33 Part Two: Live Coverage

Live Spot News

In this age of instant information, the ability to go live from any major breaking story is essential. Breaking stories that usually get live coverage include major fires, shootings, car-bus-train-plane crashes, natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis), and so on. Most stations have extensive plans for how to cover big stories such as these, but they all follow two basic rules.

1. If more than one crew is being sent to the event, the first crew is responsible for shooting to document the event, and the second crew on the scene is there to set up for the live shot. 2. If only one crew is available, it quickly records

enough footage to air about one minute of ed- ited video, and then returns to the van to set up the live shot.

The pressure to do two things at the same time can be intense; the desire to cover the story has to be weighed against the need to get the story out first to beat the competition. This is one of the great moral di- lemmas in TV journalism. The ultimate success or fail- ure to balance these two concerns rides on the location of the live van at the scene. If the news photographer can anticipate the situation on arrival and know whether any particular parking spot will allow for a signal to be set up, then the story can be shown live or recorded from the same location. The ideal situation is to set up where you can see the event or disaster area and leave the camera on the tripod rolling while you set up the signal and run the cables. Even though this is a two-person job, most stations only staff a live truck with one shooter-engineer. Once hooked up, the cam- era feeds the event live to the studio where it can be re- corded as well as taken live at the producer’s call.

If the van is parked under power lines, or thick trees or tall buildings are between it and the only re- ceiver available, then the station could be at a serious disadvantage. In extreme cases, jobs could be lost over the failure to get a signal out. The greatest pressure in television comes during setting up a live shot from a major spot news story. Without a clear battle plan as to how to pull it off, the story can turn into a night- mare. However, if you can get set up in record time

and get good pictures as well, then you will most cer- tainly be a hero.

Another concern in the location of the van is prox- imity to the story. You need to ask yourself questions such as these:

1. Can I safely raise the mast from this spot (any overhead power lines)?

2. If I have only 300 feet of cable, can I get the camera to a good vantage point?

3. Am I blocking a roadway or emergency vehicle route?

4. Am I too close and likely to be caught in a dan- gerous situation (such as a brush fire) so that I will have to move quickly?

5. Are the authorities going to let me stay here? The wrong answer to any of these questions can ruin your shoot or even cost you your life in the case of the power lines; always have a backup plan.

What the producer wants to see is the event or lo- cation itself. Sometimes this might mean being on a hilltop overlooking the site. At other times, you might have to settle for just seeing the SWAT team suiting up, because the street is closed and access is denied. The main thing is to see action. If you cannot show the actual story, show the next best thing. Most of the time, the live shot is a subject in front of the camera. You should be able to zoom past the subject into any- thing happening in the background as the reporter talks about it. Be prepared to ride both the iris (try never to use auto-iris) and the focus. The lighting will probably be of little concern as long as the subject is visible. If the lighting is particularly bad, it might be necessary to place the subject in better lighting with a worse background and simply pan to the action.

The use of the tripod is generally determined by proximity to the action. If you are in the middle of things, it is probably best to hand-hold the camera. If you are at a distance, then you should use sticks. Handholding the camera can add to the drama of a live shot. The reporter can be talking to eyewitnesses or authorities; the freedom to move around can make the background interesting regardless of where the guest stands. Keep in mind that handheld shots look best at wider focal lengths. Doing spot news live is the

34 Chapter 2: Part Two: Live Coverage

ultimate in news coverage. Every bit of talent, experi- ence, and training comes to bear in this situation.

Scheduled Events

Most live shots for news are done at events planned well in advance. Parades, city council meetings, and demonstrations are typical live situations. In fact, many organizers purposely schedule their events to co- incide with the news time to get live coverage. In situa- tions like these, there is usually sufficient time to set up in a more relaxed manner, or even site-survey the loca- tion well in advance for the best spot to set up. With more prep time, it is possible to get just the shot you want. You might have to run extra cable or use a 13- GHz short hop back to the van, but you have the time to do it.

For these types of live situations, the basic rules for doing a simple stand-up apply. Find a location where there will be some action in the background, but not action that would interfere with what you are doing. The shot should convey the event easily and quickly to the viewer. Some identifiable aspect of the event should be included in the shot.

Two aspects of these types of live shots need special consideration: graphics and guests. Most TV stations tend to add a lot of written information on the screen during a live shot. Not only is the bottom third of the picture taken up with the location, reporter’s name, and station call letters or slogans, but the upper corners of the picture might be filled with words reminding the viewer that the picture is live. The shooter needs to be aware of where this information will appear and when it will be in the picture. You can spend a lot of time lin- ing up a background, only to have it covered by a graphic. This can be particularly troublesome when the reporter has a guest. In a two-shot, their heads tend to be at the two upper corners of the picture; if the live graphic is also there, it will cover one of the subjects’ faces. Your shots must be designed around the graphics as well as the scene. (See Figure 2-13.)

The best technique for shooting guests during a live shot is to have them on camera only when they are introduced or talking. One way to set up such a shot is to block it before you go live by having the guest and reporter stand side by side at a comfortable distance. The reporter should already be in the best place for the

background. The guest should then take one large step to the side away from the reporter and one step back away from the camera. The guest should maintain this position throughout the live shot. This allows the videographer to start the shot on a single shot of the re- porter without being zoomed in too closely. As the re- porter introduces the guest, the camera can widen out to reveal the guest; the reporter then turns on the foot closest to the guest and faces him or her in an over-the- shoulder shot. This puts the two in a more traditional position for an interview, so that the camera can zoom in to the guest as a single shot without the reporter and not have a one-eye or profile view of the guest. As the interview is wrapping up, the camera can zoom back out to a two-shot and the reporter can pivot back to face the camera. The camera can now zoom in to the reporter; the guest is free to leave.

Live for the Sake of Live

Many times in local news, shooters and reporters are asked to do live shots from places where nothing is go- ing on. The location can be an empty field, a house where a shooting happened the night before, or just a street corner. Many stations feel it is necessary to use the live technology just to show the viewers that they have it. Even though it serves no journalistic purpose, it can be seen as a good method to train for the more important times and to experiment with different

Figure 2-13 This XCU of a model’s face would not be ap- propriate for a telecast that places text onto the screen; the text interferes with the essential facial features.

35