COMJ 422 - News Package Instruction Sheet

Procedures
Students should complete the following steps in the process of producing this project:
1.  Begin by looking for a story locally or on campus that would be video-friendly.  
2.  Shoot footage and transfer files to the computer hard drive at the TV Studio using the Adobe Premiere Pro software (or other professional software).
3.  Prepare to record your interviews, B-roll and stand-up by doing the following:

a.  Reserve a camcorder at the TV Studio for the time you want shoot (need SDHC card).  Shoot in 1080i or 60p.   
b.  Setup appointments for interviews or make other arrangements. Make sure bring extra mic and headphones for interviewee audio. Headphones are used to check audio quality. This may take more than one camera reservation time period.     
c.  You probably can shoot your B-roll and standup all in one period. 
d.  Dress professionally for the stand-up. (business attire)      
e.  Memorize opening and closing remarks and the reporter's tag. (Reporter's tag = "Reporting for
     Newswatch Today, I'm ….") 
f.  Pick up equipment from TV Studio - camcorder, tripod, mics, mic cord, batteries, headphones. 
   Before leaving the studio with a camera, go over the controls and settings. Make sure it works for you. Make sure camera is in HD 1080 mode - 60i or 60p.  Camcorders work best for this.

4.  Record your donut-stand-up at an appropriate location. Think of a good background.  The standup is in two parts - the intro and the closing. The intro is used to gain interest in the story and give us a feel for what we are about to see. You do not give your name here. The closing gives the audience a final summary or closing thought followed by the tagline.  Don't just give the tagline.  
5.  Record all additional footage needed as required by the professor using your own SD media. 
     Don’t forget that you will need at least three soundbites from people related to the story.
6.  Begin writing a script. 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 say in the soundbite. After that, edit in the soundbite itself.
     The stand-up starts and ends the story. You may do a bridge standup in addition to this if necessary. You can do both a bridge standup and a donut standup provided they fit the story. If you can't think of a really good reason for this, just do the beginning and ending. 
7.  After rehearsing your script, record your narration voiceover on the computer using sound recording software such as Audition to be used over the B-roll for the story. Save this recording as a .WAV file. This file can be transferred through the network to the edit suite you are 
     working on, if not the same machine. You can also use KECC studios for this.
8.  Reserve the edit suite of your choice for the time you want to edit the package or other editing arrangement.  In the editing follow these procedures:

a.  Begin a new project in Adobe Premiere Pro using the settings given in class.  This is a good time to create a folder for yourself on one of the data hard drives (Name it comj422_yourname) 
b.  Copy all footage files from the memory cards you recorded on to one of the data drives of the  computer. Flash media need to be transferred to your folder and imported to Premiere.
    Make sure to first create a folder with your name on it. Put all of your files in that folder.  you do not want to edit from the SD card - copy the files - then remove the card.
c.  In Premiere, drag each clip to the left monitor window for cropping. Use the { and } buttons  to set start and end points. 

d.  Drag the clip from the monitor window to the timeline window. Put the track on 
     video 1. Don't worry about pre-roll elements now - they will be added after your pkg. is edited. 

e.  Use the title function of Adobe Premiere to create the slate later. (File, New, Title) 
f.  Drag your narrated voiceover clips to the timeline on to one of the audio tracks. 
    (Use track 2) The soundbite should be placed immediately after your narration
    track ends. Use the razor blade tool to cut your voiceover into different clips, if necessary. 
g.  Place B-roll footage files on the timeline to illustrate the story narration. Think 3 to 4 seconds each. Files containing critical audio should be edited first -then add B-roll as related.
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 should reduce their volume 
     if they seem loud in comparison to the narration track.  Sound bursts can be at higher volume when no narration is heard. 
i.  At the end of the soundbite, trim and drag your stand-up file.  
j.  When project is finished on the timeline, add in (File, New, etc.) slate (title) for 5 seconds followed by 2 seconds of black. The slate and black do not count towards story length.

k.  Export your timeline to an H.264 video file - making sure it is still 1080i or 60p.

9.  If everything looks as it should and sound is also good, copy your rendered video to USB thumb drives. The name of your file should be COMJ422_your name_package.

Make sure it plays properly from your USB drive. If not, check your datarate in the settings inside Encoder or the export window.

10.  Turn in a script with the anchor's introduction on camera along with lower 3rd information related to soundbites.  This should be given in the order of the soundbites on video.