1st Place
Jesse Burkett-Hall WTIC, Hartford "Stuck Truck"
Judges Comments
DP KGTV 8 8 8 8 This was a great spot news Nat Pkg. I loved your characters,the two guys just talking. You shot it creatively. You got great active sound with the truck company guy. You busted your butt on this and it shows! Great job!
TH KGTV 9 9 9 9 So good. You made me care about something that happens so often and have gotten sent to shoot so many times. This can easily be a "go spray the scene" story, and you help my interest way more that it shouldve. Audio was clean and I loved it. All around solid job, I'm sorry I couldn't be more constructive you hit a home run.
JL - KGTV 9 9 8 9 Winner. I already know this will win this category without looking at the other judges scores. THIS is what a creative, compelling, and SMART spot news STORY looks like. I was there on that scene. There was a very strong EYE-EAR connection. I SAW what I HEARD. You used your tripod most of the time but you were extremely steady when you were on your shoulder. I have a feeling you succeeded because there was no reporter like me to screw you up. I throroughly appreciated the fact that you lav'd up the dudes and let them talk. Thank you for this. My only thing I will ding you on: Your reveal wasn't as strong as it could have been. I didn't really get a sense of the issue with the first image of the truck. Your MOST POWERFUL image of the accident was at :41. You should have used THAT shot as your reveal. That told the whole story in one frame. Overall, this is the first place winner this quarter. Crack open a beer.
AH-KGTV 9 9 9 9 Great nats, shots, good characters. Very interesting story, lots of cool perspectives. Good job. I love it. No huge issues. Great nat pack; we don’t need no stinkin reporters! As TH said above, this story is such a mundane one, as I wouldve thought when the desk sends you there. But you made such a routine problem something soulful and more than important: you showed some community. You showed people being original and thoughtful, over something simple. Our viewers deserve this levity more often. And its art!
2nd Place
Matthew Wilson WDIV, Detroit Windsor Cleans Up
Judges Comments
DP KGTV 8 7 7 7 Loved the opening. Great use of a different variety of shots, great job blending your audio. Enjoyed the different angle of your interview show (clean up your lav wire.) I Would have liked to see you use your sticks more. Great job!
TH KGTV 8 8 8 8 Great story!! Loved the opening shot, I loved a lot about this so I'm going to nitpick. The shot of her talking with her back to us at :18 but then cutting to her sitting on the porch didnt work for me, too jumpy and jarring. I thought for a second that sound was coming from your active interview and it threw me off when she was on the porch. Hide you lav line better. Nice variety of shots, love that long street shot, love your sequencing to your reports track. You told a nice story here and put me there with your active interviews. Nice work.
JL - KGTV 8 8 8 8 Great set-up shots. Loved the simple, clean sequence of the woman walking down her driveway. We don't do that enough. Her interview shots on the porch need to be changed up. We had the same shot three times. Change the framing during the question. You would have gotten some great depth if she was framed in a close up shot. Very good editing. The pacing was solid. You had a great EYE-EAR connection. I SAW what your reporter SAID. The utility pole shot at the end...you got lazy. Commit to the entire story. Turn that weird tilt-down-and-pan-while-turning into a two shot sequence instead.
AH-KGTV I love some your stuff here. The sequences, the shots. But theres a jumpcut with Shannon thats pretty obvious. L-cuts help you out of this edit: get a tight shot to cover the beginning of her sot. Its ok to not show the entire sot! Pictures are more interesting than peoples faces, sometimes. Get more tights! And some of those edits seemed a bit quick. Your audio overall seems super low compared to the other things Ive judged here. Lots of good though: varied shots, good pacing throughout, good characters. Good sound. Be careful with the slow pushes on the wide shots though.D
3rd Place
Derek Kemp WBBH, Fort Myers Dallas Police Shooting Local Reactions
Judges Comments
DP KGTV 6 6 6 6 feels like you cut a sot short at 1:05. blend your audio a couple instances it was choppy. Would have like to see some natural sound breaks with cutting the hair. I didn't really feel like I was in the barber shop.TH KGTV 6 7 7 5 Took a page from Boyd Huppert I see. I remember him going to a Barber shop during the ferguson riots and getting similar reaction. Smart. My biggest problem with this story was the missed opportunity for nats. Barber shops are one of my personal favorite places to do stories because of all the opportunities for nats and visuals. I feel like this story fell short in that department. Work on giving your viewer a shot to get out of the story. The only time its okay for me to end on a sot shot is if the person is very emotional. I was waiting for a closing shot on this one and never got it. Nice story though, good job.
