It's a photog beat-down.
On an early Sunday morning, firefighters are responding to the most recent catastrophic conflagration soon to hit the Houston airwaves. They find flames leaping through the roof and a man in the front yard. This man turns out to the uncle of three children yet to escape the emergency, and he's brandishing a pistol while berating these brave souls for not charging into the fire faster. One of the kids makes it out with burns on her feet, but two younger children are lost.
Many questions remain as to why the parents left this man in charge, and how did the fire start on his watch, not to mention what kind of man looks out for himself, leaving three children to make their escape? Before the scene would clear he would perform one last act of schmuck-like behavior; he would assault a photog.
The shooter is employed by a local stringer agency who covers the overnights for most of the stations in town. While waiting for the heat of the fire to wane, he draws the ire of the hot-headed uncle, who isn't pleased with the presence of our soon-to-be plaintiff. The photog turns away to remove his camera from the tripod and gets cold-cocked as he turns back to face the man.
In today's story meeting, the powers-that-be were trying to decide on a second story for our crew following up on the fire and the uncle's arrest. I floated the story of the photog, and they found it fitting. The crew who did the story even thanked me for the idea.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Friday, October 02, 2009
Four on One
No, I wasn't in a fight; it was an interview.
I strolled into work last Friday with little thought for what the day might bring. It makes going to work more fun if you have no idea what might happen. In the afternoon meeting I discovered that I would be flying solo for the day, which is a nice change of pace from the grind of turning out two stories daily. Then I found out what I would be shooting.
A certain multi-platinum artist was staging a concert in The Woodlands, and they were going to webcast it live in HD, for free, to the world, but mainly for the troops in the Middle East. They were also attempting to gain a Guinness World Record for the most cameras used to record a live event. The record they were trying to break was 43, which was earned by a Justin Timberlake concert at Madison Square Garden. This production was going to obliterate that record by using a slightly higher number - 239. What they recorded will be part of the live DVD that will release almost one month after the album.
Who is the band of which I speak? After a rough split, these four guys have been kicking around for six or seven years, doing seperate projects. They decided to get back together and try to recapture the lightning they once held and bend it to their will. This tour is to promote their new album and re-introduce them to their fans, both new and old. They are Creed.
I've actually owned all three of their CDs, though I've lost My Own Prison in my many moves, so I guess you could say I like their music. I wasn't worried about interviewing these guys because they were hugely successful and popular musicians. What had me freaked was that I was going to have to interview the whole band by myself. My dedication to the craft wouldn't let me just set the camera on a wide shot of all four guys and roll, but I was having trouble figuring out how to talk to all of them at the same time and still make it look good for TV, and keep myself from looking like a total jack-leg at the same time. For those who don't know, pre-show interviews are usually pretty short, so I wouldn't have much time with the band to move a mic from one to the next.
Our Senior (don't call her chief) Photog suggested that I shoot it off the shoulder in an MTV fashion. I gave it a shot and it kind of worked, which is good because it's the best I could have done without four more cameras and mics. As for the band, they were all pretty cool guys. They answered my questions, which I'm sure they've all heard about a thousand times now, but if it bothered them, I didn't notice. I also kind of lost my head and only focused on the dynamics between the four of them, instead of the other questions I had, like if they think their fans will forgive and forget. When I got the last question signal, the only think I could come up with was "Do you like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, and could there be a Creed version in the works?" They all chuckled and the drummer said they had thought about it a little, and that he can't play the drums in the game very well, because is isn't quite the same. He did say that he could shred on the guitar, though.
After I got back to the station, I was able to watch the webcast because we put some of it on the air to go with the sound bite. The webcast looked like a DVD, and I was blown away by the production quality. The only problem was that Scott Stapp, the lead singer, sounded like his voice hasn't aged well. I don't know if it was just this show, or if he hasn't taken care of it, but it was quite flat. It didn't take away any of the energy from his performance, though, and I couldn't look away from the monitor for long without being drawn back by the quality of the show.
In all it was a great show, and one of those experiences I will remember for a long time.
I strolled into work last Friday with little thought for what the day might bring. It makes going to work more fun if you have no idea what might happen. In the afternoon meeting I discovered that I would be flying solo for the day, which is a nice change of pace from the grind of turning out two stories daily. Then I found out what I would be shooting.
A certain multi-platinum artist was staging a concert in The Woodlands, and they were going to webcast it live in HD, for free, to the world, but mainly for the troops in the Middle East. They were also attempting to gain a Guinness World Record for the most cameras used to record a live event. The record they were trying to break was 43, which was earned by a Justin Timberlake concert at Madison Square Garden. This production was going to obliterate that record by using a slightly higher number - 239. What they recorded will be part of the live DVD that will release almost one month after the album.
Who is the band of which I speak? After a rough split, these four guys have been kicking around for six or seven years, doing seperate projects. They decided to get back together and try to recapture the lightning they once held and bend it to their will. This tour is to promote their new album and re-introduce them to their fans, both new and old. They are Creed.
