how to build video content and a news segment
Christopher Wahmhoff
A VNR is a Video News Release: Many activists hope for the camera
crews to show up after sending a printed press release. Many stations
simply don’t have the time, the staff, and the resources to cover a
given story. If you do the work for them they appreciate it. If you do
a good job with good visuals and the story is of general interest, you
greatly increase your chance of getting TV coverage. The great thing
about a VNR is, if shown, you’re reaching the public interested enough
to watch a news show.
A Sound Bite & B-Roll VNR includes only sound bites and b-roll (video
about the subject). These are great to hand out to the news media at
press conferences and include with press and advisory releases.
Why Make A VNR? Many studies show that most of the public get their
news from TV. Numbers seem to be around 80% getting news from TV and
in many, if not most cases, it is either their main or sole source of
information. TV is a visual medium. Sending a printed press release
might give them your facts but TV stations really want video. For
Occupy Media Teams, making a B-Roll VNR can get the message WE WANT
out to the 99%. TV News stations like the professional courtesy of
receiving a VNR. You’ve done work that they, for one reason or
another, didn’t do. You’ve saved them money and resources. If it’s
good, you’re helping them increase their ratings. If they have a hole
to fill because another story didn’t work out, you’ve filled the hole
for them.
Let’s be CLEAR. They have NO “FAIRNESS” obligation or even courtesy to
present YOUR SIDE. Your story has to be of general interest and/or
controversial enough to increase ratings. That’s how they make money.
You, of course, want to reach as many people as possible with your
story. Give them a GOOD story to cover and they will. VNR use is
COMMON. The best ones fit in so well that most of the viewers,
including you, might not even realize the story was actually a VNR
handed to them rather than covered by their own news crew!
The VNR Package:
Sound Bites on the subject of the story. These are very short
interviews ranging from a short response of just a few seconds to a
half minute or so. Length is not a hard and fast rule but short it
must be. Each bite is a complete single thought. It is NOT a long
speech. Each person’s bites should be grouped together. At no point
should you include the interviewer’s audio or video. Ideally the
answer should make the question obvious. The person saying the bite
shouldn’t look directly into the camera but slightly to the side of
it, as if there really is an interviewer standing there. If it helps,
have someone stand there to look at and maintain eye contact with
them. The bite should sound natural and unrehearsed. Try not to move
about too much. Movement implies nervousness. If you are sitting, be
in a stable, non-rotating chair.
B-Roll: Video with “nat” (natural sound) of images related to the
story. It can be video that identifies the locale such as front of
building. Wide shot of the location. Shots of the “action” or
“subject” of the story. This depends on the story. Example might be
wide shot of protesters, the polluting power plant, site where the
parking lot will be built, video of bodies in the street, the crowd
reaction, etc.
Edit about 3 to 5 minutes of the best bites together. It can be a
single section of a speech or several shorter bites. If there is
another newsworthy speaker include a few bites from them (be realistic
about who is newsworthy). If using more than one bite put a half
second of black between each (helps them find the separate bites).
BTW, never include a bite if you think it can be used for a "negative"
portrayal. B-roll should include natural sound on tape (called NAT
sound and SOT) and be expository (useful to the story rather than just
filler).
Compress and upload the 3 to 5 minute bite to a server (can be
"public" like YouTube) but can also be a "private" server (site you
manage for example). YouTube videos can be up to 1080p. The media may
link to these in their online editions. This is especially so in
online editions of print publications and news blogs.
Compress a high resolution broadcast version you can FTP to any TV/
Radio station (radio may pull for sound of course). That has been
traditionally MPEG2 Program or Transport Streams but more recently
they're willing to accept high quality H.264 encodes (.mov or .mp4).
As soon as the video is up send a Press/Email Release with a hyper
link to the YouTube link and make clear in the body of the e-release a
Broadcast File is available (it can be by request or you can include
the link). In the e-release you can include several pull quotes (it
gives them something to look for but they'll make their own decision).
This release should go out as quickly as possible after the event and
within a few hours at most. Fast turnaround is critical for coverage
and ideally the video should be released by early the next day the
latest. Once past 24 hours, it's not current news.
On both YouTube page and in the release, identify the speaker(s), the
start time that they appear if there's more than one, start time and
simple description of each B-roll shot used if the content is not self
evident. Ensure names and locations are spelled correctly. This will
help the media identify speakers and understand the B-Roll content.
Head the e-release as you would a printed media release with brief but
descriptive title and contact info including phone and email that you
check constantly. Keep links to a minimum to focus on story and a
webpage if needed for background info.
Shooting:
1) Professional Equipment: You must use at least minimally acceptable
professional equipment. The VNR must look like it could have been shot
with the TV station’s equipment.
2) Camera on Tripod: You should have a “3 chip” or large sensor
camera, a tripod, wireless hand held or lav mic for shooting. Never
use a hand held camera for press conferences. If using an HDSLR,
record sound with a separate device and sync in post production.
3) Close Mic audio. Never use the on camera mic. Built in camera mics
are HORRIBLE for interviews in almost all news situations. If your
audio is bad the shoot is NO GOOD. For a single speaker you can use a
Lav mic. Mic on Mic Stand is good. Hand held is good for interviews.
Keep mic away from face (below chin). Have windscreen on mic if it's
outdoors or just leave it on all the time.
4) Proper framing. There should be very little head room - top of head
near top of frame. Sometimes it’s good to place speaker slightly left
or right of center especially if you're shooting at a slight angle
(nose room should take up more space than behind head). It gives the
viewer the sense the speaker is talking to an interviewer rather than
at the camera.
Compression: Compress to H264 .mov or .mp4. If you're using a service
like YouTube just upload 1280x720 and use a much higher data rate
(5000kbps) or 1920x1080 10,000kbps and YouTube will compress from your
maximum file size on down with some resolution loss.
Broadcast version should be 1920x1080 MPEG2 Transport Stream at
15Mbps or H.264 .mp4 at 10Mbps.
Compiled by: Starlene Rankin, Sacramento, CA, Member of the Inter-
Occupy Media Group/MSM Outreach sub-group, greens...@gmail.com
916-995-3805
*Thank you to Craig Seeman in Brooklyn NY for contributing to this VNR
Tool Kit! Craig can be found at the Occupy Wall Street Media Working
Group: http://www.nycga.net/groups/media/