Assignments that Focus the Story

This article is about creating student story assignments that work. A clear, focused plan will give your students confidence at the start and save you problems in the end. Each story assignment should have its own study guide which includes a brief focused assignment, 3-5 suggested newsmakers, and of course the five magic questions (which you will learn more about later.) The assignment should be no more that two paragraphs and include the main theme while explaining the story’s importance.

To demonstrate what I am talking about, I want to use a specific example of a story produced by Bath City Beat reporters. I arranged for our student reporters to tour the studios of the NBC owned TV station in Detroit, WDIV-TV4. The tour was to be brief, 30-minutes at tops, but the station agreed to let the students do a video story for their own student show, Bath City Beat. Because the students were prepared, they charmed everyone, and instead of a 30-minute tour, they received with a 2-hour mentoring session. They were thrilled.

The Assignment:
This is the written assignment the students received:

WDIV-TV 4 has invited the Bath City Beat crew to tour its studios. Explain to viewers various career paths for a job in broadcast journalism and what that job might be like. Produce a 3-5 minute BCB story using the WDIV studios and personalities.

Research WDIV on the web at http://www.clickondetroit.com/. Know the personalities, with titles and job descriptions so that you will be prepared for second choices if your primary newsmakers are unavailable. Ask the technical engineering staff for an air-check tape to use for b-roll. Plus shoot your own b-roll: wide shots with activity and lots of close-ups of hands operating equipment and computers and faces talking, listening, and reacting. Have fun and smile often.

The Story Focus
In the first paragraph the focus of the story is clear: the many career paths for a job in TV news so that students (and adults) can find out what to expect if they pursue such a career. The students know that the story is short, 3-5 minutes long.

The Generic Reminders
The second paragraph of the assignment is somewhat generic and can be tweaked for use on many different projects. First, I identify a research point, preferably a website, so that students can inform themselves of the background of the story. It could be a promotional video or brochure, even the public library or Wikipedia. I tell students that they are searching for things of interest to shape into a story. In many ways, they are like a predator and the better they know their prey the more successful they will be at collecting story parts. I coach them where to look for things of interest.

B-roll
Before reinventing the wheel, students might try to see what material the newsmakers already have. Ready made material, like air-check tapes, promotional videos, TV commercials, or even home video of company parties or events are useful. Sometimes all a student has to do is ask for it.

Then I remind them to look for two types of b-roll shots: wide shots and close-ups. I remind them to look for activity in the wide orienting shots. People moving into and out of the shot, people together working as a team, all of these will orient the viewer as to the location of the story.

The close-ups make the story intimate and about people; these close-up also can help in editing when you need to cover up any problem with other video. Close-ups are good video band aids. Faces and hands are great close-ups.

Faces are stories in and of themselves and since students always capture natural sound when shooting b-roll, it is fortuitous to sometimes get that perfect sound-bite that takes the viewer from voice-over to sound-on-tape. Wear head phones when shooting b-roll and ride the audio controls for clear sound.

Hands are natural story-telling devices. They tell the story of work: the work of operating a computer keyboard, a telephone, a camera or connecting cables. All tell the story of unique, competent, interesting, working hands. These shots with a well-constructed narrative make a compelling story.

The camera should rarely move with b-roll; let the action move within the camera shot. A tripod is not necessary but a steady shot is. Use available walls and counters for stability. Forget the zoom unless you have a clear post-production idea for it. And of course, have adequate pre-roll and post-roll footage (see Phil Harris’s articles regarding this detail).

The Newsmakers

I arranged for interviews with several employees of WDIV and told them that the students would interview them about how they got into the industry and what advice they might have for students interested in becoming TV Journalists. It is much easier for the teacher to make the initial contact with a newsmaker, but often times the planned interview is canceled and the student reporter will need to find a replacement quickly. Each reporter should have done enough research to make quick judgments on location.

Newsmakers need to be: knowledgeable about the story, willing to talk on camera and reasonably articulate. You don’t want your interviewee to be camera shy or answer “yep” and “nope”. Teachers can run interference for students by trying to select appropriate newsmakers ahead of time, but students need to be prepared to step up and make the interview happen on location. Surprisingly, there were individuals at WDIV who did not want to talk on camera – and they work in television no less. My students are always prepared to interview and to be interviewed.

