Friday reading

1. What do you find most interesting about what he says on these pages? What stands out as particularly useful to you as a storyteller? (75 words)
I think the most interesting thing Bob Dotson says is to keep natural drama. I feel this is really true, and makes sense to me as a viewer and potential writer. When people see an action, they're going to want a reaction. Nobody like as bad ending, so make sure in stories to not cut out the natural drama. It seems very usefull to me because it'll retain the viewers attention and pleasure when they can see the reaction to the action.
To answer the rest, you must visit the site for Boyd Huppert’s Land of 10,000 Stories (http://www.kare11.com/news/investigative/extras/stories.aspx). Pick two that look interesting. Watch them. Then, pick one of those and answer the following prompts about it, please:
2. What is the name of the story, and on what date did it first air?
Minnesota police Chief Lights up Social Media May 5, 2013
3. List and describe four instances of natural sound.
Computer keys, cars driving, Rain on wind shield, Police scanner.
4. List and describe (including the type and what they are showing) four camera shots that you find interesting.
Inteview shot through door Depth, Depth shot cop car driving to alley, Wide shot of house, cop and civillian, medium shot angled of population sign.
5. Write a possible focus statement for the story (strong verbs; no “-ing” words)
Officer brightens reputations.
6. How does this story utilize Dotson’s “Building Blocks” (from Page 68)? Discuss a few of them, please. (100 words)
To begin, This story uses words to create three idea that stick in the viewers mind. Reflecting on the video, the three ideas are that the cop was friendly and had trouble keeping his hand on the wheel, he is always posting on Facebook, and he helped a homeless person. With pictures, the story uses sequences of wide medium and tight shots. For example there are a couple shots of the Population sign of Kenyon, All which get tighter to the sign. Natural sound is used a lot in this story. Whether it is the keyboard keys or the cars on the highway or the noise of the police scanner. This story does agood job with highlighting the building blocks of stories

Interviews

FORMAL INTERVIEW:

1. Show up early, set-up and put mic on chair
2. Run Mic Up shirt
3. Reporter should distract and make a connection
4. Photographer is listening in headphones
5. Frame up shot: Eyes on Third, Talking Space/Nose Room, Cam Eye Level,
6. Photographer gives signal: Clears Throat... to signal he/she is ready for the interview to start
7. 1st Question is always State your name and spell it...
8. Open Ended Questions
9. Last Question is always "Is there anything else you want to say"
10. Shoot Cut Aways of Hands or Reporter


Copy and paste the following questions and answer them on your blog:

Run and Gun Interviews:

1. What is a "Run and Gun" interview? When can we use a "Run and Gun" interview?
Not planned, opportunity to interview somebody with one or two questions
2. What is the first thing you should do BEFORE starting off for the interview?
Ask for permission.
3. Why do you think we should ask for permission?
Its polite, legal aspects.
4. Why should we always ask the interviewee to state and spell their names?
For lower thirds and checking the sound
5. Where should we place the microphone?
Out side the camera or a hang loose away.
6. Should we hand the mic to the interviewee?
NEVER
7. The photographer is responsible for the sound levels. What are two things the photog should be aware of?
Sound level, 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 _____window_______.

10. Why should we keep signs out of the background?
Draws audience attention to it
11. If we were doing an interview about the high cost of parking at EVHS where would a good place to interview be?
In the Parking Lot.
12. What is a demonstration interview and what are the benefits?
Doing something as you interview, you have an action along with the sound bite

Interviews

Start with conversation, nothing to do with topic.

First thing to do, Have interviewee say first and last name and spell it
for mic check and beable to spell lower thirds.

Last thing, ask if there is anything left to add.

Avoid verbal responces, headnod and smile, audio can't be cut out.

Don't be afraid of silence.

Script of Mudhouse

Stand up: everyone knows to come downtown to the Mud House for a great cup of coffee, but nobody wants coffee when its 105 degrees"

Nat sound of coffee shop

“You know during the summer months we ice most of our drinks, you know most 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."

“I probably come in here two or three times a week. Usually. Maybe less, but, max like three times a week."

"We'll pretty typically I like a nice hot cup of coffee, but uhhh in the summer it’s nice to just come in here and get a nice cool drink."

