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.