Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Pre-Video Assignment, Solon


This is an excellent feature story because it not only has great imagery and audio, but also tells a newsworthy, heartwarming and important story. The narrator introduces Tyler Trent as a huge Purdue fan, but uses a delayed introduction to bring in the fact that Tyler has cancer. The piece also uses the natural sound from Tyler’s home to capture a definitive look at his daily life. The voiceover is well-balanced with interviews and visuals of Tyler’s early life and  struggles with bone cancer. The interviews also capture the true emotions of everyone involved, most notably when Tyler’s mother starts to tear up and the shot zooms in closer to her face and eyes. The complete story, from beginning to end, tells us Tyler’s background, excitement for Purdue, and his current struggles with his disease. Additionally, the reporter uses a lot of interviews to show the viewer a variety of perspectives on Tyler’s condition and fandom.


This story lacks the necessary components to be a good feature. There is limited natural sound, poor interview quotes, and little visual proof of what the reporter is describing. The anchor introduces the jet noise as a big part of the story, but the sound of a helicopter is the first noise we hear. Furthermore, that sound is too strong and it is hard to hear the first interview. The next interview has a woman mention how quiet it is, but there are people talking in the background. Then, the reporter mentions “Big X’s” being drawn on the runway but shows no visual of this, only low-quality footage clearly taken from behind a fence. All of the footage focuses on airplanes, but the actual airport building is rarely shown. This feature package needs more close-up and detailed visuals and natural sound to better tell the story.

No comments:

Post a Comment