"I read a lot of medical books and herb books and they said drinking coffee can actually cool you down, then drinking cold sodas and stuff. It just takes ya, it does something to you to reduce the heat of your body. And it seems to do ok."

 

__________________________________________________________________________________

Stand up in front of Coffee shop window

Various shots of coffee shop: Hot sign, tight shot; Brewing coffee, medium; Mudhouse bagged coffee, medium shot; Fan, tight shot, blender, medium shot.

 Pouring drink into cup, tight shot.

 Medium shot of costumer drinking and sitting.

Interview of worker shot

 Interview shot of costumer

Tight shot of pouring coffee

Two menu shots, tight

Placing lid on drink, tight

Interview of Worker shot,

Linking shot from customer to shot on final product of drink

Story shot list and summary

Disappearing jobs: Video store closes shop
TRT: 2:58

1. close angled shot of video Verite sign
2. Wide, slight depth shot of store
3. Medium shot of Marc Mohan, dvd scanning
4. Interview shot of Marc, Medium
5. Low shot of video verite store sign and door
6. angled shot of dvd stands, medium
7. Medium shot of woman browseing videos
8. city for conquest movie, tight shot
9. More movies, tight shot
10. low tight, dvd rental sign
11. Lady looking up for movies
12. Medium of selecting movies
13. Medium of interview of marc
14. Angled, medium/tight shot of open sign
15. Medium slightly opposite of marc scanning dvds
16. Depth shot of customers browseing
17. dvd stand medium/tight
18. suggestions comments tight shot
19. Interview marc
20 Wide shot of movies and costumer
21. Angled/depth of dvd rack and costumers wide
22. Dog low shot
23. Woman buying dvds medium
24. woman w/ dvd's browseing, medium
25. Interview of Julie keefe medium
26. angled medium of dvd rack
27. Wide shot of Julie checking out
28. Julie interview
29. Medium of Julie viewing video cover
30. Low wide shot of Julie browseing dvds
31. Wide, shot out side of rainy day
32. tight angled shot of "most dvds 2.50" sign
33. tight of Marc w/ computer glow face
34. depth of marc scaning videos
35. marc interview
36. depth shot of sign and marc
37. wide with marc and store
38. Tight of dvds marc? grabing them
39. tight of marcs face.
40. Wide of store
41. interview marc
42. angled depth of costumer with box of dvds
43. medium of marc computer and costumers
44. depth of marcs hands checking out costumer
45. Depth shot of dvds
46. same content different angle
47. interview marc
48. Medium of door into the store
49. night shot of the door

There is a lot of trends and patterns of the shots in this video. There is always a shot that they videographer returns to. In this story it seems to be the shot of costumers browsing for the muiltitude of DVD's and videos. They will typically show as shot of the costumer browsing then a new shot such as a sign of the store and then a type of interview. Finally, they will resort back to the shot of a costumer once again looking for videos. The same shot of the interview is used to give the viewer a sense of order. By establishing a common thread or shot, it allows the viewer to feel connected to the story. Even though they don't know whats coming next they still are able to recognize repeated shots.

Story line

Stand up #1
 shot of fan
hot sign
voice over stand up #2
ice scooped shot

Shot list b roll

Guy at tabel centered
guy at computer, right third
Line at counter
we roast our own coffer here at mudhouse sign : angled
Hot! sign
Mud house  coffee bag
fan
creamer moved by worker
worker --> pick up drinks here linking
Filling cup with coffee
lift my lid
toilet lid
menu shot
closer menu shot
Depth shot of the cups and the worker
another toilet lid shot
hanger? and toilet lid
toilet lid w? dog
drinking depth of lady and friend
sitting down and talking with drinks close up
grinding coffee machine and packing it down to make a cup of coffee--> close up then worker shot  linking
over head shot, pouring coffee into blender, penut butter in blender, milk added, scoops of something, ice added and scooped, Blender turned on,
end of program ready, and replaced, poured into cup + whipped cream, straw and given to customer.

Soundbites and stand ups

"You know during the summer months we ice most of our drinks, you know most of our customers still need thier caffine fix. So you know if they usually get a latte they'll come in and get an ice latte instead."

"I think we come... I probably come in here two or three times a week. Usually. Maybe less but max like three times a week."

