Sen. Tim Kane, 2018 commencement at RU.
You’ve been assigned to cover a speaker or a ceremony such as a graduation or convocation. Let’s also say it’s not live coverage. You’ll have a few hours before air time to edit the video.
Advance work: Contact the PIOs and institutional officials for information about press availability, camera positions and audio / video feeds.
Consider what you want in your story:
1. Your “stand up” introduction.
- “We’re here at ____________ for the _______ (event)
[or] to hear ______ (speaker). “ - (Continue with one or two sentences explaining the context and significance of the speaker or event.) (This is easier if you get an advance press copy of the talk)
- “In (her/his) talk, _______ __________ emphasized (something, eg, the long tradition of commitment to ___________)
2. Clips from the speech. Check with the event coordinators. You may or may not be able to record the entire event. Make sure your camera is in place before things start and plugged in if your batteries are iffy. This may mean that you have to. take care of the stand up intro and close before the speech even begins. Did you bring a second camera?
3. Audio for clips – See if there is an auxilliary XLR link to the main speech or some way to get clean audio. Your camera mounted shotgun mic is not going to do justice to the sound.
4. B-roll sweep of the crowd reacting to the speech and other scene setters. Use camera mounted shotgun mic. Shoot a mix of long, medium and closeup shots.
5, Reaction interviews from people in crowd as they leave the event. Use stick microphone not shotgun camera mounted mic.
6. Simple stand-up close. “I’m _________ reporting for _________. ”
Consider how you can accomplish all this. What order do you want to shoot it in? Will you need plug-in power to record the whole speech, or will your battery pack hold up that long?
Obviously start with #1 but also shoot #6 before the event begins, since you’ll have your hands full shooting B roll and reaction interviews afterwards.
Will you need lights if you’re shooting in the evening?
What can you post right away?
- Tweets live from the speech.
- Facebook live and teasers for your main report
- Instagram shots of the crowd and the speaker
What can you publish later in the cycle?
- Your full report
- The full speech on video
- The full text of the speech
- Reactions to the speech
Usually these kinds of events are reported uncritically because there is not much to be critical about, but if there are protesters or any unusual context for the speech or event, be sure to report that as well.
Sidebar stories: These could be extra stories about people mentioned in the speeches. Or, what is the meaning of all that “regalia?”