Putting a Show Together

Putting a Show TogetherPutting a Show Together& News Reading & News Reading

MechanicsMechanicsCATAPANG, Kamyr A.

FERRER, John Paulo U.VIRREY, Fatima May A.

PUTTING THE SHOW PUTTING THE SHOW TOGETHERTOGETHER

Audience loyalty is important.Every producers aim is to find a winning

format and stick with it.The art of maintaining audience loyalty is

to find what the customers want, and give it to them – CONSISTENTLY.

THE OPENERSTHE OPENERS

• It is through the openers that a program wins its audience.

• The only part of a news program that is to be pre-recorded

“The most important thing is choosing something people are going to want, to talk about or to hear about.”

- JON ZILKHA, BBC RADIO EDITOR

HEADLINES AND PROMOTIONSHEADLINES AND PROMOTIONS

HEADLINES has two functions:◦At the middle◦At the end

(Reminds the audience of the main stories and help reinforce that information)

PRE-COMMERCIALS:◦A cluster of headlines designed to keep the

audience.

GOOD STORIES ALONE ARE NO GUARANTEE OF AN AUDIENCE

insteadHaving the stories and

PERSUADING THE AUDIENCE TO WAIT for

them is a way to keep them

ACTUALITYACTUALITY

This is where broadcasting scores heavily above newspapers.

If a single picture is worth a thousand

words, what must be the value of moving

pictures – and sound?

PICTURESPICTURES

Good pictures don’t just illustrate the news

– they are the news.

GRAPHICSGRAPHICS

Can do much to overcome the broadcaster’s betē noir – the difficulty most listeners have in absorbing and retaining background information while continuing to take in a steady stream of facts.

ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLEALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE

Do their best to please some of them some of the time and leave everybody satisfied.

Programme editor- decides the order of the stories

importance, interest = good bulletin

• Programme feel- key to success or failure

rhythm, pace and variety and substance

Enhanced by the way items are grouped

location and comparative weight

Segmenting can be counterproductive.

‘meltdown’ factor

transitions, time checks, thoughtful linking and headlines, presenters

‘International news now. . .’‘Meanwhile, back home. . .’‘But there is some good news for residents of. . .’‘Industrial news. . .’‘On the stock market. . .’

Rhythm and pace

Style of writing, speed of reading, pace of editing and length of each item

The Good NewsThe Good News

BBC presenter Martyn Lewis‘a relentless culture of negativity’

‘We should be more prepared than we have been in the past to weigh the positive stories…Pressure from the top traps large areas of journalism into a whirlpool of negativity.’

Presenter Peter Sissons‘It is not our job to go in for social engineering to make

people feel better’

Report the news ‘the way it is, even if people slit their wrists’

News reading mechanicsNews reading mechanics

Speed

3 words/sec for timing a script

20secs – 60words30secs – 90words

Breathing

‘Art of breath control’

Upper half of the body should be upright or inclined forward, with back slightly arched, Legs should not be crossed.

‘Every newsreader has to know that they are performing…’

Projection

Project voice or talk naturally?

Yelling is not the way to make sure every syllable is heard –

clear diction is.

Running words together, swallowing ends of words, leaving sentences trailing in mid-air

Mind-script magnetism

News Reading News Reading MechanicsMechanics

EmphasisEmphasis

Copy should be read aloud to establish which words should be given emphasis.

Example

Canada’s FISHERMEN are preparing for the BIGGEST EVER SEAL CULL in their

country’s history. The government has declared OPEN SEASON on HARP Seals.

Up to a QUARTER OF A MILLION are to be SHOT and CULLED TO DEATH as they

BASH in the sun on the ice floes off NEW FOUNDLAND. The QUOTA for the

annual HARVEST has just been INCREASED. Now any Canadian citizen, not just

FISHERMEN, can JOIN IN the seal hunt.

EmphasisEmphasis

Words can be capitalized or underlined. Some readers double underlining to highlight different degrees of emphasis.

Shifting the position of the emphasis in a sentence can completely alter its meaning and tone. This can have a dramatic effect on the story.

EmphasisEmphasis

Let’s find the difference◦ HE said their action had made a walkout

inevitable.◦He SAID their action had made a walkout

inevitable.◦He said THEIR action had made a walkout

inevitable.◦He said their action HAD made a walkout

inevitable.

EmphasisEmphasis

The common failing of untrained newsreader is to imagine the due stress and emphasis means banging out every fifth word of a story and ramming the point home by pounding the last word of each sentence.

Each word should establish it own rhythm without having a false one-stamped upon it.

Stress exists not to make the copy punchier but to bring its meaning.

PitchPitch

As well as the rhythm, the voice also goes up and down.

Some readers can sound as though they are singing the news because the voice goes up and down a lot, but in all the wrong places.

Modulation can add interest to the voice and variety to an item, but random modulation coupled with universal stress can make an audience grateful for the commercial break.

PitchPitch

UPPERS AND DOWNERSSentences usually begin on upward tone,

rise in the middle, and end on a downward note.

They are signposts to the listeners by confirming and reinforcing the way the sentence is developing and help convey its meaning.

Microphone TechniqueMicrophone Technique

Avoid popping and paper rustle.Use headphones.Different microphones.

◦The closer the mic to the mouth the more of the voice’s natural response it will pick up. “Late night presenters”

◦Standing away from the mic and raising the voice can make it sound as though the presenter is speaking live on the location.

Microphone TechniqueMicrophone Technique

The best way to avoid paper rustle is to carefully lift each sheet, holding it in tension to prevent in bending, and place it to one side.

The sound of your voice will drown out any paper rustle.

Using the prompterUsing the prompter

Projecting script on the glass in front of the camera so presenters can give the impression of eye contact with the viewer as they read the news.

Noise, noise, noiseNoise, noise, noise

Put it mildly, it can be a distraction.

Bringing the story to lifeBringing the story to life

Once the script has been written and handed to the newsreaders it becomes hers alone.

The readers must identify with the story and transform it from being mere words on a page.

Test by gathering audience reaction.News should be the same. “Bring the news

story to life.” Consider the meaning, significance,

importance and relevance plus the emotion.

When you’re happy, you smile, so when you smile,

you sound happy.