I don't know if it's the Grinch in me, or the fact that I'm now a seasoned shooter, but I'm getting to the point that I really can't stand shooting a holiday story. Other factors could also be at work.
As a rookie photog, every story is new and exciting, because it's your first time shooting it, but spend a couple of years in one place, and you start to see the pattern emerging. The annual food drive or coat collection gives way to the outpouring of the community's compassion. The people who benefit from these are quite deserving of it, and I have great respect for those who give their time and money to make someone else's life a little brighter. My problem with it is that one of the benefits of this job is the variety in what the daily grind brings. I've been assigned this story at least three times in the last 5 years. Considering I'm not the only shooter, and that I found one of the 'old hands' who had never heard of the story before, that's just not right.
Okay, so I've done this story before. Management decided that I could use an extra degree of difficulty in turning this one, so we didn't get out the door until 20 minutes after the event had begun. This meant that we missed all the prep video of loading the boxed dinners into the cars of the people volunteering to deliver them to the needy. We also missed out on where these meals were going, since each person gets a list, and no one else knows where the other is going. It's kind of like Government Intelligence that way. Must be something to do with plausible deniability. Anyway, we catch up to the organizer, and then head to the local homeless hotspot for a hot meal, St. Vincent dePaul.
While we were at St. Vinnie's, I finally got jazzed about this story. Here I found everything our story was missing. Turning the corner into the kitchen, I was caressed by a cacophony of clattering cans and a cornucopia of images to capture. We were back in the station by noon, and had plenty of time to craft a good story.
Thanks to Chris Sasser for handling the live shot duties on this one, giving my all the time I needed to turn this one. Upon review, he pointed out to me what was wrong with the one sequence that didn't sit perfectly well with me. Can you figure it out? I'll post the answer in a few days in the comments section.
Watch Holiday Helpers.
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4 comments:
Nicely done O.
Can't say that any of it bothered me.
It's the can-opener sequence, and on further review, I remembered why I did it that way, so disregard that line. The first two shots have the same focal length, but one is low-angle and the other is eye-level, then the tight shot of the can being opened.
I was thinking that I should have put the tight shot between the two, but I now realize that it's there to show the juice splashing.
Just picking nits, I guess.
Nice job Mike, but two things which you probably have no control over. Why do you guys always have that huge mic flag in every interview, and what's the point of her stand up. when she is already live?? Just curious. Not a knock on you, Im sure your station mandated you do both, I think it takes away from your story. xray ted
I wasn't thrilled to have the flag in the interview with Michael Acaldo, but we used the lav in the other two. I chose the stick for that one because the noise level was so high. As for the stand-up, those are mandated.
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