come and go. Some we actually create and perpetuate, and we don’t even realize it. Here’s a thought. For every story about someone “making a difference,” we could be doing a story about someone “waiting for a difference” to come into their life.

Either way, let’s make a difference in our scripts so that phrase can go on vacation for a while. It’s not the only cliche we tend to wear out, but today, for whatever reason, it’s the one wearing me out.

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Okay, maybe one of these will help you and your students come up with a good story for your next show. Maybe. I was just in a brainstorming mood, I suppose.

Nuggets, Notions, Issues and Angles:

*This Week In Your School’s History See the archives of your school paper. What was going on at about this same time 20, 25, 50 years ago? You might even find a person featured in the paper, and do a “where are they now” segment.

*Cell Phones and Carpel Tunnel Text messaging is leading to RSI: Repetitive Strain Injuries. And I thought it was bad enough they were texting while driving.

*Choking Games Some teens are playing a dangerous “game” according to an article on the teenwire.com site. This one is scary.

*Myths About College Teens Should Know These 25 myths might inspire a great story or two. I especially like number 6.

*Follow the Music. Your school’s marching band is probably the biggest group at your school. Marching season is more demanding than most high school sports, requires more time, more commitment, and has just as much pressure. There are dozens of stories in your band, I promise. It’s also provides a great shoot for visuals and sounds. Don’t overlook the story right under your uh, ears.

*’Tis the Season Allergies are making plenty of students and teachers miserable, but probably not miserable enough to stay home. What can be done to make the fall allergies a little less draining? A good chance to cover a problem and provide useful information.

*The STN Challenge If you have teams entering the upcoming “STN Challenge” contest, I guarantee you can capture plenty of emotion and stress if you do a “behind-the-scenes” story. It will also provide some lighter moments as well. The bonus for teachers is that your kids will produce a story you can use as a teaching tool in class.

*Cool, Clear Water An investigative piece that might double as a science project is to test the water quality at your school.

*WW II Heroes As PBS runs Ken Burns’ World War II documentary in the coming days, it might be a good time to find veterans of that war to discuss their experiences. Each day about 1,000 veterans of WWII war die. Getting their stories on tape now is a great way to honor them, and to connect two generations.

Okay, my brain hurts. The storm is over. Your turn. Good luck!

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Ah, the birth of the first “HTV Magazine” of a new school year, and we stumble out of the gate, as usual. It’s like summer vacation and the hot, Missouri sun dulled our broadcasting skills a bit. Just how dull? Here’s my list (so far):

*Lav mics left “on” the entire weekend. Batteries do wear out, kids. You’d understand that if you used headphones to check your audio before you drove across town for the interview.
*See, the tripod does make a difference. Uh, where’s the quick-release plate?
*Did you ask any open-ended questions that might elicit something other than one-word responses? Wait, let me re-word that: So, what were you thinking when you asked the same question to three people and they all gave you the same short, unusable answer? Hmm???
*The light was set-up for you by someone else, so when you saw how dark the person you were interviewing was, you didn’t think to move the light closer? Ah. I see. The ole digital, full-color, LCD viewfinder was lying when it looked shadowy and dark. Uh-huh.
*The wide shot. Where is it? You know, the one that shows the viewer where you are, and how many people are there? Yeah. Wide. It’s like medium and tight, only wider.
*How can you just stop recording when the running back is 10 yards from the end zone? Your cell phone? What?!?
*Seems like yesterday I reminded all photographers to take a head cleaner tape with them. Oh, it WAS just yesterday.
*You attended an event for 200 people, stayed three hours, and only did two interviews?

Yep, one of the nation’s oldest high school broadcasts is back in production, and there is really nothing new under the sun when it comes to the lessons we have to learn again every year.

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Our magazine show starts pretty much the same way every four weeks. Here’s an example of how we might start our next program on September 27. Note: The abbreviations and such are all ours. We don’t exactly follow the professionals, but we have some of their language down. Remember, we’re on tape, not live.

2-shot

John: We’re back.

Jane: It’s the 151st edition of “HTV Magazine.”

John: More stories by teens, for teens. Here’s a look at what’s coming up.

(tease–VOs by anchors, off-camera)

Jane: Texting is like breathing for some teenagers. But there are more reasons than ever to think twice before you text.

John: Her story might also make you think twice–about skydiving. See why there’s no such thing as a sure thing.

Jane: Meet the Hillcrest graduate behind those giant, high-tech graphics you see at the Springfield Cardinals’ games.

John: An Ozarks 48-hour film contest hosts its version of the Oscars, complete with red carpet and clips.

Jane: And in tonight’s commentary, one of our staffers has his say about someone’s ethnicity–his.

(back on-camera)

John: All that and a brand new “Chatroom” on the first “HTV Magazine” of the new year.

Jane: And it all starts now.

(opening sequence rolls)

So yes, we tease. We don’t have commercial breaks in our cable access broadcast, so we do all of our teasing up front. We want to get your attention, and of course, give you a reason to watch the rest of the show.

Which stories do we tease? It’s very subjective. We always have a few stories that cut it close to deadline, and if we shoot the anchor wrap-arounds several days before those stories are edited, we go with stories whose content and angle we know for sure. There’s nothing worse than teasing a story you don’t tell. “Oops, wrong angle.” It’s happened before. The anchors, news directors and line producers must communicate with the reporters and know all about the stories they are promoting.

We do go for variety, for stories with good pictures, sometimes good natural sound, and yes, we put music, up-tempo music, under the tease to move it along. We try to keep the tease script short, as you can tell from the example above. Our teases are usually one or two sentences at the most, and hopefully conversational. You don’t want to give away any big surprises, but you also want to pique viewers’ interest. For us, the target audience is always teens, so that has an impact on which stories we tease, and how.

Finally, as we get the new season of shows back into production, we have to review how we do things, and why. So a great place to start is with an article by Al Tompkins from the Poynter Institute about writing effective teases. He has a dozen great suggestions sure to help you polish your writing and approaches for teasing stories.

Happy teasing, and have a great school year!

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