This semester I’ve been doing more long form reporting rather than short form. This means less news packages in general, but more work goes into them. Whereas last semester we were turning in a ninety second news package every week, this semester we’re turning in three, three minute news packages.

One of the challenges is getting enough footage for the news packages. The second package I shot with my partner is about the first woman in Syracuse to bowl a score of 300, and we have over two hours of footage. Figuring out what to use out of the roughly 140 minutes of footage for a three minute package is the next challenge. And when I arrive back at school from spring break, it will be the first thing I tackle. When you think about this it can actually be utterly exhausting. How in the world do you choose three minutes from 140 minutes? Not to mention that you might use extra footage from say, YouTube, which actually cuts down the footage you need even more.

It’s incredibly important to stay focused. What are the things I definitely need in my news package? What elements do I need to tell my story? How many interview shots do I want? How many different people should be a part of this story? You can’t go through your footage thinking “this looks cool, that looks great” because you’ll end up with an hour long news package that’s boring and doesn’t make a lot of sense. You have to go for the absolute best shots and not look back – because that will drive you crazy.

My partner and I have had fun experimenting with different shots for this package. We actually had the opportunity to walk all the way to the end of a bowling lane and shoot towards the bowler. We’ve placed the camera on the ground, out of the car window, and behind bowlers for various effects. This semester I’m becoming much more comfortable using a camera.

My final story for the semester will be about the foster care system in Syracuse, NY. More updates on that soon. About five months to go until I graduate!