COJA 422: VIDEO NEWS STORY
Project Description

Students are to edit a Video News Release using their own story idea and video. Editing must take place in the non-linear editing suites at the TV Studio or other similar facility. Students will record a reporter stand-up in the field to be edited into the project. Projects are due on disc at 6 pm on week 5.

Procedures
Students should complete the following steps in the process of producing this project:
1. Begin by looking for a story at your place of employment, church, school, or other organization that would be video-friendly. The purpose is to bring positive public attention to the subject.
2. You will shoot video, capture the footage on the computer at the TV Studio using the Adobe Premiere software
3. To video record your B-roll and stand-up, do the following:

a. Reserve a camcorder at the TV Studio for the time you want tape (ask for help on learning the camera).
b. At the story location, shoot a variety of shots that can tell the story effectively. For the standup shot choose a spot that makes a nice background related to the story.
c. You may shoot your B-roll and standup all in one location if the story is an event of some kind.
d. Dress professionally for the stand-up – you are on camera. (business attire)
e. Memorize a closing remark such as the last sentence of the story - no tags in VNRs.
f. The equipment you will need from the TV Studio - includes camcorder, mike, and tripod – you may have equipment 24 hrs. or until the studio opens again.
(Ask for the Panasonic HVR 40 or HVR 80 (SD cards), DVC 60, or Sony V1U camera (mini-DV tape). Don't forget you need your own mini-DV tape or SDHC card with at least 8 GB.

4. Record your stand-up on location. Use an external microphone so you are heard clearly. Don't use the camera built-in microphone for anything but B-Roll.
5. Record all additional B-roll footage needed as required to make a good visual story.
Don’t forget that you will need at least three soundbites from different people related to the story- record these also. Use the lapel microphone on your intereviewees.
6. Begin writing a script. Watch your footage and listen to the interviews. Remember to introduce soundbites used in the package. Don't say, "And here is so and so. . " - Introduce the person by name and say what their title or connection to the story is, then paraphrase briefly what they will say in the soundbite. After that, edit in the soundbite itself. (Three or more soundbites are required in each project.)
The stand-up is added at the end of the story, usually.
7. You will need to narrate the parts of thes story that have B-Roll. Your script should contain the narration you need. After rehearsing your script, record your voiceover (narration) on the computer using sound recording software such as Audition or Soundbooth to be used as the narration for the story. Save this recording as a .WAV file. This file can be into a folder you make with your name on the edit suite you are working on. If you use a different computer to record narration, copy it to a USB drive and bring to your edit machine.
8. Make sure to reserve the edit suite of your choice (1 thru 4) for the
time you want to edit the story. In the edit suite follow these procedures:

a. Begin a new project in Adobe Premiere using the NTSC DV 48kHz setting (mini-DV). This is a good time to create a folder for yourself on one of the data drives (Name it coja422_yourname) NOT THE C-Drive. (If you shot in HD, you'll need to choose a project type that matches your video.)
b. Capture and import all footage files from the DV tape or SDHC card you recorded into your folder on the computer. SDHC video files must be transferred to the hard drive first - just drag and drop into your folder on the hard drive. Make sure to first create a folder with your name on it. Put all of your files in that folder.
c. In Premiere, drag or double-click each clip to go into the left monitor window for trimming. Use the { and } buttons to set start and end points. You don't want to use the entire shot - just the important part. That's why you mark in and out points. Shots are typically 4 seconds, more or less.
d. Drag the clip from the monitor window to the timeline window. Put the clips on
video 1. Keep in mind that you need a slate and a few seconds of black before
the project actually begins. (A slate is a title graphic with name, title, and length.)
e. Use the title function of Adobe Premiere to create the slate. (File, New, Title)
f. Import your narration sound file. Drag your narrated voiceover file (WAV file) to the timeline on to one of the audio tracks - probably track 2 as track 1 will have B-Roll sound.
Any soundbites should be placed immediately after your narration track ends. Use the razor blade tool to cut your voiceover into different clips, if necessary. The idea here is to create your soundtrack first – then add b-roll video shots for areas with no video. It’s like creating a radio version of your story first. Allow for space where natural sound bursts would occur.
g. Place B-roll footage files on the timeline to illustrate the story narration. Sound burst b-roll should have louder audio than b-roll that plays over narration. Adjust this with clip volume control.
h. Trim files as needed using monitor window. Ambient sound will be linked to
each footage file. Do not delete these audio files, but you may reduce their volume
if they seem loud in comparison to the narration track. See example.
i. At the end of the story, crop and drag your stand-up file. (If you haven't
captured your stand-up from tape yet, do it at this time. Make sure it recorded audio.)
j. When project is finished on the timeline, hit the Enter key for rendering
all footage and sound.

9. If everything looks as it should on the monitor and sound is good, go to File, Export Media. Choose the format H.264, preset to NTSC DV High Quality (choose your aspect ratio)- see this example for details. Then burn this file to a data CD or DVD disc.
Projects should be 1:30 to 2:00 in length. (min:sec). This does not include the slate time or black.