JL - KGTV 7 6 6 6 Dude, I loved this setting. I just wish you set it up better. Your newscast probably had the nuts and bolts already before this PKG. What would have been great to see was some set up shots. Set the scene for us. NATS of the clippers, dudes talking back and forth, things like that. Take me INTO the barbershop. THEN transition into what they're watching. You broke the axis in your first two shots. The TV and man were facing the same direction. Your best interview was the customer in the chair.
AH-KGTV 20 seconds in and I don’t yet know Im at a barber shop. I do know I’m watching a tv on tv. I’d prefer a better sense of location earlier in the story, only because it would give the viewer a sense of setting and thus context. Start with a wide shot, every story. Also I like some of your tights, but you went from a wide to a medium framed interview, bordering on a jumpcut. Cut up those transitions with tight shots. We don’t need to see the subject for the entire sot. Tights take us to the scene of your story. I know its tough, but you went outside the shop for one interview….and right back in: avoid continuity things like this. Try to get that interview in the shop. Its great that you guys went to two shops, but your wide of the chairs is exactly the same: so why not get it from a separate angle, to show a separate scene. I try to get a wide shot outside of every place I entered, only to show how we as a crew (show the process!) go get the latest from all over. Good job on a serious story likely under a weird timely and story duress. Could’ve used more nat pops of barbers barbering but a solid story anyhow!
Honorable Mention
Kenneth Corn WLOS, Asheville, NC "It Was Lighting"
Judges Comments
It Was Lighting DP KGTV 6 5 6 6 I wish you focused on maybe one or two people. Feels like you just threw a whole bunch of different sound just because you had it. Would have liked to seen shots of more people watching the fire. You had plenty of flames. It's tough to not shoot that and focus on the people watching. Maybe leave your lav on one of your interview subjects and watch them watch the fire not long maybe 10 minutes.
It Was Lighting TH KGTV 7 6 5 5 Nice spot story. You know when you go to a party and only know one person who introduces you to 20 people right after another then immediatly and then can't remember one person's name? That's what I just felt like here. Great flames and intense fire! But there was no reaction shots of people watching so I didn't know how to feel. Viewers count on reaction by other people to see how they should feel themselves. Mic'ing someone up then stepping back and letting them chatter with neighbors is where you'll get your best sound at something like this. Vary up your interview compostion, it makes a better story and holds interest if you're going to use that many people. Don't be afraid to ask your interviewees to follow you away from the truck too, it was very loud and jarring when you went back to your reporters track. Overall nice hustle and keep it up!
It Was Lighting JL - KGTV 7 6 5 6 This is petty of me, but you need to spell your entries correctly. Lighting = the lighting you do for an interview. LightNing = wicked Thor stuff that starts fires. You had a LOT of great stuff in this story but there wasn't a lot of flow. It was an MOS PKG. It had emotion but it was disjointed. Work with your reporter to narrow down the characters and then get some broll of those characters in relation to this story. I want to see them watching the fire. Close ups of their eyes. Maybe a shot from behind them with the flames in the background. Just identify their relationship and proximity to the fire. GREAT MOMENT with the dude and the lightning strike. I would have put that up closer to the front of the PKG. THAT would have set the scene almost better than the actual flames. This is YOUR story, too. Work with your reporters if you see things that should or could be switched around.
It Was Lighting AH-KGTV 8 6 6 7 Good variety of shots and interviews. Could’ve used more tights, of course. You used the same wide shot from the same angle like 3 times, including the tilt shot. Shoot and move. But remember to mimic the eye with the camera: no pans, tilts, or zooms. Only subtle movements continue with the perception of motion. I liked your ending shot but I feel it should be zooming out and not in. Editing and audio were solid. Great moment with the lightning strike.
Judges Comments
KGTV, San Diego, CA | | 1st Stuck Truck - "I loved your characters,the two guys just talking. You shot it creatively." | 2nd Windsor Clean Up - "Loved the simple, clean sequence of the woman walking down her driveway. We don't do that enough." | 3rd Dallas Police Shooting Local Reactions - " Good job on a serious story likely under a weird timely and story duress." | HM It Was Lighting - " Would have liked to seen shots of more people watching the fire. You had plenty of flames. It's tough to not shoot that and focus on the people watching."
Judges: KGTV, San Diego, CA