This is how I identified the prearranged newsmakers at WDIV to the students:

Neil Goldstein – Vice President and News Director
Mr. Goldstein is the Big Man at the station. He recently came from NBC offices in New York. He is excited about student reporters being the future of television news. He is very, very busy so make it a focused, short interview…unless he warms up to the idea.

Mathew Triplett – Assignment Manager
Mr. Triplett manages the stories. He is committed to helping students. He will tell you personal stories.

Jeffery Liebman – News Operations Manager
Mr. Liebman manages the micro-wave trucks, helicopter, etc. He has offered a tour of the helicopter. Think of a segue inside the helicopter.

Rachel Bianco – Reporter
Ms. Bianco was our initial contact. Her father teaches broadcast journalism to high school students and he loved Bath City Beat. She is our host and likes your show. Be sure to be gracious and not wear out our welcome – you may get invited back.

Ta-Young Johnson – Photographer/News
Mr. Johnson shoots a lot of Ms. Bianco’s stories and he is impressed with the editing on Bath City Beat. You can get technical with him.

Bill Townsend - Engineer
Mr. Townsend manages the live feeds from studio, satellite, and microwave. He would be the one who can get you air-check or promotional tapes.

The Five Magic Questions

I designed these questions as a fail-safe interviewing technique for beginning students who were unsure of their narrative voice. These questions are not intended to be the only questions, but rather stock questions for a student unsure of the subject matter. In fact, these are more ideas than questions. Over time, however, students have come to find these idea/questions have universal application, are open ended, cover most subject matter and can create a compelling story without the need of a narrator. To many, they have become the five magic questions that can be pulled out of their hat at a moment’s notice. These questions are in two groups: the fact questions and the opinion questions.

The Fact Questions 1-2-3:

Who, what and why. 1) Who are you and how are you involved in “x”? 2) What is “x”? 3) Why is “x” important? These are the first three magic questions.

Who:
Who you are and how are you involved in “x” identifies the newsmakers in a way they want to be identified and explains how they are involvement in the project. You can take the graphic ID right from this question. But sometimes a student will assume someone is the president of an organization when that person is actually the acting-president or a student may have been told that the interviewee is the founder when that person actually sees herself as the facilitator. These nuances are important to a well-crafted story. Don’t assume, simply ask. Students will give the interviewee the opportunity to be humble on tape but provide, at the same time, a power graphic like “President and Founder of xyz”. If a student is thrown into an interview with a strange person, it is always reassuring to have magic question #1 at the ready: “So could you please tell our viewers who you are and how are you involved with all of this?” It even works if you have no idea how to describe “all of this.” Your interviewee will do it for you: after all, it is his project, he should be able to describe “all of this”!

What:
And if the newsmaker doesn't quite describe what “all of this” is, ask again. “What is all of this?” Individuals describe ideas, event, people and places differently. For our purpose, there is no wrong answer. The fact that students collect diverse opinions through interviews will make the story more interesting. Each newsmakers has a different idea about what it is they are working on and that diversity creates interest in the story. Since the story will be assembled in the mind of the viewers, each viewer will add personal references of their own in ways they could not have if there was one, absolute certain, description of the project. Ambiguity is good with feature news stories. Viewers personalize the story. With hard news stories, ambiguity is conflict. Both drive the drama of the story.

Why:
The same for why. The importance of a project, idea, event, people or place is personal. There may be an institutional reason why something is important, but all newsmakers describe that reason differently. This diversity of descriptions will provide creative tension in the story and make the story more memorable. By putting these diverse perspectives and opinions into the story the student will give the community a special voice – a diverse community voice.

The Opinion Questions 4-5:

Best and Proud. 4) What do you think is the best part of “x”? 5) What gives you the most pride in being involved in “x”? These opinions are intentionally personal and give the newsmakers an opportunity to tell their reasons for being involved.

The Best:
The best part of something may not be obvious to a casual observer but our interviewee is not a casual observer: they are a newsmakers. Each newsmaker will probable have a unique best part. This adds more flavor to the story and everyone enjoys talking about their personal favorites.

Most Proud:
Pride of accomplishment forces individuals to discuss the impact of “x” on a broader community. It also allows the newsmakers to personally describe their own pride and what they see as their particular contribution to the project. It is also a great way to end stories: on a personal note.

Watch the finished video

So to recap: 1) Focus the assignment and do a little teacher research yourself. 2) Select good storytellers for your students to interview. 3) Use the five fail-safe questions. 4) Constantly be on the look out for stories.

Good hunting!