WINOL debrief - 09/10/13

This week we have produced another successful WINOL, after taking on board Ian’s advice he returned to see the progress made and what else could be improved.

WINOL again had a full running order with each reporter providing an interesting story to make up the bulletin.

One of the things Ian said could be improved upon is our headlines, the writing needs to be a lot clearer as the top lines can be misleading so we need to really think about what are the best lines for the links and ques. As a journalist it is essential that you have clear vision for your stories top line and that you are able to generate a two sentence que in plenty of time that flows and compliments the rest of the reports in the bulletin.

As our first story we covered the COMPASS meeting which was organised by Spence. The meeting involved a discussion about policing the night time economy and what can be changed or improved.
The event drew the viewers in as the studio set up, the interview and the meeting of the police commissioners looked professional and accountable. The sequence of shots for the first 15 seconds worked well as it gave time before the soundbites came in as Ian explained how important it is to let soundbites have enough room to breathe and fully deliver their impact on their audience. As a credit to Spence, Ian reinforced how important it is to make these contacts as it develops a professional working relationship which will encourage them to return and use our studio space again. 

As our second story we were able to convert a national story to a local story about children taking reading tests in schools which Emma managed to shoot relatively well. She gained access to a local school in Winchester and worked around the legal and privacy issues of shooting children on camera by avoiding any face shots. The story was good and was shot well with a variety of different angles however the script needed tweaking slightly as there were a few grammatical errors. Ian reinforced how important it is to set the scene, you should have three sequence shots that take up fifteen seconds of your intro to get the viewer interested and create impact.

Ellen again pulled off a really well shot and edited environmental story about how bees are being affected by diesel emissions from local traffic. She gained access into and around the bee’s hives as well as a laboratory which created a variety of shots in her story as well as showing the viewer that she was there getting a first-hand look into the story. The trio of shots making up Ellen’s introduction sequence had potential but there could be room for improvement as the shots needed people doing things in them. Visually the story was perfect, the shots were varied and the sound was extremely clear however in her final shot it was slightly over exposed which took away from her wearing the bee suit as it was too bright on the screen. Ian suggested that she could have knelt down beside the bee hive which would take the glare of the sun away whilst still keeping the attention on her and the bees.

Toms court report was better than last weeks however the pace was still too fast and needs to be slowed down. Ian also mentioned that he should flaunt the fact that he has gained access to the court room and should use props such as an iPad or notebook when doing a piece to camera to add more interest to the shot. 

Zeena has again converted a national story to a local story by covering Stoptober, the month where people try to stop smoking. Zeenas camerawork was good, focusing on a range of angles and different interviews where the eye line was perfect however the background was distracting and detracted from the focal point of the interview with the nurse. The sequence of the nurse was perfect, with three shots of her doing something to lead us into the story which added variety to her piece. 
The graphic she included was good but had a little too much information and needed a title to clarify what statistics the graphic was displaying.

Lucy's 'and finally' package was brilliant although it could have been longer as viewers will always enjoy a light hearted animal story. The birth of the baby zebra was a nice story to finish on as it was quite entertaining and balanced some of the more negative stories with a positive one. The package had a variety of camera angles which focused in on the zebras as well as including an interview with one of the animal keepers. One point Ian mentioned was to never do a piece to camera and then sign off as it seems too blunt and abrupt to end on so it is advisable these two are kept separate.