This exercise, will take you into the public and you will shoot a news story - You should watch the news on your local station and record the programs - then take storys apart - how long did it take to introduce the program - how much footage had natural sound and no narration - how long were the interviews - how did they sum up the story.
Your three minute story length is longer than most news story presentations, so you will be able to illustrate the event a little more explicitly - the extra length will give you more flexability and take a little pressure off of you.
Now to start - look at the local paper - and see what is going on this week - where can you go for a story. THIS IS NOT AN EXERCISE IN ORIGINALITY - USE A STORY AND ILLUSTRATE IT -
except for the last two days, on those two days it would be a better learning experience if you would simply use the paper or television news for the lead to a story - or better yet create your own story.
At first by using a well written newspaper story for your script you are going to have much of the work already done for you. You will know who, what, where, how, and why and you will only have to go get the footage and the interviews.
At this point you and the camera operator will - make a mark/tape line -where you and the people will stand. The cam op will set the lights, and you will do an audio check.
Normaly there is very little camera movement - short pans - or short zooms from head to toe - to head and shoulder shots. A two shot of the reporter and the person interviewd is most normal.
The interview itself - ask leading questions and let the person talk - you will record much more information than you need - and edit the important clips for use - The majority of the interview you will paraphrase and write concisely describing in a few words what the person spoke about.
Post interview - you and the camera operator will shoot as many details as you can remember from the body of the interview. these will be your inserted cutaways.
Finally - Take a good long shot of the area which can be used in post production and blue/green chroma screened - this shot will seemingly place you at the location - but infact you will be in the studio - You will have now reviewed the material and can use this shot for the introduction and summary of the story.
Another situation - is the news press - you are amongst a large number of professional video and newsprint reporters - and the individual is speaking to the group and responding to questions from all of them - in this case you will have placed a mike on the podium, holding a shotgun or directional mike, or using a boom microphone to capture the audio. - The camera operator will record the entire interview and you will edit out the appropriate segments later. You can call out your individual question and (hopefully) will recieve an answer. This type of interview is always high pressure - and will force you to be agressive. The camera operator will in many cases handhold the camera.
What is news - well really everything that happens is news and of interest to someone. Its not so much finding a news story as recognizing the story when you see it.