"We'll pretty typically I like a nice hot cup of coffee, but uhh in the summer its nice to just come in here and get a nice cool drink. "

"Well I have got the iced mud puddle, right here, one of their classics. Its got uh vanilla and let's see, mocha, a little bit of chocolate mixed in there and uh mix it all up with some ice and its a good, good drink,  a little whipped cream and tops it right off

"I read alot of medical books and herb books and they said drinking coffee can actually cool you down, then drinking cold sodas and stuff. It just takes ya, it does something to you to reduce the heat of your body. And it seems to do ok."

Stand ups:
#1 "everyone knows to come downtown to the mudhouse for a great cup of coffee, but nobody wants coffee when its 105 degrees"

#2"For coffee shops like the mudhouse there is one way to beat the heat and thats to offere refeshing, cold drinks."

#3"Another great thing about the mud house is that once you get your drink and sit down, there's alot of great artwork"

Story notes

This is how a story is put together.

1st We come up with a Topic: Relaying the football for home coming

2nd We decide on a Focus Statement: Cross country team relays football 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: Running down the high way, over head, linking, to compliment the Audio.
5th We Shoot our stand-up Through a linking shot, in the middle of a pass of the football to add in some more information.
6th: We Edit our story together adding Voice Overs as Seques between interviews: Give added information to tie the story together.

WALLDO movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm9bU_gJrfI

Reading #2

Read, in Dotson’s book, pages 43 thru 55. Respond to what you read, and use these questions if you get stuck: What strikes you as interesting? In what ways do you agree or disagree with him? How does this fit where you are as a writer, and how will it help you become a better one?
(100 words minimum)
Something that strikes me as interesting is that in order to get a reaction from the viewer, the news relies on images rather than florid writing. Great stories are like onions, they have many layers. When one is telling a story it is important to highlight the universal emotions, love, hate, happy, sad. Try to get all of the viewers connected. Even if they're from different educational or ethnic backgrounds. Also its important not to overwhelm the viewer with information. Metaphors are a good way to enhance your speaking and build tension. In order it keep your viewers attention you've got to keep them interested. To do this it's important to avoid cliches and other trick sayings, write with an active voice, group things in threes, build little surprises every where into the story or little moments of fun.
So, Dotson highlights the following:
- How to defeat the TV remote control
- Be conversational
- Gobbledygook and clichés
- Active voice
- Write in threes
- Surprises

Read this story and watch this one (a bit of a sports theme this week). Write two paragraphs (one about each) that explains how the story uses/handles at least three of these aspects. Give specific examples (100 words in each paragraph, so at least 200 total words).

This story is about doing the right thing. When $50,000 is on the line, and a set of twins buy one ticket, you know problems are about to rise. This story uses a couple of ways to keep the readers attention. First of all, the writing is very conversational, but not the point where it detracts from the story. The reporter does a great job of writing in threes. A couple of examples, one at the very beginning are, one, "The puck was three inches wide." Two, "The hole in the plywood was three-and-a-half inches wide." Three, "The kid and the stick were 89 feet of ice away." another application of the rule of three is seen when the family does the right thing. One the Vikings, " brought the whole family to a game," two, let them hang out on the field," three, "put them in a VIP box." The rule of three is almost everywhere in this story.

In the story of the Aho's football dynasty, there is a great use of ways to keep the viewer interested. Surprises are everywhere, bits of humor, bits of interesting facts and pictures make this story what it really is. When the interviewer ask how many boys they have, there's a pause, the conversation that follows is humorous. another time when one of the boys walks in late, and everyone realized they had forgotten he was missing is also a pleasant, humorous surprise. Which brings us to another way they try to keep the viewer's attention. They are very conversational. Everything they talk about is light and easy to comprehend, but in a way that it isn't a shallow story, still very interesting.  The rule of three is applied when the reported explains that the Aho's have had 24 years of "Kneesprains, grass stains and night games."

Stand ups

Answer the following questions on your blog:
1. What is the lead in this story? Does it intrigue you to keep watching?
An shocking event in a quiet neighborhood,Yes it does.

2. What are the 5W's of this story: Who, What, Where, When, Why
Heather, a breakin through a doggy-door, Denver quiet neighborhood, two weeks ago, to get $

3. Give an example of the reporters Voice over or seque (Write it down word for word)
It's hard to imagine something like this could happen in a quiet neighborhood, but there was  a place about a block away where another breaking occured.

