February 6, 2012
Today marked my third week of producing a live newscast for News 20 at 5. Here's a brief synopsis of Week One and Two..
- Each week is a different learning experience. During the first show (January 23) I finally understood what the process of producing an entire thirty-minute newscast entails. Time management is very critical. The second show (January 30) ran more fluid than the previous week and included less errors. Overall, going into this evening's production, I felt very comfortable.
The morning started off slightly slow, with the crew and myself scrabbling for newsworthy package ideas. However as time progressed, more news began to unfold.
The three reporters were assigned the following pkg's
1. Joe Biden speaks at Florida State University
2. A shooting and stabbing on Wanish Way
3. Florida A&M President James Ammons annual Presidential Review by Florida Board of Governors
The rundown quickly began to fill up with good quality and timely stories. By three 3:00 p.m. majority of the scripts were completed and the reporters were busy editing their footage. We were successful in printing all scripts by the 4:00 p.m. deadline.
During pre-production several issues arose with video encoding into the server. In the A-block, I had to float two packages due to minor problems with encoding. Both made it back into the rundown later in the show, however became a huge problem with show timing. Two E-block VO's were dropped in order to go off air by 5:30 p.m.
Overall, this week's experience provided me with knowledge on how to react to sudden and important issues while on air.
Next week's goal: Finish scripts and video well before deadlines in order to prevent last minute problems. Most importantly, pay attention to small details!