I've actually owned all three of their CDs, though I've lost My Own Prison in my many moves, so I guess you could say I like their music. I wasn't worried about interviewing these guys because they were hugely successful and popular musicians. What had me freaked was that I was going to have to interview the whole band by myself. My dedication to the craft wouldn't let me just set the camera on a wide shot of all four guys and roll, but I was having trouble figuring out how to talk to all of them at the same time and still make it look good for TV, and keep myself from looking like a total jack-leg at the same time. For those who don't know, pre-show interviews are usually pretty short, so I wouldn't have much time with the band to move a mic from one to the next.
Our Senior (don't call her chief) Photog suggested that I shoot it off the shoulder in an MTV fashion. I gave it a shot and it kind of worked, which is good because it's the best I could have done without four more cameras and mics. As for the band, they were all pretty cool guys. They answered my questions, which I'm sure they've all heard about a thousand times now, but if it bothered them, I didn't notice. I also kind of lost my head and only focused on the dynamics between the four of them, instead of the other questions I had, like if they think their fans will forgive and forget. When I got the last question signal, the only think I could come up with was "Do you like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, and could there be a Creed version in the works?" They all chuckled and the drummer said they had thought about it a little, and that he can't play the drums in the game very well, because is isn't quite the same. He did say that he could shred on the guitar, though.
After I got back to the station, I was able to watch the webcast because we put some of it on the air to go with the sound bite. The webcast looked like a DVD, and I was blown away by the production quality. The only problem was that Scott Stapp, the lead singer, sounded like his voice hasn't aged well. I don't know if it was just this show, or if he hasn't taken care of it, but it was quite flat. It didn't take away any of the energy from his performance, though, and I couldn't look away from the monitor for long without being drawn back by the quality of the show.
In all it was a great show, and one of those experiences I will remember for a long time.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
More Stories
Here are some new stories for you, dear readers.
It looks like my current station doesn't have the server space my old station has, because stories that I'm linking now are disappearing. Hopefully that can be remedied in the near future.
Speaking of linking, the first story up today was shot last weekend on the anniversary of Hurricane Ike; the storm that kept its pimp-hand strong by slapping Galveston around a year ago. The woman featured hasn't been in her house since she evacuated, but not because she didn't want to be; it's being renovated by a locally produced, but nationally televised, PBS show and a local church. This is her homecoming.
Here's the synopsis in case the story isn't there. A local furniture store filled the house with donated furnishings, since she lost everything. The most important item she saved was a pocket-watch, which belonged to her father, who bought the house nearly a century ago. The designer on the show put it in a shadow box to hang on the wall in the living room, where it is practically the first thing you see when you enter. Oh, and one last point, dad's name - was Ike.
The next story was actually shot the day before. We thought we might have a good story about local people helping eleminate some blue roofs, but when we got to the location we found the weather had cancelled the work day. Our last chance was to drive to Kemah for a class on animal rescue. Thrilling, right? When we got there it was almost time for lunch, and they would be doing the mock disaster the next day, so all seemed lost, until we spoke to the owner of the kennel hosting the class.
Like many who have dealt with the physical destruction of these storms, she is having problems with her insurance company. It's not stopping her, but the frustration is clear. She also had to evacuate with her one-year-old, and the stress of that memory brought some surprise tears during the interview. The Bed and Biscuit she runs is a pretty nice place. The pet suites even have their own televisions, but I can't figure out, for the life of me, how dogs not more than a foot tall can watch a set that's five feet high in a 2'x4' space.
It looks like my current station doesn't have the server space my old station has, because stories that I'm linking now are disappearing. Hopefully that can be remedied in the near future.
Speaking of linking, the first story up today was shot last weekend on the anniversary of Hurricane Ike; the storm that kept its pimp-hand strong by slapping Galveston around a year ago. The woman featured hasn't been in her house since she evacuated, but not because she didn't want to be; it's being renovated by a locally produced, but nationally televised, PBS show and a local church. This is her homecoming.
Here's the synopsis in case the story isn't there. A local furniture store filled the house with donated furnishings, since she lost everything. The most important item she saved was a pocket-watch, which belonged to her father, who bought the house nearly a century ago. The designer on the show put it in a shadow box to hang on the wall in the living room, where it is practically the first thing you see when you enter. Oh, and one last point, dad's name - was Ike.
The next story was actually shot the day before. We thought we might have a good story about local people helping eleminate some blue roofs, but when we got to the location we found the weather had cancelled the work day. Our last chance was to drive to Kemah for a class on animal rescue. Thrilling, right? When we got there it was almost time for lunch, and they would be doing the mock disaster the next day, so all seemed lost, until we spoke to the owner of the kennel hosting the class.
Like many who have dealt with the physical destruction of these storms, she is having problems with her insurance company. It's not stopping her, but the frustration is clear. She also had to evacuate with her one-year-old, and the stress of that memory brought some surprise tears during the interview. The Bed and Biscuit she runs is a pretty nice place. The pet suites even have their own televisions, but I can't figure out, for the life of me, how dogs not more than a foot tall can watch a set that's five feet high in a 2'x4' space.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Quick and Dirty
A story edited in 18 minutes.