4. When do we see the reporter's stand-up? Beginning, Middle, or End?
In the middle, in the neighborhood

5. What is the purpose of this reporter's stand-up?
To show where another breakin occured.

Move sotry forward
Reporter becomes b-roll
Take me to the scene
Use props
Be creative and suprise us

Make it Memorable

o What do you notice about the way he writes? Use specific examples, please. (75 words)

Bob Dotson writes like he tells stories, "Simply, clearly, skillfully". He is very comfortable in his ability to tell stories. Because he is so good at telling stories he can also tell other people how he tells stories so well.  With examples of his short stories put into the text, Dotson captures the reader’s attention and keeps them tuned into the book. In his advice for the reader he is clear, and concise making it easy for the reader to understand.

o What did you learn from reading pages 9 to 27? (75 words)

In reading the pages 9-27 I learned that, story writers have it tough. They have a ridiculous schedule almost all of the time. In order to get good sound bites there’s important practices to follow. First of all, silence, let it grow in the interview. The rule of three is there are usually three answers the interviewee gives, you want the last one so be patient. Finally, the practice of the non-question/question. This is a way to get the interviewee to talk in a way that’s his/her own. Write the middle first, don’t throw away thoughts, find central characters.

o With the scripts: What do suppose is described in each column? Why would it be split like that?

One is the script for that a-roll (audio) while the other is script for the b-roll(video). This makes it clear and easy to see what needs to be filmed and what each person, whether they are a videoing or interviewing, needs to do.

What else is interesting about the scripts? (50 words)

Everything is written out in detail, lines of script are just short, usually just a couple lines at maximum. Even the emotions like laughing or staring off into the distance is recorded. Also, different fonts are used throughout the script in code for extra information that might be missed. Lots of trail ins/ outs are visible ellipses (…) build suspense and make the reader focus on what’s being said.

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)       

Carjacked by Alleged Boston Bombers

Scene setting: The first few words from the news caster’s mouth are something like, imagine the fear you would have if you were carjacked, and you were still in the car. This is the story of the man whose life changed in an instant, when the Alleged Boston Bombers stole his car, and kidnapped himself.

Foreshadowing: It talks about how he sat in the car listening as they talked about anything from girls, to what they were going to do next with the bombs now in the back of the car. This is his story of the pivotal moment in the Boston Bombing saga.

Conflict: Without this man being kidnapped and escaping, it is still likely that these suspects could still very well be out on the loose. It all started when he pulled over to send a text message from his I-Phone. He was confronted when he rolled down someone knocked on his passenger window and he rolled it down. The suspect unlocked it and stepped inside.

Character Growth: During the carpool with criminals, the conversation revolves from how cool his car is to death threats. He receives a call in which he speaks Chinese with his friend. The suspects tell him if he speaks in Chinese they’ll kill him. So he says in English, I'm with friends I’ve got to go.

Resolution: The car runs out of gas, they pull over to get it and while waiting he makes a break for it. He, sitting next to the older brother unbuckles his seat belt and sprints for the next gas station to call 911. Giving police necessary information to find the criminals and eventually catch them.

Changing identity

1. Identify and explain as many WALLDO shots as you can.
Angled shot of piano. Low shot of Noah and dog, going down stairs. Linking shot from wind chime to Noah. Linking from Noah to his mom. Depth of toaster.
2. What is Natural Sound?
Natural sound is the sound that you would expect to be heard in the enviornment you are filming in. (water running near creek, basketballs bouncing, shoes squeaking in a gym, ect)
3. Identify several examples of Natural Sound in this story?
Dog and and outside sounds, toaster done with toast.
4. How does Natural Sound enhance the story?
It gives an outside kind of peaceful feel. It provides some realatablilty to a story that many people are not familiar with.

Waldo Notes

Wide shot: A shot to set the stage, it should have all of the subjects and objects
Angled shot: An angled shot of an object to get a 3D feel, makes the viewers eyes move across screen the screen. (Rather than a straight on shot)
Low shot: A shot from lower than the subject to get a different view of the subject. Get Down!
Linking: A shot that starts on one subject and them moves to another person or object using a pan or other movement. Able to tell two stories in one shot.
Depth shot: A shot with an object in the distance and close to the camera focus on a far away but leave object close in shot.
Opposite shot: A shot filming the back rather than the front of the subject or object. Action re-action as well.