tv production 1

News Break Exercise

The News Break (or News Update) is an abbreviated newscast. These short updates can be seen between shows and may last no more than a couple minutes. However, your assignment will last approximately 3-4 minutes and will include two news anchors reading from four stories. One story will be a VO using video from CNN. The other three scripts will be Readers that can be re-written into broadcast form from other news stories. 

Procedure:
The first story of the newscast will be a VO that can be found on CNN's Newsource. Your instructor will help you find and download the video. You can even copy and paste the script that CNN provides. 

For homework:

• Write your rundown for the show, which basically can be re-used from the example given on this page.
• Write the  2nd, 3rd and 4th stories as Readers. They must be 20-30 seconds in length, otherwise, any longer and viewers' eyes will glaze over. Leave the first story blank until the day you do the assignment when you can copy and paste the script from CNN.
• E-mail the script to yourself as a Word document - so you can open it on the computer in the studio control room.

On the day you direct:

•  Using the studio control room computer, go to CNN Newsource, find a VO that also comes with a script. Make sure there's enough script so that the anchor can read an on-camera intro, followed by the VO and then back to the anchor for a one-line tag.
• Download the video.
• Copy and Paste the CNN script as the first story in your own script – make modifications as necessary.
• Copy the audio portion of the script (only the words spoken) into the body of your e-mail so we can pull up your email on the prompter computer. You can then copy and paste those words into the prompter.
• Print 10 copies

CNN Newsource
The first story of your news break will be a VO that you can get from CNN Newsource. Our NewsTeam class is considered to be a CNN affiliate, which gives us access to their video. We can use from several broadcast formats such as VO’s , NATS, and PKGS. Your instructor will show you how to use Newsource and to download media.

Required Materials: Be sure to include: 10 scripts (containing four news stories); a Rundown with CG information and your DVD-R.

The Rundown for a News Break looks like this (the length of anchor segments may vary depending on your stories). You can easily create a rundown using the Insert Table function in Word. 

  Story #                 Slug                     Talent              Production          Length               Backtime

Story # - This corresponds to where the story appears in the sequence of the newscast, and also includes opening titles, teases, credit roles, etc. A story may incorporate pre-produced video or live shots. A newscast is divided into sections, or “blocks” by the letters A, B, C, D, E, and so on depending on how many commercial breaks are used. The A Block appears before the first break, followed by the B Block, and so on.

The VO story is divided into 3 separate story #'s. The first is the on-camera anchor intro because we need to see the anchor on camera reading an intro to the story. The second is the VO itself, where the anchor continues reading over the video, and the third is the on-camera anchor tag where we see the anchor read a line or two that concludes the story. Look at the rundown example above to see how this plays out - A2 is the anchor intro, A3 is the VO and A4 is the tag. 

Tease - AX is considered the Tease, which transitions to the break and generates interest in the audience to stay tuned. The Tease should say something like, “Coming up after the break…,” or, “After the break, do dinosaurs taste like chicken! Stay tuned to find out what local chefs have to say.” 

Slug – This designates the title of a segment, which is descriptive of the story itself. For instance, a story about the reconstruction efforts in Iraq may simply use the slug, “Iraq Reconstruction.” A story about a hit and run between a car and a pedestrian may use “Hit and Run” as a slug. The slug also provides a name for that particular segment, such as “Hello” and “Goodbye.” Unlike the rundown example above, we never use slugs that say 1st Story, 2nd Story... and so on. 

Talent – This line designates the talent that will read a particular story. The talent includes anchors, reporters, interviewers, and others who may appear in the newscast. In your newscast, you will have Anchors Screen Left and Right. Anchor 1 is the screen right anchor, who will begin the newscast in the A block. Anchor 2 is the screen left anchor.

Production – This line refers to any production elements that will get used in the story, whether it’s an anchor on camera, a tape source or CG. Sometimes, stories on tape come with their own rundowns, especially if there are many CG’s involved.

Server and PSA’s

We will use the News Team Boulder opening titles from 2015, which is located on the server along with PSA's. The server operator will be responsible for setting up the video and playing it back when the director calls for is. 

Director's Cues

For the most part, we will be using similar director’s cues as we did in the interview. So review your first assignment and brush up on the terminology as best you can! We'll discuss in class a new cue that will help you roll the server - Ready roll server green, ready sound on, ready take... roll it, sound on, TAKE! Yes, you must say it exactly and always know whether your video is coming from server red or server green. 

CG

You must include the following information at the top of your rundown:

• Director/Producer
• Anchor 1
• Anchor 2

If you don’t know who your talent will be, this information can be written the day of your assignment.

Credits
We will build pages on the CG containing credits. Each page will be called for by the director. For example, when the director calls for the next CG in the credits, she will simply call out “Change.” 

Writing the Script and Teases  
One of the most important things you need to say in your script is your Hello. It should read, HELLO AND WELCOME TO NEWSTEAM BOULDER. I’M…. We’re using the News Team Boulder titles during your show’s open. Also, don’t forget to write your Tease. Write everything your talent says in uppercase.

Rehearsals
Yes, everyone gets at least one rehearsal to get through the opening of the news cast! If you’d like one-on-one help, please don’t hesitate to make an appointment with me. We can either meet before class or afterwards.

Please expect to stay until 4:30pm at the latest. 

Important –

If you can’t come to class for whatever reason do not expect to be able to make up this assignment as we will be moving on to the final assignment almost immediately. If you are ill, then I will try to be as accommodating as possible, but try not to get sick if you can help it!