I really would have liked to have more time to edit this one. I think it should have been later in the show, but it was scheduled as the second story in the newscast, and we didn't get back from shooting it until almost 7:30.
Before leaving for that story, I offered to help a coworker out with Twitter video for his story.
I really would have liked to have more time to edit this one. I think it should have been later in the show, but it was scheduled as the second story in the newscast, and we didn't get back from shooting it until almost 7:30.
Before leaving for that story, I offered to help a coworker out with Twitter video for his story.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Radio Missions
Saturday found me rising with the sun for a trip to Galveston.
I was headed to the island for the re-opening of the emergency room a the University of Texas Medical Branch hospital. It was a lack-luster event, but we were also assigned a story about some local folks helping in the post-Ike recovery.
It turned out to be a decent edit, but I ran a little short on video and time to finish.
I was headed to the island for the re-opening of the emergency room a the University of Texas Medical Branch hospital. It was a lack-luster event, but we were also assigned a story about some local folks helping in the post-Ike recovery.
It turned out to be a decent edit, but I ran a little short on video and time to finish.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Thunder Moon
What happens when a car and a motorcycle meet? Usually it's never good.
Sunday finds myself and LJ, comfortably buckled into Unit 2, rolling north to Conroe. A man named Rex had been killed while riding his scooter the night before, and those who knew him are both mourning his death and celebrating his life. Sounds like the same old story, except Rex was the proprietor of Thirsty's Ice-House, which is where we are headed, and the gathering place of his extended family of fellow two-wheelers.
The bar is busy with bros and their old ladies who have nothing but praise for the man who presided over their chosen watering hole, and to hear them tell it, his heart was bigger than he was. Rex organized charity rides for children and got big, burly bikers to bring teddy bears to seniors for Christmas. The dichotomy of that imagery calls for a story to be done.
While we're wrapping up our second interview, the final response is drowned in the concussive rumblings of more motorcycles arriving. This group literally brings the thunder, revving their engines in a throaty tribute as one rider ruins his rear rubber in a cloud of smoke and heat. Those looking on alternately cheer and cry for the life of the man they've lost.
What didn't make it into the story is the shot of the full moon, plus rocket, which I can only assume was one guy's tribute to Apollo 11. Also left out were the racist comments being liberally thrown about regarding the illegal immigrants accused of the hit and run. LJ had to bite her tongue more than once as some of the guys said really nasty things, without realizing her hispanic heritage. To say we made short work of it would be an understatement.
Sunday finds myself and LJ, comfortably buckled into Unit 2, rolling north to Conroe. A man named Rex had been killed while riding his scooter the night before, and those who knew him are both mourning his death and celebrating his life. Sounds like the same old story, except Rex was the proprietor of Thirsty's Ice-House, which is where we are headed, and the gathering place of his extended family of fellow two-wheelers.
The bar is busy with bros and their old ladies who have nothing but praise for the man who presided over their chosen watering hole, and to hear them tell it, his heart was bigger than he was. Rex organized charity rides for children and got big, burly bikers to bring teddy bears to seniors for Christmas. The dichotomy of that imagery calls for a story to be done.
While we're wrapping up our second interview, the final response is drowned in the concussive rumblings of more motorcycles arriving. This group literally brings the thunder, revving their engines in a throaty tribute as one rider ruins his rear rubber in a cloud of smoke and heat. Those looking on alternately cheer and cry for the life of the man they've lost.
What didn't make it into the story is the shot of the full moon, plus rocket, which I can only assume was one guy's tribute to Apollo 11. Also left out were the racist comments being liberally thrown about regarding the illegal immigrants accused of the hit and run. LJ had to bite her tongue more than once as some of the guys said really nasty things, without realizing her hispanic heritage. To say we made short work of it would be an understatement.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Hot Story
Last week I was getting back into the swing of things after the vacation and ended up with two stories to shoot concerning the local dry spell.
The first was about fireworks retailers preparing to open for the July 4th sales season, and the second was just on the dry conditions. We didn't get anything develop until 5:30pm, and it was the fireworks story, so by the time we were done with that, we didn't have much time to shoot the second one.
We drove into a neighborhood, looking for dry yards and sprinklers, when we found a house with a sprinkler and people sitting around, enjoying the evening. The following story was shot in 30 minutes, split equally between b-roll and interviews.
The first was about fireworks retailers preparing to open for the July 4th sales season, and the second was just on the dry conditions. We didn't get anything develop until 5:30pm, and it was the fireworks story, so by the time we were done with that, we didn't have much time to shoot the second one.
We drove into a neighborhood, looking for dry yards and sprinklers, when we found a house with a sprinkler and people sitting around, enjoying the evening. The following story was shot in 30 minutes, split equally between b-roll and interviews.
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